The bassists who built Soweto’s distinct sound

We rarely consider how important the sound of the bass is to a band’s identity… Yet there are no histories recording those vital chains of community.” — Gwen Ansell (2021)

We don’t often talk about bass players when we tell the story of South African music.

We talk about singers and bandleaders. But beneath those histories runs a quieter lineage, one that reverberates through rehearsal rooms, studios and illegal clubs. It is a lineage carried in the low frequencies. These chains...