As part of her ongoing sonic research tracing South African jazz histories, their creation and dissemination across the country and beyond, Atiyyah Khan will present a listening session on As-Shams (‘The Sun’), the South African jazz label and its founder, Rashid Vally, whose work defied apartheid through sound, collaboration, and cultural exchange. The session will examine how As-Shams emerged in the 1970s as the first South African label dedicated to Afrasian mu- sic, operating within severe restrictions on artistic production and interracial interaction. By contextualising As Shams within a vibrant jazz era shaped by an Indian immigrant community navigating apartheid’s spatial and social boundaries, the session will highlight how listening and sounding functioned as political acts.