A song learned in a family, a story told in the language of a neighbourhood, a gesture passed on to a young performer: heritage stays alive only when it circulates. South Africa’s National Heritage Day on September 24, 2026 brought that idea back into focus. The official celebration was held at Bongolethu Stadium in Oudtshoorn under the theme “Celebrating Our Living Heritage: Strengthening the Ties That Bind Us.” Music is more than a festive backdrop here: it is one of the places where memory is practised and transformed.
A celebration, and a question of transmission
In his speech in Oudtshoorn, President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke about the languages, songs, stories and traditions handed down by previous generations. He also named musicians, storytellers, craftspeople and knowledge holders among the people who keep living heritage alive. This recognition shifts the focus: heritage is not only an object preserved in a museum or an image worn at a ceremony. It depends on people who know, teach, perform and share.
The word “transmission” can sound abstract. In practice, it covers concrete gestures: learning the words of a song, understanding the context of a rhythm, hearing several languages on one stage, or discovering why an art form has changed over time. A concert can make these gestures visible, but it cannot guarantee continuity on its own. That takes repeated opportunities to perform and listen, accessible venues, fair pay for artists and spaces where young people can learn without being reduced to the role of background decoration.
The popular stage as a space for memory
SABC1 announced a special September 24 episode of Amalanga Awafani featuring an Amabutho concert at the Soweto Theatre. According to the broadcaster, the programme was to make room for Nguni, Pedi, Setswana and Sesotho cultures, with musical appearances by Sannere and Feza, as well as announced first live performances for aboMzala, Sabelo and Fenda. The broadcaster also described a song dedicated to women and denouncing abuse in relationships. These details come from SABC1’s announcement; they are not, by themselves, an independent account of the event’s outcome.
This kind of gathering shows how television and live performance can bring a tradition closer to a contemporary audience. A stage gives local stories a shared form, while audiovisual distribution can carry them beyond the room. But media exposure also brings a responsibility: cultures need enough context so they are not turned into a collection of costumes, slogans or sounds detached from their communities. Audiences can enjoy the performance while understanding that it carries histories, practices and artistic choices.
Making room for languages and marginalised voices
Linguistic diversity is not a minor programming detail. A language carries nuance, ways of joking, naming the world and remembering. Hearing it in a song or story affirms that it belongs to the present, not only to archives. Bridges are needed too: subtitles, accessible context, translation and thoughtful distribution can help new audiences enter a work without erasing what makes it specific.
This care matters especially where history has marginalised communities and their forms of expression. The Presidency recalled the place of Khoi and San communities and the need to preserve languages long pushed aside. The issue goes beyond symbolic visibility: people who carry knowledge should have a say in how it is documented, taught and shared. Public celebration becomes more meaningful when the communities concerned are not merely represented, but help shape the story.
Culture needs material conditions
Talking about living heritage also means talking about work. Musicians, storytellers, technicians, producers and cultural venues need resources to create and pass knowledge on. A national day draws attention; it cannot replace education programmes, community archives, regular stages or the income artists need to continue. South Africa’s Department of Sport, Arts and Culture describes living heritage as a source of continuity, cultural diversity and development. That ambition becomes real only when it leads to lasting and accessible support.
There is also a productive tension between preservation and change. A tradition that remains alive is not required to stand still: it can meet new audiences, instruments and formats. The questions are about choice and respect. Who decides which changes are acceptable? Who holds the rights to a recording or performance? How do benefits reach the artists and communities that made the expression possible? These questions belong in today’s cultural conversation.
Beyond September 24
Heritage Day 2026 chose an ambitious frame: celebrating living heritage as a bond between people. Its reach will be measured less by a ceremony’s immediate success than by what follows: stories recorded with the consent of their keepers, young people continuing to use languages, artists paid fairly and venues where work can be shared throughout the year.
Music makes this idea easy to feel. It can move a crowd, but it can also carry memory, open a conversation and bring different voices together. In Oudtshoorn and on a stage in Soweto, the celebration reminds us that heritage is not only what we receive. It is what we choose, together, to keep making audible.
Sources
- The Presidency of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa’s National Heritage Day address, September 24, 2026.
- SABC1, announcement of the special Amalanga Awafani episode and Amabutho concert at Soweto Theatre.
- Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, South Africa’s Living Human Treasures project on documenting and transmitting intangible heritage.
- South African Government, official overview of Heritage Day 2026 and living heritage.