Countries Archives: South Africa

African Marimba

The African marimba is an intricately crafted wooden xylophone that has become popular in Zimbabwe and South Africa since musicians introduced it to the region in the 1960s. Let South African ethnomusicologist Andrew Tracey, son of pioneering British ethnomusicologist and African song-cataloger Hugh Tracey, explain how musicians introduced the marimba into Zimbabwe in the 1960s because it was an instrument that could replicate traditional melodies but didn’t have a history in the region that one ethnic group could claim over another: “How the Southern African Marimbas Came into Existence.”

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Lekgodilo Flute

The Lekgodilo flute is a simple end-blown instrument made from dried kelp washed up on the South African coast. It is an ancient instrument — the description in the amazing video above of Pedro making and playing it says it dates back 80,000 years, so let’s go with that — and also, because it has no finger holes and still, if played adeptly, can make beautiful sounds, is called “magic.”

Kudu Horn

In Southern Africa musicians play a horn from a kudu/antelope like a trumpet, making sounds that blare and buzz. The kudu horn is the ancestor of the loud, buzzing South African vuvuzela and is reminiscent of the Jewish ritual ram’s horn known as a shofar.

Vuvuzela

The vuvuzela is a long, loud (LOUD!) horn from South Africa, originally inspired by kudu/antelope horns and fashioned from tin — now more often made of colorful plastic — that had an intense global moment in 2010 when the FIFA football/soccer World Cup took place Durban, South Africa. Football fans in South Africa have long blown their vuvuzelas throughout matches, filling the arena with their horns’ incredibly loud buzz. Global fans watching the matches on TV and over the internet were not used to the vuvuzela’s tone or volume and argued just as loudly for FIFA to ban them. FIFA didn’t end up prohibiting the horn during the 2010 World Cup, but it did ban them — and, probably for a different reason, iPads — from matches in the Brazil World Cup in 2014.

The video below digs into the history of the vuvuzela and relates it to a similar Haitian instrument.

All Around This World: Africa Vol. 2 (West, Central and South) (pre-order) by All Around This World

Marabi

[Information about marabi coming soon.]

Kwela

[Information about kwela music coming soon.]

Mbaqanga

“Township Jive” and its close cousin, Mbaqanga, rose in the 1960s in South Africa’s Apartheid-segregated townships as Western instruments and musical styles like doo-wap and jazz mixed with local Zulu melodies and “brutish” 8/8 rhythms (so says Wikipedia’s entry on Township music). “Groaners” like Simon “Mahlathini” Nkabinde (nicknamed the “lion of Soweto”), and vocal groups like the Mahotella Queens (more on both below) became increasingly popular among both black and white South Africans, inspiring the white South African government to raze townships that supported it from fear they’d create a place for the mixing of races.

The Mahotella Queens have been singing mbaqanga together since the mid ’60s when they and Simon “Mahlathini” Nkabinde, a bass-singing “groaner,” captivated audiences with their blend of African melodies and driving American R&B. The Queens took time off in the late ’70s and early ’80s but returned to performing with Mahlathini after being included in Paul Simon’s 1986 Graceland tour, embodying the enduring spirit of the townships. More about Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens | Great video of Mahotella Queens recording “Umculo Kawupheli” in 1974 | Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens in 1991

Isicathamiya

During the high-stakes struggle against Apartheid in the second half of the 20th century every note of music created by a South African meant something. Black South Africans made music as direct protest, as a form of lament, as a way to respect their ethnic roots, as a way to express dedication to the struggle. White South Africans made protest music as well, or protested Apartheid by making music with black South Africans; some even made music to support the regime. In such politically charged times, even South African music that ostensibly made no statement made a statement by not making a statement. (Watch the documentary “Amandla!” for an inspiring overview of South African music and the many ways is helped bring an end to Apartheid.)

Even before formal Apartheid, South African music told stories of survival through struggle. ISICATHAMIYA, which is a Zulu word that means, depending who you ask, “to stalk like a cat” or “tip toe guys,” originated among 19th black South Africans forced to work in gold and diamond mines. These workers sang Christian hymns, they sang about their home villages, they sang about their difficult lives…all in a heartbreakingly harmonious acapella form that was quiet enough not to wake their nighttime guards. As part of isicathamiya the miners created a form of toe-tapping dancing called “isicathulo,” which in Zulu roughly means “gumboots.”

Singers tapped their feet in a polyrhythmic Morse Code while dancing to communicate with each other down mine shafts. (More: Rosa’s Gumboot Lesson | “Choral Music From KwaZulu Natal” | A thesis by Erid Akrofi EdD about how Zulu indigenous beliefs influenced IICATHAMIYA: “It should be noted that rhythm is so important in Zulu indigenous music that without it dance will be lifeless and meaning cannot be communicated in music making….”)

