Wrestling with the present, beckoning to the past: Contemporary Zulu radiodrama

The paper explores aspects of the history of radio drama in Zulu from 1941 to the present. It briefly sketches in the history of radio in South Africa and the oppressive role of apartheid ideology in its formation and develop ment. It also provides a commentary on the role of radio drama as a produce r of culture throughout the apartheid years and into the post-apartheid era . Arguing that radio drama in Zulu has become a clearly definable aural gen re deeply involved in contemporary South African life and intimately connec ted to the needs and desires of its large audience, the paper takes the rea der through the decades of the 1950s and 1960s and shows how the skills of writing, producing and acting were the terrain of a small and talented grou p of practitioners who bypassed the snares of the censor and attracted an e ager and discerning audience among both urban and rural listeners. A number of dramas are discussed and questions raised concerning the role of langua ge in providing a medium for 'multi-accentual' engagement with a changing c ontemporary culture and with the past.