The Drumcafé's Traditional Music of South AfricaThe traditional music of black South Africa, and particularly its presence in ceremonies and rituals such as initiation and divination, is explored in this work. Through parallel chapters designed to facilitate comparisons between various musical cultures, the text identifies the primary black language groups of South Africa and provides their physical location within the country, the tribes and clans that live in each region, and a brief history. Numerous forms of music are examined, grouped according to the musical instruments played or by performance style--communal and solo music, songs with lyrics, and songs with dances. A sampling of musical scores, a look at well-known soloists or bands who embody the traditional music, and an accompanying CD will help readers more fully experience the highly individualized sounds and musical styles of this region. |
Contents
Introduction | 19 |
Nguni | 33 |
AmaSwazi | 66 |
AmaXhosa | 80 |
AmaNdebele | 102 |
SothoTswana | 109 |
Bapedi Northern Basoto 138 | 158 |
VhaVenda | 186 |
TsongaShangaan | 209 |
Khoisan | 227 |
San Bushmen | 238 |
Table of Instruments | 254 |
Glossary | 260 |
Appendix | 266 |
Endnotes | 274 |
Common terms and phrases
accompanied Africa Series African Music ancestors Bantu-speaking Bapedi Basotho Batswana beer Boers boys bull-roarer calabash Cape Town cattle century ceremony chief circle clans clapping culture dance-songs dancers Dargie dinaka diviners domba drum Ethnomusicology female initiation festival finger flute girls gora Grahamstown guitar horn Hugh Tracey Ibid incwala initiation school International Library Isicathamiya Johannesburg Johnston Khoi king Kirby Korana kraal Kruger KwaZulu-Natal Lesotho Library of African male initiation Maskanda mbira mohobelo mokorotlo movements Musical Instruments musicians Ndebele ngoma Nguni overtone singing Papers Presented parties performed pipes played praise poetry rain rattles reed reed-pipe reed-pipe ensemble Refer to Track resonator Rhodes University rhythm rituals Rycroft Schapera Shaka skin solo song and dance Sotho Sound of Africa South Africa Southern Africa spirit stick string style Swazi Symposium on Ethnomusicology traditional tshigombela tshikona Tsonga Tswana usually Venda vocal wedding whistle Witwatersrand University Press women wood Xhosa xigubu Zulu