09/06/2026
In 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa bestowed the Ikhamanga award in silver on Johnny Dyani, “For his outstanding contribution to musical arts as a jazz double bassist, vocalist and recording artist, notably with The Blue Notes jazz band who fled South Africa in 1964 to perform around the world as free artists. His versatile talent served to promote and highlight South Africa’s gift to the world,” he stated.
In 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa bestowed the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo in silver on Jürgen Leinhos. “A recognition of his commitment and determination against apartheid and for standing by the oppressed and fighting for their cause as an anti-apartheid activist,” he stated then.
Leinhos and Dyani together had founded Jazz Against Apartheid in 1985. And now nearly 30 years later this initiative was returning into the South African Jazz vocabulary as an archive of thirty years of buried exile history.
These recognitions triggered a daring rediscovery of the buried cultural memory of the Jazz Against Apartheid Story and its repatriation to the Eastern Cape. At the heart of this story is Johnny Dyani’s musical compositions. Read More :https://struandouglas.wordpress.com/2026/05/17/jazz-against-apartheid-live/
