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MUSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

MUSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA. COURSE STRUCTURE INTRODUCTION August 26 Introduction August 31 South Africa – An Overview September 2 “Graceland” and the End of Apartheid “AN AFRICAN COUNTRY?” September 7 Musical Bows and Overtones September 9 Speech Tones September 14 Musical Process.

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MUSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

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  1. MUSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA • COURSE STRUCTURE • INTRODUCTION • August 26 Introduction • August 31 South Africa – An Overview • September 2 “Graceland” and the End of Apartheid • “AN AFRICAN COUNTRY?” • September 7 Musical Bows and Overtones • September 9 Speech Tones • September 14 Musical Process

  2. MUSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA • COURSE STRUCTURE • “A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY?” • September 16 Ntsikana’s “Great Hymn” • September 21 “God’s Own Country” – Orpheus McAdoo and the African American Influence • September 23 Isaiah Shembe and the Re-Africanization of Christianity • “A CAPITALIST COUNTRY?” • September 28 Maskanda - Making African Music on Western Instruments • September 30 “Travellers” – Basotho Migrant Laborers’ Lifela • October 5 “Singing Brings Joy to the Distressed” - Zulu Migrant Workers’ Choirs • October 7 “Mbube”

  3. MUSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA • COURSE STRUCTURE • October 12 Prep. Exam • October 14 Mid-term Exam • October 19 Discussion of Exam Results

  4. MUSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA • COURSE STRUCTURE • “A MODERN/URBAN COUNTRY?” • October 21 The Ambiguities of Modernity – R.T.Caluza and Early African Nationalism • October 26 Urban Control – Ingoma and Gumboot • October 28 Apartheid Media • November 2 From Marabi to Mbaqanga • November 9 Apartheid and Ethnicity - Mbaqanga • November 11 Black Harlem at the Cape - Jazz • November 16 The Black Atlantic - The Politics of Race in a Global Age

  5. MUSIC OF SOUTH AFRICA • COURSE STRUCTURE • November 23 Preparation of Mock Exam • November 30 Discussion of Mock Exam • December 2 Final Exam

  6. 3. Musical Bows and Overtones • Categories of bows • Production of fundamentals • Production of overtones

  7. 3. Musical Bows and Overtonesugubhu, uhadi • Production of fundamentals

  8. 3. Musical Bows and Overtonesugubhu, uhadi • Production of overtones

  9. 3. Musical Bows and Overtonesugubhu, uhadi • “Selective amplification of harmonics” • “Tentative findings so far suggest that, in playing the ugubhu, the amplitude of partials 5 and 4 is redeuced, progressively, the more the mouth of the calabash resonator is ‘covered’, through proximity to the player’s body. If one thereotically takes C’ as the stopped fundamental, closing the resonator, progressively, gives the impression of lowering the top note of the ‘chord’ from e’ (5th partial) down to c’ and then g’ (4th and 3rd partials), and finally c (2nd partial). With B’ as the corresponding unstopped fundamental, the sequence d#’, b, f#, B is produced. These harmonics are used selectively by the player to provide something in the nature of a simple ostinato melody, below the vocal line.” • (from D.Rycroft, The Zulu Bow Songs of Princess Magogo)

  10. 4. Speech Tones

  11. 4. Speech Tones • Conformity of pitch and prosody • Princess Magogo • “Ngibambeni, ngibambeni”

  12. 4. Speech Tones • Stylized speech contours • Izaga (“war-cry”) • Example: from my Zululand tapes, or AMA TR 9-10

  13. 4. Speech Tones • Pseudo-melodic features in izibongo (heroic poetry) • James Stewart • “Izibongo zikaShaka”

  14. 4. Speech Tones • Effects of speech rhythm (syllable elision and length distortion)

  15. 5. Musical Process • Cyclic form/repetition • “We Majola”

  16. 5. Musical Process • Root progression • Analyzing Venda ocarina music and children’s songs, ethnomusicologist John Blacking found a lack of points of rest that resulted from “harmonic” progressions or “tonality shifts” between a chord that may be called a “tonal center” and a second “chord” a whole-tone above or below it. But these tonality shifts, according to Blacking, cannot be said to be in any way related to Western principles. The “roots” of these “chords” are not equivalent to the function of the Tonic, Subdominant or Dominant, but are chosen from the range of acceptable pitches for any given combination of intervals, usually fifths and fourths. Thus, to Western ears, many such “chords” “have the effect of a second inversion” and therefore “provide only a temporary point of rest, and the music is always thrust on to the next point of tension.” In African terms, the movement and form-giving function of “chords” is not determined by such things as the root position of the Tonic, but by the “decrease and increase of tonal power” of shifting tonalities.

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