DOLLY RATHEBE - A PERSONAL TRIBUTE
by Rob Allingham
September 25, 2004

Dolly Rathebe, the South African vocalist and actress whose extraordinary career stretched for more than five decades over virtually the entire sweep of modern township culture, has died in Pretoria, aged 76.

It is difficult to exaggerate Dolly's significance in South African cultural history - to put her into an American context, the most direct comparison might be with Lena Horne, except Dolly was far more of a trailblazer. She virtually created the template that would be later be taken up by the likes of Miriam Makeba, Dorothy Masuka and, more recently, Brenda Fassie and Thandizwa Mazwai.

Born into poverty, and additionally burdened by a broken home and a physically abusive stepfather, Dolly's story was of the proverbial rags-to-riches variety: a chance encounter with a 'movie scout' paved the way to her clinching the leading role in the country's second all-African-cast film, 'African Jim' (later re-titled as 'Jim Comes To Jo'burg'), in 1949. In another sense, too, her 'discovery' was perfectly timed as it coincided with the emergence of a mass of urbanizing Africans who in turn sparked a demand for media - records, movies, newspapers and pictorial magazines - aimed at servicing them. Dolly's good looks, natural acting talents and musical ability combined with the exposure made possible by these newly created media outlets virtually ensured her success, and she quickly became, simultaneously, the country's first African female movie and vocal star, and 'pin up girl.' So pervasive was her popularity that, 'Dolly,' meaning, 'Everything's OK,' became a permanent part of township lingua franca.

Dolly's subsequent career and personal life was not without both its low and high points. After making one additional film, 'The Magic Garden,' in 1951, she remained active as a singer and continued to be much photographed and written about throughout the rest of the decade, during which time she was thrice married and divorced with three children. In the early 1960s, she was singing regularly with the Elite Swingsters, the pre-eminent African jazz-marabi band of the era, but when township musical tastes shifted to favor mbaqanga groups such as the Dark City Sisters and the Mahotella Queens, Dolly's jazzier vocal style began to fall out of favor (despite being billed as the 'Queen Of The Blues,' she in fact modeled her singing after Ethel Waters, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.)

In a normal society, Dolly probably could have survived by performing more for white audiences (who had in any event always supported shows like 'African Jazz and Variety' where Dolly was often featured.) In the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960, however, the apartheid authorities hastily enacted legislation that made it very difficult for African musicians to play across the color line. By the end of the decade, Dolly had been forced to retire from music and for the next fifteen or so years, she made her living by running a 'shebeen' (an illegal drinking den) in Cape Town and selling 'dagga' (marijuana) on the side.

I first met Dolly in 1984 when she arrived at my place to listen to some of her old records. (She was accompanied by a young white woman, the first of several who inevitably claimed to be producing movies about her life, none of which ever materialized.) Dolly had by this time saved enough money to buy herself a house in Mabopane, outside of Pretoria, and was looking around for opportunities to get back into music and film. Her break came in 1990 when she was re-united with the Elite Swingsters for a movie that was set in the 1950s townships. Ultimately, the project fell through but not before Dolly and the band had rehearsed enough to start recording and playing gigs for a new, young multi-racial audience. The Elites, now underpinned with an electric rhythm section, were as hot as ever, and their leader, Peter Mokonotela, devised a number of great new arrangements showcasing her vocals.

Dolly, of course, had always had a very fine voice but now it seemed to have acquired an added smoky richness in the low mid-range. The fact is that Dolly in her sixties was that rarest of phenomena: a vocalist whose timbre actually improved with age instead of deteriorating. When I later became the band's road manager (a position I held for about four years), it became part of 'Doll's' routine to ask me after the first set, "Hey, how are the pipes sounding?" It was always my pleasure to be able to truthfully tell her, "Fantastic!"

Dolly as a person was fun to work with. She remained approachable and was without any pretences whatsoever; with her, there were no racial or hidden agendas. An acquaintance who once profiled her for a possible film documentary complained to me that she found Dolly to be totally "unreflective." That's probably a fair criticism but behind that infectious, naughty laugh of hers, I never had any doubt that this was a street wise 'sister' who had seen it all, and rather than wasting her time with analysis or judgement, she was simply content to sit back and watch the passing parade with genuine bemusement.

I last saw Dolly some three months ago at a 40th Anniversary Party for the National Sound And Film Archive. We had a nice dance together and she seemed to be the "same old Dolly." Her decline, mercifully, must have been quite sudden.

My greatest regret as regards my time with Dolly and the Elites is the fact that despite getting gigs in both the Ivory Coast (at the MASA Festival in Abidjan in 1998) and in France (at the Nantes Festival the following year) we never had the opportunity to perform in the US. This despite my twice lobbying the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for an opening, as well as the promoters of a festival in Houston in 2000 who wanted to showcase South African acts (and who ultimately made the usual uninspired choices.) It's a real shame that these cultural arbiters denied American audiences the chance to experience first hand an outfit capable of putting on shows that were every bit as hot as those now legendary performances by Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens in the early-to-mid 90s.

As for Dolly's archival legacy, there are first of all her two early movies, 'Jim Comes To Jo'burg' and 'The Magic Garden', which though difficult to find are well worth seeing - both still exude a charming innocence and there are some great musical moments. After her early nineties 'comeback,' Dolly appeared in quite a few locally made television programs and films but these were all straight dramas without any musical content. Then there are some interesting interviews with Dolly (shot at her house in Mabopane) about the 'bad old days' that are part of the award-winning film, 'Amandla' and most recently, she sings in an as-yet unreleased film shot last year, provisionally entitled 'Sophiatown', which aims to be the South African equivalent of 'Buena Vista Social Club.' Although there are interesting performances by some of the other artists, Dolly's appearances are especially disappointing - she was still in good voice but the musical arrangements, allegedly 'modernized' updates of old classics, are appalling.

Dolly's audio catalogue is an equally frustrating mixture of the brilliant and indifferent. She made about twenty recordings between 1950 and '56, many of them classics, and then never saw the inside of a studio until she resumed recording with the Elite Swingsters in 1991. When I once asked her why she didn't record more, she told me it just didn't pay enough to bother with - an honest enough answer but what a tragic waste! It is particularly sad that she never made any records with the Elites during her tenure with the band in the 60s. That must have been quite a combination but now it's only memories.

Dolly made three later albums with the Elite Swingsters, 'Woza' (1991) on Gallo CDBL 751, 'A Call For Peace' (1993) on Gallo CDGMP 40320 and her last, 'Siya Gida' (1995) on Teal-Universal TELCD 2570. The latter, although somewhat marred by the wrong choice of a recording studio and engineer (the result of internal record company politics), is probably the best of the three as it most accurately reflects the power of the band's live performances but Dolly sings particularly well on 'Call For Peace.' Two of her sides from 1954 appear on 'Township Swing Jazz Vol 1' on Gallo CDZAC 53, while a third, also from 1954, can be found on 'From Marabi To Disco' on Gallo CDZAC 61. All of these CDs can be sourced through One World Mail Order (please contact info@oneworld.co.za)

Rob Allingham is the Director of Archives at Gallo Records in Johannesberg where his prodigious knowledge and love of SA music has resulted in many wonderful compilations, articles and liner notes. Rob is a longtime collaborator with Afropop Worldwide.
Contributed by: Rob Allingham