Nowhere in Africa did jazz take root more strongly and passionately than it did in South Africa beginning in the '50s. Early combos like The Jazz Epistles—who introduced the world to pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and trumpeter Hugh Masekela—melded the ebullient, buoyantly joyful melodies of pennywhistle-driven kwela with a swing sensibility. Because of the repressive conditions of Apartheid, American jazz greats were unable to visit the country, giving locals a particularly un-U.S.-influenced compass to forge their own paths, freely combining township and global sounds. Those uplifting hybrids—charged as they were by brutal oppression—propelled singer Mariam Makeba (“The Click Song”) and Masekela to global stardom, and back at home the scene grew richer. Bassist Johnny Dyani and the rest of the radically biracial Blue Notes embraced the avant-garde in Europe in the '60s, while thrilling young London-based reedist Shabaka Hutchings has made an entire album with Johannesburg-based Ancestors.