Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part series that showcases videos of South African Gospel Brass Bands. Each post showcases ten videos. I had difficulty limiting this series to a sampling of just twenty videos. There are many more videos of this type of music on YouTube.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/videos-of-south-african-gospel-brass.html for Part I of this series.
The content of this post is presented for religious, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
EDITOR'S COMMENT AND QUESTIONS
I'd love to learn more about this genre of South African musical performance. The summary statement of some of these videos indicates that the videos were filmed during a feast day. I'm not sure if this means a Catholic saint feast day, or some other religious feast day.
The title of a featured video featured on Part I of this series [Example #4] indicates that the band is an "Apostolic pentecostal christian brass band (from) Tembisa South Africa". However, a viewer corrected that title writing that the band is from "St, Paul from Vaal". That name suggest that that is a Catholic denomination. Many of the other titles of these South African brass band videos give a Saint name as the name of the church to which the band is affiliated. Yet, the clothing attire of the females who march with the band and what appears to me to be a strict gender segregation of the band suggest that these bands are Apostolic Pentecostal churches. I hope that someone reading this can provide more information about the religious denominations from which these bands come.
Also, many South African brass band videos include the word "majeremane". I don't know what "majermane" means. Is this the name of a city in South Africa, or an annual performance/parade of South African brass bands?
-snip-
UPDATE: January 28, 2014
Hat tip to Anonymous January 28, 2014 at 9:13 AM for sharing this information as a comment to Part II of this series:
"Majeremane is the sotho name for "Germany" that is the nickname of the band, the church from which this band is from is ST Mirriam."
Thanks, Anonymous!
****
UPDATE: February 7, 2014
Thanks to doing more googling, I found a webpage that documents that the brass band tradition is an old Moravian [religious] tradition which started in Herrnhut Germany way back in 1734 [and] was introduced to South African congregations with the dedication of the Genadendal Training School on 12th September 1838" http://www.moravianbrass.co.za/index.php?page_name=more&menu_id=3&submenu_id=3.
Monrovians were the first missionary society in South Africa (1737) The Monrovian religion is an independent church that has links to the Lutheran church. http://www.safrika.org/morav_en.html
Read more excerpts from those websites in Part I of this post.
-snip-
It appears that brass bands from various South African Moravian churches perform at annual saint feast days throughout the year.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
(These videos are presented in chronological order based on their posting date with the oldest dated videos given first. There is no order preference for videos that are published on the same date.)
Example #1: 2013 Mokete Wa Leru
Ngedwani Mgcina Published on Apr 23, 2013
Majeremane (Selemo se secha)
Mehlomakhulu 2013
-snip-
I had previously posted this to Page I of this video. Hat tip to slam2011 for writing a comment indicating that "'Selemo se secha' seems to mean 'Happy New Year/Merry Christmas', at least in Lesotho."
****
Example #2: Kagiso Brass Band ZAR
Thams B Published on May 28, 2013
@ St. J in Jerusalem 2012
****
Example #3: Tembisa Brass Band (Straightline)
Mxolisi Dhludhlu Published on Jun 29, 2013
St John Brass Band at St Peter feast 2013
****
Example #4: Majeremane (Africa)
Mad Cap, Published on Jul 1, 2013
2013 Ma-Izaya feast
****
Example #5: St Phil (Ma'Izaya) 2013 Feast
Mad Cap Published on Jul 1, 2013
2013 feast
****
Example #6: Bapholoswa Ba Bethele Brass Band 2013
Mad Cap, Published on Jul 29, 2013
Bapholoswa Ba Bethele
****
Example #7: STP Vosloo 2013 Feast
Mad Cap Published on Oct 3, 2013
****
Example #8: St Canaan Brassband @ FBA 2013
Mad Cap, Published on Oct 3, 2013
I said it b4, small bands are coming, ayeye!!. Rookie of the year hands down!!
****
Example #9: Majeremane (phela a mandla)
Rocco Bling Published on Oct 9, 2013
****
Example #10: St John's Apostolic Faith Mission Church Band @ Seshego 2013
tebogo101, Published on Oct 23, 2013
Closing ceremony at Seshego,Polokwane , South Africa 22/09/2013
****
EELATED LINK
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/house-of-prayer-shout-bands.html to find a post about "shout bands", an African American religious brass band tradition.
****
Thanks to all the band members who are featured in these videos. Thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Majeremane is the sotho name for "Germany" that is the nickname of the band, the church from which this band is from is ST Mirriam.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous!
DeleteI really appreciate this information and have added it as an update to Part I and Part II of this series.
I'm also wondering are the churches that these bands are connected with Catholic churches or some other religious denomination?
to clarify Jeremane = Germany and Majeremane = Germans in plural form.
DeleteI'm wondering what is the connection between Germany and the South African brass bands or the St. Miriam's brass band, in particular?
Deletemy thinking is that the nickname would symbolise what germans stand for in particular the perfection in their cars such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi and hard working and being a strong nation. their positive ideals I would image that's what they would bring to such a band. hard working and very professional.
DeleteThanks for your comment, anonymous.
DeleteYour theory sounds quite plausible.
you can join their group on Facebook "ST Mirriam (Majeremane)".
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
DeleteI don't know why I didn't think to google "South African brass band traditions" before. But in doing so I found a web page that documents the history of this tradition as one from the Moravian church in South Africa. The Moravian church [from Germany] was the first missionary society in South Africa.
I added some comments in this post and more in Part I of this pancocojams post on South African brass bands.