BBC Four: How did Sophiatown the film come about?
Pascale Lamche: I knew there was this place in Johannesburg called Sophiatown, which had been the Harlem of South Africa and had been razed to the ground. I had also seen Buena Vista Social Club and liked it very much, but felt they had missed an opportunity to tell an incredible story. Those Cuban musicians fell into obscurity because all the casinos and venues that they performed in were closed down after the revolution. With Sophiatown, although it is a docu-musical to some degree, it was also essential to tell the story of why Sophiatown was demolished and how these musicians fell into obscurity.
BBC Four: What made Sophiatown such a significant place?
PL: It was the one place in all of South Africa where, through a quirk of administrative history, blacks actually owned freehold property. So you had a black middle class there and a black intelligentsia. It also provided a place where enlightened whites could go, even though it was against the law, to drink, listen to music and discuss issues with black journalists. Cross-fertilisation was going on between whites and blacks and Indians. It was a paradigm of what could have been another history of South Africa if apartheid hadn't physically crushed it. When you see the propaganda films of the time they say this was a slum clearance programme by a benevolent government; but Sophiatown was a thorn in their side.
BBC Four: What sort of careers do the musicians in the film have at the moment?
PL: Some of the bigger musicians, like Abdullah Ibrahim, are big international stars. They had been in exile and made big careers for themselves. But for the others it is mixed. The old divas, particularly Dolly Rathebe, do perform from time to time, especially when there are great historic moments. I'm sure they will perform as part of the 10th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa. But Thandi Klaasen, for instance, still needs to support herself and it's appalling how rarely she is booked. Her life is her singing but she feels that she's been discarded. The Manhattan Brothers, who went into exile in Britain, occasionally play but it's mainly at South African gatherings. Hopefully, through this film and an album, all these wonderful performers may become known again in their twilight years. That would be fantastic and is the reason I made the film!
BBC Four: What was it like going back to Sophiatown with these people who'd lived there?
PL: All the buildings are these horrible twee bungalows which were built when Sophiatown became 'Triomph'. It's extraordinary that they actually called it Triomph, as in the triumph of white supremacists.
BBC Four: Not very subtle...
PL: Not very subtle all! The area has now been renamed Sophiatown, so it's very bizarre. The police station is called Sophiatown District Police Station but the local garage, where they're breaking up cars, still proudly calls itself the Triomph Garage.
BBC Four: Am I right in thinking that there's a desire in South Africa at the moment to look back on that Sophiatown era with nostalgia? There's a fashion label I've seen that uses a lot of Drum magazine images on its clothes.
PL: Yes, that's a company called Stoned Cherrie. I actually walked past their shop one day and saw a t-shirt with Dolly Rathebe on it. So I took her there. It was a very funny scene that was deleted, but will go on the DVD, of Dolly walking past the shop, seeing herself on a t-shirt and going into this trendy boutique and asking to try on this tiny little t-shirt. The woman in the store didn't realise who she was. It was a lovely scene and just a little point about how these symbols, like Che Guevara or Steve Biko, become t-shirts, but people don't really know who these people are or the stories behind them.
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