The most internationally prominent Isicathamiya group is Ladysmith Black Mambazo, which formed in the early ’60s after soprano Joseph Shabalala had a series of dreams featuring lush Zulu harmonies. The all-male acapella group charmed local audiences for two decades with their soulful interpretations of isicathamiya songs coupled with playful isicathulo dancing before becoming a true international sensation in 1986 after singing with Paul Simon on “Graceland. (Wikipedia on Ladysmith Black Mambazo | “Hello My Baby” performed live on the Graceland tour.)

South Africa–The Lion Sleeps…When?

“In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight….” The most famous South African song in the Western Hemisphere is probably “Wimoweh,” a traditional South African tune recorded by archivist Alan Lomax, brought to America by folk legend Pete Seeger in the ’50s, popularized in 1961 by a vocal group called the Tokens, Disnified in the 1994 film “The Lion King,” and at some point even recorded by these folks…except “Wimoweh” is not a traditional tune–it’s a song written by South African musical pioneer Solomon Linda–and the word “Wimoweh” actually means nothing, it’s a word Seeger used because that’s what he thought the vocalists were singing on a recording. (The original is “‘uyimbube,” meaning “you’re a lion”). Linda’s actual composition is, “Mbube,” “The Lion,” which Linda first recorded in 1939 with his band, The Evening Birds. Rather than retain the rights and songwriting credit, Linda sold his share outright for just a few dollars. Big mistake. Not only did the tune sell 100,000 recordings in South Africa in the next decade and spawning a whole new genre of “mbube music,” but it also traveled to the U.S. via Seeger (who mistakenly thought Linda was receiving revenue for writing the song), and got a brand new set of factually inaccurate English lyrics for the Tokens to release in 1961. (For example, lions don’t typically live in the jungle–they live in the savannah, and, while lions do sleep up to 20 hours a day and therefore could technically be “sleeping tonight,” lions are primarily nocturnal. Yup.) Linda died in poverty in 1962. Only after the Disney version generated an estimated $15 million in revenue did Linda’s heirs successfully sue for compensation. A 2006 settlement acknowledged Linda’s composition and directed revenue to his family.

You’ll find the most detailed (and somewhat snide) account of this tale on the website, 3rdearmusic.com. It’s worth a read, though some of the language in the article isn’t appropriate for little kids.

For more information:
Solomon Linda’s original version | Mahotella Queens perform Mbube | Popular version by The Tokens

South Africa–Music

During the high-stakes struggle against Apartheid throughout the bulk of the 20th century every note of music created by a South African meant something. Black South Africans made music as direct protest, as a form of lament, as a way to respect their ethnic roots, as a way to express dedication to the struggle. White South Africans made protest music as well, or protested Apartheid by making music with black South Africans; some even made music to support the regime. In such politically charged times, even South African music that ostensibly made no statement made a statement by not making a statement. (Watch the documentary “Amandla!” for an inspiring overview of South African music and the many ways is helped bring an end to Apartheid.)

Even before formal Apartheid, South African music told stories of survival through struggle. Isicathamiya, which is a Zulu word that means, depending who you ask, “to stalk like a cat” or “tip toe guys,” originated among 19th black South Africans forced to work in gold and diamond mines. These workers sang Christian hymns, they sang about their home villages, they sang about their difficult lives…all in a heartbreakingly harmonious a capella form that was quiet enough not to wake their nighttime guards. As part of isicathamiya the miners created a form of toe-tapping dancing called “isicathulo,” which in Zulu roughly means “gumboots.” Singers tapped their feet in a sort of Morse Code while dancing to communicate with each other down mine shafts. (In class we’ll try a bit of isicathulo.)

Mbaqanga music rose in the 1960s as Western instruments and musical styles like doo-wap and jazz mixed with local Zulu melodies. “Groaners” like Simon “Mahlathini” Nkabinde (nicknamed the “lion of Soweto”), and vocal groups like the Mahotella Queens (more on both below) became increasingly popular among both black and white South Africans, inspiring the white South African government to raze townships that supported it, fearing they’d create a place for the mixing of races.

While isicathamiya and mbaqanga live on, as do styles like “Sotho-traditional” and “Zulu-traditional” which revisit and reinterpret traditional ethnic musical forms, South African youth today may just as well be fans of reggae, punk, metal, goth or “kwaito,” a churning blend of house and hip-hop infused with African melodies and rhythms. Since 1994 there has also been a resurgence of Afrikaans music, some of which hearkens consciously back to an age during which South African Afrikaaners had more political power, though just as much of which is straight pop.

More information:
Wikipedia: music of South Africa | Afropop.org’s description of mbaqanga | More about isicathamiya: “Choral Music From KwaZulu Natal” | Rosa’s Gumboot Lesson | Voëlvry music (“free as a bird” or “outlawed”): Afrikaaner anti-establishment music from the ’80s | the complex resurgence of Afrikaaner music | the soundtrack of the movie South African movie “Tsotsi” — “Tsotsi” helped bring kwaito to an international audience

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