South Africa’s high-selling artist in the 1980s and 1990s, Lucky Dube is easily one of the more famous reggae names not to come out of Jamaica. Feeling that the genre of reggae could easily carry the Struggles of South Africans, Lucky Dube wrote this song in 1991 for all the…
About Afrika Connexions
The Afrika Connexions Story is an online tribute to a radio program that is now more than 30 years old. Starting as a radical, anti-apartheid program on Radio Skid Row, the show has expanded to embrace every wave of African migrants to Australia. On any Sunday you can tune in from 12 noon to 3pm or, better still, head to the station where you will usually find a little piece of Africa in Sydney. This program was made on the 25th anniversary of Afrika Connexions to honour and celebrate the work of Africans – in exile and from the African diaspora – who broke new ground creating African radio and forging Afrikan Connexions in Australia. Listen to the Afrika Connexions Anniversary Program
Kwame got involved with Afrika Connexions when as a taxi driver listening to the program he decided to drive to the station and meet the guy who was talking about Africans on the radio. It was Paul Thusi on air. Paul never missed an opportunity to get another person involved…
Mzwakhe Mbuli, or the peoples’ poet as he is known in South Africa, was born in Sophiatown but was forced to move to Soweto when his family’s house was bulldozed by the regime. Mbuli’s first performance was at the funeral of an anti-apartheid acitivist. He went on to perform at…
If you are a longtime listener of Afrikan Connexions, then this song will definitely remind you of a sunny Sunday afternoon. Recorded in 1965, after the assassination of Malcolm X, Miriam Makeba delivers a joyous song, praising the greatest parts of a great man. We can only imagine what a…
This interview first went on air in 1985 as part of an Afrika Connexions news segment, which was at 1 pm every Sunday. Maxwell Nemadzivhanani was virtually a member of the Afrikan Connexions team, although his primary role was chief representative of the Pan African Congress of Azania. He travelled…
Michael Scott is the original Afrika Connexions presenter. Way back in the day, Michael worked on an anti-apartheid program at community radio station 2SER. The program was run by SASCA – a coalition of South African students who had fled their country following the Soweto uprising. They had 15 minutes…
An outspoken supporter of independence in Angola, Bonga was exiled in the early 1970s after being affiliated with the anti-colonial insurgency. He travelled to the Netherlands where he recorded Angola 72, the album from which this song comes. Sung in the Angolan language of Kimbundu, mona ki ngi xiça loosely translates to ‘the…
Often cited as one of the founding fathers of Afrika Connexions, Neville Legg presented Afrika Connexions for more than a decade. Every week, Neville presented the latest news from apartheid South Africa and he was still in the chair when Mandela was released and apartheid was abolished.
What started as one program back in the 80s, has grown into many African programs at Radio Skid Row. The Ghanian, Sierra Leone, Somalian, Liberian and Jamaican communities are all on air at the station. In addition, several programs are done by young Africans from all over the continent mostly…
Hailing from Soweto, Paul Vulindlela Thusi not only took over the co-ordination of Afrikan Connexions he was also Radio Skid Row’s Station Manager for ten years. Having fled South Africa after the Soweto Uprising, everyone at Radio Skid Row used to joke about how he ran the station like a…