Message in a Bottle

In apartheid era South Africa all music had to go through a censorship board before being released to the public. Roger Lucey is an example of a censored artist of this time. A song on one of his albums had a minute’s silence on it because of lyrics removed by the censorship board. So, you would assume that no songs released during apartheid could have opposed the government. However, this was not necessarily so. Artists who opposed the government tried to insert hidden messages into their music in in ways that will not draw the ire of the censors. The song, Give Me Hope Joanna, for example, made it past the censors and was released because “Joanna” was perceived to be a person. The truth was different! The song’s “Joanna” refers to Johannesburg, South Africa. This is just one example of apartheid era music that snuck a message in a bottle and placed it within the lyrics of songs. Although apartheid has ended, artists in South Africa today are still inspired by the music of that period. The message-in-a-bottle is still working!