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The article discusses the controversy surrounding the visit of Swiss composer Heinrich Sutermeister in South Africa during the apartheid era. Journalist Antje Müller scrutinized the first major success of the composer in Nazi Germany in the Swiss musicological journal "Dissonanz." He visited African schools with a missionary and the African prison Leeuwkop in northern Johannesburg. It asserts that the composer was not aware of the racial implications of his opera in a South African context.

The influence of African music on the music of the West over the past hundred years is undeniable. However, the music of Africa itself is neither well known nor adequately documented. This article describes various projects currently underway in South Africa whose aim is to rectify this situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interviews Scottish composer and pianist Ronald Stevenson, on the indigenous music traditions of South Africa. Factors which led him to move to South Africa; Description of students at the University of Cape Town in South Africa; Significance of his stay in South Africa.