Edited by Azizi Powell
This is pancocojams post presents an excerpt from the chapter "Singing And Learning South African Folk Songs" by Sarah-Jane Gibson in the 2019 book So You Want to Sing World Music: A Guide for Performers edited by Matthew Hoch.
That chapter provides information and descriptions of South African istibili songs.
The Addendum to this post showcases a video of a South African university choir singing an istibili song.
The content of this post is presented for ethnomusicology, cultural, and historical purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Sarah-Jane Gibson for this research and writing and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those associated with The Central University of Technology (CUT) and all those associated with the South African television series Varsity Sing. And thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
I present excerpts of online books, thesis, articles, discussion forums etc as a means of raising awareness about the subject matter that is found in those sources. I encourage visitors to this blog to read these sources in their entirety. That said, I confess that I've not read the entire content of these showcased sources.
These excerpts are given on this blog "as is" except for citations/notes. I've added ellipses in brackets [...] to indicate the content that I've not quoted.
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EXCERPT FROM THE CHAPTER "SINGING AND LEARNING SOUTH AFRICAN FOLK SONGS" (by Sarah-Jane Gibson)
From the Google Book Preview of the Book "So You Want To Sing Wold Music-A Guide To Preformers" edited by Matthew Hoch
"Page 314
There are multitude of choral singing styles that can be found in South Africa, ranging from songs connected to religious ritual to those that have become synonymous with the anti-apartheid struggle. This chapter focuses on a style of folk song called istibili which is directly translated as “sounds”. It is this category of singing that is most commonly adapted by Western choirs due to some similarities in structure with Christian hymns. Choirs invariably enjoy adding these songs to their repertoire, and they are usually well received by audiences.
The advantage of working with a folk music idiom is that songs are meant to adapt and change in order to suit the group that is performing the music. Indeed, it is the unique interpretation of the folk song that is often most appreciated by audiences. This chapter provides a brief historical overview of the development of istibili and its stylistic features following by a method of teaching it to choirs that are more familiar with Western classical repertoire and techniques.
Historical Overview
[...]
p 316
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, a new school of thought emerged. Reverend Tiyo Soga (1829-1871) , the leader of this group, questioned the wisdom of abandoning a traditional heritage in favor of a Western lifestyle where they were not fully accepted. His successor, William Gquoba (1840-1888), felt that conversion to Christianity was not bringing what the missionaries had promised such as good jobs and social acceptance. Therefore, modernists began looking for “a distinctly African concept of civilization,” desiring to develop an identity and culture that would unify the black communities within South Africa. Political leaders began to emerge, such as John Tengo Jabavu (1859-1921), who began to focus on “proving themselves worthy of equal participation with whites in the power structures of the Cape Colony”.
Music became an important part of expressing the identity, dreams, and experiences of this emerging black middle class. There was a return to traditional African music that was blended with missionary musical styles and the visiting minstrels from the United States. This music is referred to as neotraditional and istibili is part of this subset.
A large portion of neotraditional music was adopted into the freedom movement during apartheid, particularly hymns that were written by black composers, such as Enoch Sontonga (1873-1905), Reuben Tholakele Caluza (1895-1969), and Mzilikazi Khumalo (b. 1932). Hymns were placed in a political context, becoming secularized and gaining new meaning. The most famous of these hymns is “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika”, written by Sontonga, which became the anthem of the African National Congress (ANC) and which was sung by many members of the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM). This hymn is now part of the South African national anthem.
During apartheid, people sang about their struggle, often commenting that they could express their emotions and frustrations through singing without getting arrested, whereas if they spoke about it, they were at greater risk. This was because it was impossible for law enforcement to prove whether groups were singing a Christian hymn or a political protest song. Therefore, communal singing- and ultimately the choral formation- became a vehicle for the expression of a national identity.
[p. 317 -This page is not a part of this Google book preview.]
p. 318
... be “made up at any time”, it is not written down, and can be adapted and changed according to who is present to sing it. They are popular at social events, particularly at choral concerts. Songs generally relate to something that is occurring at that time. As one informant said “We can be sitting together and decide to sing about something that is happening around us.”
[...]
p. 319
...The Wesleyan hymns that were taught in the mission schools have a prescribed bass part with prescribed notes and use the chord progression I-IV-V-I, which makes use of cadential endings. This harmonic structure was adapted in neotraditional music. In istibili, there is a frequent use of parallel fifths and octave motion within the SATB harmonic structure, which is reminiscent of tonal shifting in older traditions.
Isitibili also incorporates movements. African mission students had been forbidden to dance due to its connection to traditional religious ceremony and missionary concern over the sexual overtones of combining sound and movements. However, missionaries were finding it difficult to get students to stand still while they were singing, so interpretive movement was introduced. Students could make actions to match the words that they were singing in a similar manner to British school action songs and singing games. This adaptation created new choreographed patterns that became typical of neotraditional choral performances. However, synchronized rhythmic movement and vocal harmony in action songs can also be traced back to traditional performances, such as the Zulu amahubo anthems.
