2012 YouTube Video Of Xhosa Women Performing "Overtone Singing" (Vocal Techniques That Are The Same As Or Similar To "Throat Singing")

UMNGQOKOLO - Thembu Xhosa - OVERTONE SINGING filmed 1985-1998 in South Africa

QuangHai Tran, May 17, 2012

All these video recordings were made by Prof.Dr. Dave Dargie in South Africa from 1985 and 1998 among the Xhosa tribe .

Mrs. Nowxayilethi Mbizweni sings the song "the Nondel'ekhaya with "ordinary" umnqokolo, umngqokolo ngomqangi and normal voice .

The trio perform Nondel'ekhaya with "ordinary" umngqokolo (Nowayilethi tried ngomqangi, but was battling with "flu")

Concert at Ngqoko, 22 march 1996 . Nowayilethi and Nosomething lead the Ngqoko group with umngqokolo etc.....

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post  showcases a 2012 YouTube video which documents Xhosa women in 1985-1998 performing "Umngqokolo", a type of overtone singing. These vocal techniques are the same as or similar to what is known as "throat singing". 

Some information about "Umngqokolo" is included in this pancocojams post along with selected comments from this showcase video's discussion thread.  

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the women who were filmed in this YouTube example. Thanks to Prof. Dr. Dave Dargie who recorded this singing in South Africa from 1985 to 1998. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube. -snip- Click -- for the pancocojams post entitled -- that includes some information about these vocal techniques without referring to them as "overtone singing" or "throat singing". **** INFORMATION ABOUT OVERTONE SINGING From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtone_singing

Overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, harmonic singing, polyphonic overtone singing, or diphonic singing, is a singing technique in which the vocalist produces two distinct pitches at the same time.

From a fundamental pitch made by a human voice, harmonic overtones can be selectively amplified through manipulating the dimensions and the shape of the resonant cavities of the mouth and the pharynx.[1][2][3][4]

Overtone singing should not be confused with throat singing, although many throat singing techniques include overtone singing. While overtone singing involves careful manipulation of the vocal tract, throat singing mostly involves the voice source.

[…]

South Africa

Some Thembu Xhosa women of South Africa have a low, rhythmic style of throat-singing, similar to the Tuvan Kargyraa style, called umngqokolo. It is often accompanied by call-and-response vocals and complicated polyrhythms.
-snip- This brief section is given at the end of longer sections about overtone singing in other parts of the world. Read comment #15 in this pancocojams post that refers to the tendency of placing Africans last (almost as an after thought) when it comes to positive customs that are found around the world.

**** INFORMATION ABOUT "UMNGQOKOLO" From AI Overview [result of my query What is Umngqokolo?"

Xhosa overtone singing, known as umngqokolo, is a rare and unique vocal art form practiced primarily by women among the Xhosa people of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. While throat-singing is widely associated with Central Asian traditions like those in Tuva, the Xhosa tradition is a distinct, indigenous African expression of harmonic overtones.

Technique and Sound

- Guttural Bass: Performers tighten their throat muscles to produce a low, rasping, and resonant fundamental bass tone, which is acoustically comparable to Tuvan kargyraa throat singing.

- Melody Creation: Singers maneuver their tongues and shape their mouth cavities to amplify high-pitched harmonic overtones above the low baseline.

- Instrument Mimicry: The vocal technique acoustically imitates traditional Xhosa musical bows, specifically the umrhubhe and uhadi.

Cultural Context and Practice

-Communal Performance: Often showcased by groups such as the Ngqoko Women´s Ensemble, the singing is polyphonic, featuring call-and-response patterns and complex rhythms.

-Preservation: Documented extensively by ethnomusicologists like Professor Dave Dargie, this endangered vocal tradition represents a remarkable cross-cultural parallel in human vocal capability.
-snip-
This AI Overview write-up cites this online source: Source -https://www.oberton.org/en/overtone-singing/styles/south-africa/

That source cites a number of papers by David Dargie, the film maker/recorder of the films that are documented in the 2012 YouTube video about Xhosa overtone singing. Here's an example of one of those papers:  

Dargie, David, and International Council for Traditional Music. Conference. Thembu Xhosa Umngqokolo Overtone Singing: The Use of the Human Voice as a Type of “Musical Bow” : A Paper Offered for the I.C.T.M. Conference, Berlin, June 1993. D. Dargie, 1993.

Dargie, David. Xhosa Music : Its Techniques and Instruments, with a Collection of Songs. 1, [Hauptbd.]. Cape Town [u.a.]: Philip, 1988.

**** SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THIS SHOWCASE VIDEO (with numbers added for referencing purposes only) A number of these comments are written in Xhosa and are given with their English language translations underneath.
UMNGQOKOLO - Thembu Xhosa - OVERTONE SINGING filmed 1985-1998 in South Africa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYj-55T6Uzs

2013

1. @freegratuits
"Great vid.  Thanks for posting.  I saw the Ngqoko cultural group in concert a few years ago and cried the whole time.  One of the best moments of my life.  I made sure to meet them afterwards and I shall never forget it.  Side note, Prof Dargie's Xhosa is fantastic!"

