Breaking sound barriers

Not long ago if a young black South African was caught listening to Linkin Park, Matthew Mole or Nakhane Toure, she or he would have been called a "coconut".

But, like a blunt knife, freedom is slowly fraying the tether between musical preference and racial identity. Urban music - hip-hop, kwaito and deep house - has been the be-all and end-all of any "self-respecting" black youth's aural lexicon.

"When I was a kid a lot of other black kids would try to make an issue of the fact that I listened to rock and stuff," says Lionell Manchin, 27, who grew up in Port Elizabeth listening to The Rolling Stones, Carlos Santana and Led Zeppelin.

DJ Fresh, one of our most popular DJs - who has played on both sides of the supposed musical colour barrier - says of playing music eight to 10 years ago: "We would get resistance [at Yfm] when we played 'rave' music because it wasn't so-called 'black' music."

Now many young South Africans are changing their tune.

"The misconception that a lot of people have is that - because someone is a certain way - they must listen to a certain thing. We play what is hot and trending, not what we think a skin colour will like," says Yfm's music and digital manager Mervyn Sigamoney.

For years Yfm has been seen as the champion of "black" urban music in South Africa. The station, among others, gave kwaito the space to mushroom into an era-defining genre and helped launch the careers of countless DJs. Time, however, changes all things and the station's traditional urban sound has found itself shifting towards what once would have been called "rave".

"People tell us the sound is changing. Of course it's changing. Does music stay the same? Music is something that doesn't necessarily speak to you because you're a particular race," says Sigamoney.

Nakhane Toure is possibly the best example of the long walk to musical freedom that "black" music has taken. In the immediate aftermath of the first democratic election, the idea of an openly gay black musician brandishing an acoustic guitar and winning the Sama for Best Alternative Act (which he did at Monday's awards) was as improbable as Afrikaans rap.

Both now exist, each with a Dulux palette of fans. DJs Fresh, Euphonik and Black Coffee do as they please, how they please, and their popularity speaks volumes.

"You still have people who will try to put people in a box. Every now and then I'll play some tribal house [on 5FM] and some idiot will tweet, asking why I'm playing shebeen music but that is increasingly rare," says Fresh.