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Lost Sankomota Album Resurfaces After Decades of Apartheid Censorship

Secretly recorded, smuggled in bread bags, and banned for decades. Now, Sankomota's rebellious music fights apartheid's legacy once more.

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The image shows a group of people walking down a street, holding a banner that reads "Sexual...
The image shows a group of people walking down a street, holding a banner that reads "Sexual Apartheid". The street is lined with trees and buildings with windows, and there are vehicles driving by. The image is in black and white.

Lost Sankomota Album Resurfaces After Decades of Apartheid Censorship

A landmark album from Lesotho's Sankomota has been reissued after decades of censorship under South Africa's apartheid regime. The band's 1983 debut, recorded in secret and smuggled out of the country, was banned for its bold political themes. Now, the record is available again on vinyl via Shifty Records and Sounds of Subterrania.

Sankomota formed in Lesotho, a small nation entirely surrounded by South Africa. In the late 1970s, their outspoken lyrics against racial oppression led to a performance ban in South Africa. The apartheid government targeted artists like them, using police arrests, entry bans, and even physically scratching banned records at the SABC.

To bypass censorship, Shifty Records set up mobile studios in Lesotho in 1983. They recorded Sankomota's debut—a mix of funk, reggae, pop, psychedelia, and Cape jazz—then smuggled the tapes out. The album was released under creative disguises, such as hiding it in bread bags labelled *Message in a Butterbrottüte*. Despite the risks, some imports slipped through the cracks. The reissue, released on October 10, includes a new essay by Warrick Sony. It follows other acts like The Kalahari Surfers, who also faced suppression before relocating to England's Recommended Records. Shifty Records, known for supporting marginalised voices, plans three more vinyl reissues, including compilations of protest songs.

The reissue of Sankomota's debut brings their defiant music back to listeners. The album's fusion of styles and unflinching lyrics remain a testament to resistance during apartheid. Shifty Records' ongoing project will restore more censored works to the public in the coming months.

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