Jazz Against Apartheid

Jazz Against Apartheid (JAA) was started in 1986 in Berlin by Ju¨rgen Leinhos, now 85 years old, and his Frankfurt-based initiative “Kultur im Ghetto” (Culture in the Ghetto). The first event included musical specialists from the UK, Switzerland and the EU, particularly Germany, joining together in honouring Johnny with the performance of Dyani compositions. Following Dyani’s passing in exile, the JAA performing collaboration has continued with regular concerts in Europe and the USA. In 2021 President Ramaphosa bestowed the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo in silver on Mr Leinhos for his commitment to the JAA programme, for his determined stand against apartheid, and for fighting for the cause of oppressed South Africans as an anti-apartheid activist.

Now in its 38th consecutive year, and its second year performing in South Africa, Jazz Against Apartheid have performed over 100 concerts on three continents. 

The 2023 tour of South Africa in Johannesburg comes to its end on the 18th of December at the Villa Simonne Hotel. 

Jazz Against Apartheid (JAA) shares the vitality of free jazz music to current and future generation, filling the gaps in cultural memory of what SA artists in exile fought for and achieved abroad. 

The JAA event continues the friendships built in exile, in a kind of “künstlerisch-kultureller Austausch” (artistic-cultural exchange) and is a bridge between geography and history.

The driving force of this cultural exchange is “Nachwuchsförderung,” or the conscious policy and practice of transferring societal values, knowledge and skills to the next generation. 

As Ju¨rgen Leinhos said recently, noting that South African political apartheid is dead but that the struggle continues: “Overcoming apartheid does not stop once apartheid – being in this case the name and definition of a political system – stops. 

Since the isolation of political voices and groups that took place not only from the political process, but from education, health care, and other social needs, has not stopped, JAA continues to have legitimacy and a reason to exist.”