- Department: Music
- Module co-ordinator: Information currently unavailable
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
This project will discuss a range of South African popular music – from 1920s marabi to contemporary township kwaito – in the light of contemporaneous politics and society. It will draw on various concepts from post-colonial theory, ethnomusicology, and literary theory to enable various readings of South African popular music.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
Music has long played a central role in the lives of people living at the tip of the African continent. The San and the Khoikhoi are thought to have been the first people to inhabit the area now known as the Republic of South Africa, and it is no coincidence that in 2004 the !Xun Traditional Council published a book / CD project which they called ‘Kulimatji nge. We tell our old stories through music.’
The liner notes tell us that Pensa Limunga’s music stories ‘are not only descriptive celebrations of hunting or fireside entertainment. He tells fine narratives that comment sharply on social behaviour and gender in his community. His tale of ‘The two sisters’, for instance, is a humorous rendering of how a man attempted to abuse two women and got what he deserved. Such morality stories are frequently told in order to teach community values and make people reflect on the telling of the tale.’
And it is not only indigenous musics that have been involved with political and social comment. English colonists introduced minstrel shows to South Africa in the 1850s and as Veit Erlmann puts it:
acting out white fantasies about blacks was ideally suited as a rationalization of the anxieties of white settlers in South Africa attempting to come to terms with the strength of precolonial social formations and independent African political power. (African Stars, 1991, p. 30)
Erlmann tells us that by 1880 there was at least one black minstrel troupe operating in Durban and minstrels (now almost exclusively based in the Cape) still play a significant role in the musical life of Cape Town. Each 2nd January or Tweede Nuwe Jaar (lit. second new year) the troupes and their bands march through the streets. Politics and social comment remain a prominent characteristic of the music of the minstrel troupes, and the closely associated Cape Malay Choirs, most notably in the moppie (comic song).
This project will discuss a range of South African popular music – from 1920s marabi to contemporary township kwaito – in the light of contemporaneous politics and society. It will draw on various concepts from post-colonial theory, ethnomusicology, and literary theory to enable various readings of South African popular music.
By the end of the taught part of the project all students should be able to:
On completion of the module, in their independent work, students should demonstrate learning outcomes B1-6 + B7, B9 and B12 from https://www.york.ac.uk/music/undergraduate/modules/learning-outcomes/
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Essay |
N/A | 100 |
None
c.4000 word essay on topic to be agreed with module tutor in supervision
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Essay |
N/A | 100 |
Report form with marks to student no later than 20 working days from submission of assessment.
Recordings
Guidance will be given, but it is important to note that as almost all the music considered on this project will not be notated it is vital that you listen deeply and widely. It is important to have an overview the various types of popular music in South Africa to enable you to situate the music we are discussing in a wider musical context. Areas to focus on could be:
Reading