tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post8322834588799259739..comments2024-03-28T07:58:41.643-04:00Comments on pancocojams: Excerpt From A 1997 Article About Isicathamiya Music (The Music Style Popularized By Ladysmith Black Mambazo) Azizi Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-50084223398801588112018-01-29T19:06:03.273-05:002018-01-29T19:06:03.273-05:00In the video embedded above notice the white glove...In the video embedded above notice the white gloves that the isicathamiya singers wear during their competition. <br /><br />That fashion accessory in these competitions can be directly traced to the Black American minstrel/vaudeville troupes such as Orpheus McAdoo and his Virginia Jubilee Singers extensively toured South Africa in 1890s and some years afterwards. <br /><br />Wearing white gloves was a fixture of blackfaced minstrelsy. Although that accessory was the mark of a fashionably dressed man and woman in Europe and the United States in the 18th century (and for woman up to much of the 20th century), I believe that racist White people associated with black faced minstrelsy used that accessory as one way of poking fun at Black people "putting on airs" and "pretending to be better than they were" {that is to say, better than racist White people thought that Black people were.<br /><br />However, to the formal dress suit wearing members of South Africa's isicathamiya groups, white gloves were (are) what they were meant to be- an accessory of a well dressed man. In addition, I believe that member of these a capella groups may also have worn (wear) white gloves for the same reason that mimes wear white gloves, to help direct attention to the movements of their hands as they sing.Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-76806627879410905322018-01-29T13:08:40.084-05:002018-01-29T13:08:40.084-05:00Here's an excerpt from a 2016 article about is...Here's an excerpt from a 2016 article about isicathamiya competitions in South Africa:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/singing-makes-us-strong-south-africa-gospel-music-isicathamiya/7532408" rel="nofollow">http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/singing-makes-us-strong-south-africa-gospel-music-isicathamiya/7532408</a> 'Singing makes us strong': The power of South Africa's Zulu gospel<br /><br />Friday 24 June 2016 10:18AMJanak Rogers<br /><br />"Isicathamiya is a traditional Zulu style of singing which emerged from South Africa at the turn of the 20th century. First brought to the international stage through Paul Simon's album Graceland, it's still being performed in raucous all-night competitions, as Janak Rogers witnessed.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />This afternoon there are only three groups performing, vying for small kitty they've all put a stake into. Some competitions have up to 30 groups, who sing and dance all day and all night in the hope of earning something worth taking home.<br /><br />Today, at best, if they win, they'll make a few dollars each.<br /><br />For Mdumxeni Xaba, the 34-year-old lead singer of Bergville Green Lovers, it's not about the money.<br /><br />'Our music is very broad, it tackles many things,' says Xaba. 'We sing about issues of HIV and AIDS, the youth, unemployment, xenophobia, crime—lots of things. All the challenges that are facing the country.'<br /><br />Mdumxeni Xaba is a teacher by day, but his deepest passion is music.<br /><br />'We sing about our lives, about the community,' he says. 'Many people here don't have jobs. But when they sing, they don't think about crime or doing bad things. Singing makes us strong.'"... Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.com