Berlin, Joburg, Jan. 19, 2026 [TDR®] Presenting Lesego Rampolokeng

In the space where music meets the marrow of history, where rhythm contends with raw truth, we find the essential voice of Lesego Rampolokeng. Tropical Diaspora Records is honored to frame the work of this seismic South African poet, a foundational pillar of our release TDR051: Oratorio of a Forgotten Youth by the Amandla Freedom Ensemble.

Rampolokeng is not merely a performer; he is a force of archival resistance. Emerging from the furnace of the anti-apartheid struggle, his art was forged as a weapon of consciousness—a dissecting blade applied to the official narratives of power. His technique is a unique alchemy, fusing the improvisational fire of jazz, the insurgent energy of punk, and the deep, resonant currents of African oral tradition. The result is a spoken-word style that is at once hypnotic and confrontational, a sonic mapping of the chasm between recorded history and lived experience.

On Oratorio of a Forgotten Youth, Rampolokeng’s poetry provides the album’s narrative and moral spine. His words are the lens through which the ensemble’s "musical insurgency" gains sharp, unflinching focus. In tracks like the relentless "#Movement/SoldiersLament" and the epic, previously unrearthed 14-minute journey of "HOMELESSNESS," he chronicles the ghosts of a nation—invoking specific historical traumas, from the Gaborone Massacre to the fallen activists like Bheki Mlangeni, ensuring they are not relegated to the footnotes of forgetfulness.

His philosophy is clear and uncompromising: art must be anchored in uncomfortable realities. As he has declared, his creation exists for a purpose far beyond pleasing "the kings and princes of this earth." It is a vessel for raw historical truth, a testament to what is too often erased. This commitment has led him to collaborate with titans of protest art across generations and genres, from the revolutionary cadences of the Last Poets to the innovative sounds of Busi Mhlongo and Louis Moholo.

The 2025 special edition vinyl of TDR051 physically embodies this ethos. Rampolokeng’s complete, powerful texts are integrated into the gatefold design, transforming the record from a mere auditory experience into a tactile, multisensory artifact—a documented insurrection for your hands and ears.

To engage with Lesego Rampolokeng is to listen to the conscience of a continuing struggle. He is the poet-historian of the forgotten, the word warrior for the dispossessed, and an indispensable voice in the global dialogue of resistance and remembrance that Tropical Diaspora Records is proud to amplify.

Discover the Insurrection:

• Listen to the spoken-word core of TDR051 - "Oratorio of a Forgotten Youth" on our official channels.

• Explore the extended liner notes and poetry in the 2025 Special Edition Vinyl.

• Delve deeper into the collaborative universe of Rampolokeng through his works with The Last Poets, Busi Mhlongo, and Louis Moholo.

• His third novel Bird-Monk Seding (2017) was shortlisted for the 2017 Sunday Times fiction prize and won the 2017 University of Johannesburg Fiction prize. He is currently engaged in a PhD on the prose and poetry of the seminal black consciousness writer Mafika Gwala. at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.  

Born in Orlando West, Soweto, in Johannesburg, Lesego Rampolokeng is a poet, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, and teacher who rose to prominence in the 1980s, a turbulent period in South Africa’s history. Since his debut Horns for Hondo (1990), he has released several pioneering collections of poetry including Talking Rain (1993), The Bavino Sermons (1999), The second chapter (2003/5), Head on Fire (2012) and most recently, A Half Century Thing (2015). His anthologies Blue V’s: Rap-Poems (1998) and End Beginnings (1998) have been translated into German. He is also the author of two novels and two plays and has written screenplays and released several audio recordings, including a collaboration with the Kalahari Surfers. His documentary film Word Down the Line debuted in 2014.