The Library of Things We Forgot To Remember

17/04/2026

Join us tomorrow, 18 April, for an “open house” to hear the library’s vinyl collection, shaped by the perspectives of writers, artists, and cultural workers.

Come through over the course of the day and lounge with us, as Maneo Mohale, Lynnée Denise, Vusi Metalo and Livhuwani Ramalivhana share what they found digging through the library’s archive.

13/03/2026

VINYL SPOTLIGHT

DOCTEUR NICO: KASSANDA WA MIKALAY (1982)

Born Nicolas Kasanda wa Mikalay in 1939 in the Belgian Congo, Dr. Nico picked up a guitar as a teenager and at 14, he was already the featured guitarist on one of the biggest hits in the Congo. When Jimi Hendrix passed through Paris, one of the musicians he made a point to seek out was Dr. Nico.

His ascent as a musician came alongside a historic moment on the African continent. In 1960, as Congo won its independence from Belgian colonial rule, Dr. Nico was an important contributor to the soundtrack of liberation; playing lead guitar on Independence Cha Cha, a song that became an anthem for a newly liberated nation people. Nico, then 20, and his brother Charles Mwamba, called “Dechaud”, had invited to perform in Brussels during the very negotiations that would determine the Congo’s post-colonial future. The music and the movement were inseparable.

Beyond a single song, Dr. Nico was among the architects of the genres that cam to define Congolese music, pioneering the style that would define rumba and its descendants, soukous, kwasa kwasa and zouk. He passed in 1985, at 46.
 
Track: Vempol

09/08/2025

VINYL SPOTLIGHT

Radio Freedom: Voice of the African National Congress and the People’s Army uMkhonto weSizwe

Radio Freedom, originally released in 1985, is a collection of recordings from the ‘Radio Freedom’ broadcasts of the African National Congress (ANC), which were broadcast during the apartheid era in South Africa.

Broadcasts began in 1967 in Lusaka, and over time expanded to daily broadcasts, on an “above-ground” basis from Angola, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Zambia.

Broadcasts from these countries were not without risk to the host countries; in 1983 a South African commando raid targeted and destroyed Radio Freedom’s Madagascar facility, forcing it off the air for a short period of time.

The album features a total of 20 tracks, including poetry reading, drama performances, news broadcasts, interviews, speeches and commentary and music from censored artists and songs of the ANC’s struggle against apartheid.

Track: The Year of the Women – A message from the President of the ANC, Oliver Tambo

18/07/2025

Visit the UCL Urban Room at One Pool Street, London, Monday through Saturday, from 10:00 to 18:00, with no need to book.

The Librarian for the UCL Urban Room is Dr Kara Blackmore. This edition’s focus is on liberation zones, connecting different forms of a radical education happening across Southern Africa, the Caribbean and in London from 1964–1985. The exhibition opened on Wednesday 11 June and will run until Saturday 16 August.

Dr Kara Blackmore is a curator and researcher who works at the intersections of arts, heritage, and social repair. Her practice is informed by long-term collaborations in areas affected by conflict and migration. Kara is the curator of the UCL Urban Room where she supports experiential teaching, leads exhibition-based research, and fosters community dialogue. 

📸:

11/07/2025

TODAY | Live broadcast on PAN AFRICAN SPACE STATION from The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember. Tune in at 15:00 via https://panafricanspacestation.org.za/

PLEASE NOTE: This is not an in-person event. To participate, tune in to the live broadcast.

Link in bio.

18/06/2025

Nyami-Nyami – A Sculptural Installation and Sound Performance by The Zebra Collective

RSVP here: https://forms.gle/wEtvS8fPL8ch2Lo69

Presented by the University of Johannesburg’s Artists In Residence Programme (AIR) in collaboration with the VIAD Research Centre’s Bioart+Design Africa Research Programme, Kudzanai Chiurai’s The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember, and 44 Stanley, Nyami-Nyami is an immersive multimedia installation and performance by the renowned artist duo, Masimba Hwati and Michael Gould, collectively known as the Zebra Collective. This thought-provoking work reimagines the cultural and ecological trauma surrounding the construction of the Kariba Dam and its lasting impact on the Tonga people and the surrounding environment.

Event Details:
– Opening Performance: Thursday, 26 June at 18:00
�Performance by the Zebra Collective

– Walkabout & Performance: Saturday, 28 June at 11:00
�Artists’ walkabout and live performance by the Zebra Collective

Entrance is free, and drinks will be served.

31/05/2025

The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember is an interactive sound and visual archive of black resistance. It is home to an extensive vinyl record collection of music primarily associated with liberation movements in Southern Africa from the 1970s–80s, as well as music and speeches from movements throughout the African diaspora. The collection also includes posters and pamphlets, artworks, books and ephemera.

The library is open to the public Thursday through Saturday, from 10am to 5pm.

17/05/2025

16/05/2025

VINYL SPOTLIGHT

Ilanga: Visions Foretold

Ilanga was a Zimbabwean, multilingual (ChiShona, isiNdebele and English) band that described their sound as a hybrid of Southern African rhythms. This supergroup of highly talented young musicians dominated the Zimbabwean airwaves in the late 80s and disbanded before the start of the new decade, with several of the members going on to have renowned careers with their new bands and ventures.

The founding members of the band were Comrade Chinx on vocals, Andy Brown on guitar and vocals and Don Gumbo on bass guitar and vocals.

Over the three year span of the band’s life additional members joined (and left) the band: Busi Ncube on vocals and percussion, Keith Farquharson on keyboard, Adam Chisvo on percussion, Munya Brown on drums (later replaced by Gibson Nyoni), Charles Mangena on percussion, Virgillio Ignacia on keyboard and Gibson Batishta on drums.

Their debut album “Visions Foretold” (1987) reflected their ideals and hopes as young people in a newly independent Zimbabwe. The album was deeply political reckoning with the joys and pains of post-independence Zimbabwe, while also calling out apartheid South Africa openly. In the track “Botha”, they defiantly sing: “Botha, what you gonna do when Azania is free? You just have to jump into the sea… Time is running out for you… Where you gonna run? Where you gonna hide? “

Although the band was only together from 1986–1989 the band released two critically acclaimed albums, with hit songs that went on to shape and influence the sounds emerging from Zimbabwe in the 90s. The band toured Zimbabwe to large crowds and had a crowning moment: performing at the 1988 Human Rights Concert in Harare alongside Tracy Chapman, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Youssou N’Dour, and the Bhundu Boys.

Track: Somandla

08/05/2025

The Jozi Palestine Film Festival will begin on Al Nakba Day, Thursday 15 May and run until Saturday 17 May.

Saturday afternoon is dedicated to children's programming:

12pm: Illustrator Nathi Ngubane will lead a workshop at The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember.

3pm: 5 short films will be screened at The Bioscope.

Please RSVP to 078 944 7062 for the children's workshop as space is limited.

23/04/2025

Please join us this Sunday, 27 April, for this necessary conversation and listening session.

What can we learn from thinking through “intimate frictions” on the continent and in the diaspora; the stories of movement and music buried deep in our collective consciousness, that are amplified through the needle?

The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember is happy to host this exciting and long overdue discussion about Zimbabwe(s) and the African diasporic presence in Johannesburg.

Event time: 16:00–20:00
Listening session: 14:00–18:00
Conversation: 18:00–20:00

Light food and drinks will be provided.

Donations welcomed.