National Wake was a punk rock band in South Africa in the late 1970s that emerged from a series of jam sessions in an underground commune.
[3] National Wake split in 1982 just after putting out their solitary studio album in 1981, which sold approximately 700 copies before being withdrawn under government pressure.
[3] National Wake played punk, reggae, and tropical funk, but also incorporating two-tone ska and African rhythms.
The band's signature tune "International News" decries state censorship and the atrocities of the Angolan War of Independence.
[4] National Wake's existence was a subversive threat to the South African status quo, a policeman cynically suggested that they could make more money as a band playing in exile.