This neotraditional style also makes use of falling melodic lines. Texts are short and repeated often but are important, as they “reflect the attitudes and opinions of segments of urban groups”. The melody is shaped like a spoken sentence. In other words, the way a word is said will affect the rhythm of the melody. There are also instances of “scat” singing. Vocal exclamation, whistling, and ululating are used, and improvisation is encouraged. These songs are cyclic; therefore as much variety as possible is incorporated, sometimes with stark contrasts between sections, through the use of dynamics, movement, improvisation, and layering voices. When ending a song, the choir typically slows down. Generally, when wanting to sing softer, the choir will move down with their bodies.”...
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ADDENDUM- SHOWCASE VIDEO
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Varsity Sing: Istibili
kyknettv, Published on Sep 22, 2016
Die Sentrale Universiteit van Tegnologie (SUT) het die Varsity Sing-gehoor met die lied “Istibili” bekoor.
-snip-
Google translate from Afrikaans to English:
The Central University of Technology (CUT) confessed the Varsity Sing audience with the song "Istibili".
-snip-
"Confessed" doesn't fit that sentence. Since "avowed" is a synonym for "confessed", maybe the word "wowed" [meaning "excited"; "thrilled", "awed") is what that translation service meant.
-snip-
Given the chapter that I just read about istibili music (parts of which are presented above), I think that a better English translation of this summary is "The Central University of Technology (CUT) wowed the Varsity Sing audience with an Istibili song".
This video was showcased in the 2018 pancocojams post entitled "South African Varsity Sing Videos: The Central University of Technology - Istiblili (sung in Tsotsitaal, with lyrics & comments) https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/south-african-varsity-sing-videos.html.
A recent comment in the pancocojams comment section of that post motivated me to search online for more information about "istibili" and resulted in my finding a Google preview version of this showcased chapter. When I published that 2018 post I thought that "Istibili" was the title of the song that that South African university choir sang. However, given the information that is given in the chapter that is quoted in this post, I now think that "istibili" was the category of songs that choirs sang at that time in that Varsity Sing competition.
Here are three comments from that video's discussion thread:
Beatrix Van Neel, 2017
"i need the words of this song beautiful"
**
REPLY
7. Buntu Ngcebetsha, 2017
"I think "the car is moving, the car is not stopping"
**
REPLY
8. RECTOR Kgapana, 2017
""Koloi ha e eme, Koloi ya tsamaya"
(Stop the Car, the car is moving)
Ha ke o nkemele hle ke Palame
(Can it wait for me to get in it)
ke yeela, e se fihlile
(There it is, it has arrived)
I hardly hear some of them"
-snip-
Another commenter in that discussion thread shared additional lyrics for this song, but I don't know if Google Translates' results for the English meaning of those words is correct. Google translate indicated that those words are Sesotho, but several commenters in that discussion thread wrote that the lyrics were sung in Tsotsitaal. Tsotsitaal is language that is made up of Sesotho slang and several other languages. Here's the lyrics that the commenter gave followed by Google Translate's English translation:
Privy Dermash, 2017
"Ditshaba rena re diemetse Nomakanjani,
Nomakanjani...
Koloi ae yeme
Koloi ya tsamaya ×2
Thiba koloi
Koloi ae eme
Koloi ya tsamaya ×2
A ke long kemele tlhe ke palame
Koloi ya tsamaya ×2
Thiba koloi
Koloi ae eme
Koloi ya tsamaya ×2
Koloi koloi ya tsamaya ke ela
Tsama tsama koloi
Koloi ke yela×2
Ke yela
Ke yela×2
ESE e fihlile
Ke yela ×2
Bakayi ba palamii ba yona
Ba kae bapalami ba yona
Ke yela ESE e fihlile ×2
Haibe wanthata ×3
Onthekele seanamarena
(Bapalami ba yona)
Ba kae bapalami ba yona
Ke ena ESE e fihlile ×2
Haebe wanthata×3
Onthekele seanamarena×3
Ai abuti o×3
Onthekele seanamarena
Hare palame koloi e
Bothi a wela
Rene re bapala
Motho a wela"
GOOGLE TRANSLATE RESULTS FROM SESOTHO TO ENGLISH
"We represent our nations Nomakanjani,
Anyway ...
Let the car stop
The car went × 2
Turn off the car
The car will stop
The car went × 2
Let me just wait and ride
The car went × 2
Turn off the car
The car will stop
The car went × 2
The car drove away
Drive the car
The car is that × 2
I'm coming
This is × 2
It has arrived
This is × 2
The climbers are riding it
Where are the passengers?
I am ESE reached × 2
Haibe lover × 3
Add to your list
(Its players)
Where are the passengers?
Here is the ESE reached × 2
If you love × 3
Look at me as an × ×
A big brother o × 3
Add to your list
While riding in this car
They will fall
Rene play
Man falls "
-snip-
The "add to your list" sentence that is repeated several times in this translation is likely from the website that these lyrics came from and has nothing to do with the song itself.
I don't think that this Google translation is correct or if it is correct, the words may have "hidden" meanings.
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