At first, the Manhattans merely copied the songs and styles of several popular Afro-American close harmony groups (most notably the Mills Brothers and the Inkspots whose recordings were well known in South Africa), often translating the original English lyrics into an African vernacular... the quartet later began developing material which was more African and 'Jikela Emaweni', one of their biggest hits, is a perfect example of the process. The song's first melodic strain consists of an exact - albeit... harmonized - rendition of an ancient Xhosa melody... The quartet then composed a new second melodic line, also adding lyrics that contributed to the spirit of the original [notes with CDZAC61].

Sophiatown-born Dolly Rathebe was plucked from obscurity for the leading role in 'Jim comes to Jo'burg', South Africa's first African feature film, and by the time she featured in a second, even more successful film, 'The Magic Garden', in 1951, Dolly had blossomed into the country's first multi-talented African star [notes with CDZAC61].

Dorothy Masuka was born in Zimbabwe and arrived in Johannesburg almost by chance as a schoolgirl. [In the] 1950s and the early '60s, before being forced out of South Africa on political grounds, she enjoyed a sensational career as an artist and media personality [notes with CDZAC61].

Makeba was the last vocal star to come out of the great era of the 1950s and in some ways was also the most significant. After a stint as a featured vocalist with the Manhattan Brothers, Miriam formed the Skylarks, her own female close harmony vocal group, then in 1959 toured with 'King Kong' as the show's female lead. Immediately after this... Miriam left South Africa to become the first international star from the African continent and an early protagonist in the fight against apartheid [notes with CDZAC61]