The Scars of Censorship: John Peffer Explores Apartheid Era SABC’s Vinyl Damage in New "Notes on Cuts" Project

In a groundbreaking exploration of the censorship practices during South Africa's apartheid era, American visual historian John Peffer has released "Notes on Cuts," a project that includes both a book and a vinyl record. This innovative work unearths the meticulously scratched albums by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) as a testament to the lengths the state went to mute voices that challenged the ruling ideology.

During apartheid, censors within the SABC used everyday tools – from tweezers and razors to pens and makeshift implements – to physically deface records, rendering them unplayable. Peffer's extensive research, comprising of interviews and his own vivid experiences, paints a detailed picture of this brutal silencing method.

"Notes on Cuts" doesn't only recount tales from the past; it revives them. The accompanying vinyl record features re-recordings of select songs that bears the audible marks of censorship. On one side, listeners encounter "short cuts" of damaged tracks, and on the other, "Longer Grooves" delves into extensively scarred musical pieces.

Peffer's approach diverges from traditional archival research by engaging directly with the damaged vinyl discs as historical objects. Through his tactile exploration, he dissects the ad hoc nature of the SABC's censorship, revealing inconsistencies and sometimes even accidental censorship of the wrong songs.

It's noteworthy that while official bans by the government-appointed Directorate of Publications were relatively few, the SABC's internal censorship was vast and stringent. Sex, drugs, blasphemy, and content promoting any form of racial harmony were all targets of the SABC's Central Record Acceptance Committee.

Peffer's keen investigation uncovers that many of the scratched records could still be found for sale in South African shops, despite being banned from airplay. The SABC's paradoxical practice of mutilating their own pressings speaks volumes about the schizophrenic nature of censorship under apartheid.

His work sheds light on the emotional toll this process took on SABC employees, who damaged these records under duress, enforcing policies that sometimes went against their own appreciation for the music. The book and vinyl project serve as a powerful reclamation of history, giving voice to the once-silenced and acknowledging the individual stories woven into each etched groove.

"Notes on Cuts" adds a significant chapter to our understanding of cultural resistance and state propaganda, offering an immersive experience of what censorship felt like, sounded like, and ultimately, how its legacy persists in the grooves of forgotten records.