****
2014

2.@jimlotus7889
"I am a throat singer as well :) and once you get used to throat singing it does not hurt anymore, as one learns not to push to hard but to vibrate at a rate that feels good , it actually feels good if you do it the right way, it is very healing and meditative as the vibrations and overtones heal and repair the cells in the body :) namaste;)"

**
3. @jimlotus7889
"I am throat singer and I sing all styles from Tibetan Chant to Tuvan and when I found this I was blown away by the different styles and how they were able to get overtones in a different way then the Tuvans and everyone else:) , especially the one lady who shows us the different styles, she really gets some good overtones and gutteral chants so I learned to do it myself and I can tell you I sure love the different overtones I get and the chanting takes me away, it's really good to me :)"

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4. @gitarlawyer75
"This is amazing! I had no idea that people in Africa would practice this kind of overtone singing. I had always thought overtone singing was purely Asian."

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5. @siyababhotoroshluvuyo8509, 2015
"Ana Luiza Brown you has not heard the Mpondo boys do it."

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6. @siyababhotoroshluvuyo8509, 2015
"Ana Luiza Brown that means Mongolians is Xhosa. coz it's said all people come from Africa and Xhosa is Africa. just listen to a Mongolian woman nqgokoling- wow she ngqokoling like crazy"

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Reply
7. @maedrey753, 2016
"inuit sings too are similar"

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8. @Boogieforme, 2017
"Inuit throat singing is a game, rather than actual song. It also not incorporate overtones like Tuvans or Xhosa do :) Very cool too nonetheless!"

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9. @B0bChorba, 2019
"Mongolia, Tuva. 

Historical records suggests that St Columba (521-597AD) might have sung like this, when he brought all that he brought from the East back to the British Isles, and founded Christianity in Scotland.  When he sang, it completely confused the locals, who described his singing like thunder.

To hear contemporary accounts of medieval Welsh traditional singing, before it was banned with the law of execution by the English Queen Elizabeth I, Welsh shamonic singing to the rough-sounding crwth lyre was like "a buzzing bee", much like the singing from the steppes but without with the two tones.

* For the few Americans amongst us: England is one part of the UK, Wales and Scotland are completely different nations with different people and different intentions..!"
-snip-
This is how this comment was given in that video's comment section.

**
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10. @Rosannasfriend, 2019
"There are native Americans and indigenous groups in Canada as well who do this."

**
Reply
11. @Rosannasfriend, 2019
"It's also done in parts of Europe."

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Reply
12. @fuyunohiya, 2020
"sardians have their own overtone singing tradition as well"

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13. @noxolotshabangu8055, 2024
"The world needs to know that we Africans are the birth place of sound/music. Every instrument has it’s genesis on this continent. You will be amazed because everybody thinks we are the last at everything."

**
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14. @Tachy_Bunker, 2024
"It's mostly turkic (not turkish, turkic) peoples, like siberia or altais and central asia khorekteer. But you have some in Japan too, and a form of overtone and undertone singing developed in occidental regions."

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15. @noxolotshabangu8055, 2024
"I keep saying that Africans began it all. There’s no sound that is foreign to this continent. Every instrument is born here. It’s just sad that everyone thinks we are the last at everything."

****
2015

16. @ZENZILEMOLO
"South Africa, Eastern Cape...my Home. Xhosa tribe one of the most prominent tribe, love this ;)"

**
17. @rebs5314
"I miss you mam Nosomething. Rest in Peace mama. I was fortunate to work with these incredible women from eNgqoko. We traveled the world, New York, Greece, England, The Netherlands, countless. " Mamas" that's how we fondly called them. Ndiyanikhumbula bomama bam."

**
Reply
18. @ntombiyakhentese5119, 2023
"Mhakhulu wam Nosomthing Ntese umphefumlo wakhe mawuphumle ngoxolo"
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English:
"My grandmother Nosomthing Ntese, may her soul rest in peace."

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Reply
19. @selwasongelwa8258, 2018
"Are they from Lady Frere?"

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Reply
20.@profpuffofficial2, 2023
"@selwasongelwa8258  yes"

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21. @BonisaSiwayi
"wooow! I know these women.... they are still doing their thing even today.... they are from "Engqoko" a small village next to LadyFrere/Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.......... they were perfoming in England in 2008, Ngu daps ka Mr. Mbizweni lo une doek emhlophe (My Grade 9 class teacher)"

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22. @lebohanglekhelebane3408, 2018
"I can't find the place "Engqoko" is there any popular name?"

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Reply
23. @sakhelentlabezi3170, 2019
"@lebohanglekhelebane3408  lady frere"

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Reply
24. @sis.sinekhaya, 2019
"Engqoko is a village in Lady Frere, sikhula kusombelwa kungqungwa ke pha"
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English:
"Engqoko is a village in Lady Frere, we grow up surrounded by trees and bushes."

**
25. @lynch180
" just like mother earth singing... so beautiful and powerful..."

****
2016

26. @ninjacongo
"Absolutely brilliant! Had no idea overtone singing was a thing outside the Mongolian cultural sphere. Where can I hear more of this?

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2017

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2018

27.@NestorKornblum
"It was a great honor for me to sing with these women in the Parliament of World's Religions in Cape Town, 1999. We sang together, my own, Western style of Overtone Singing and Tibetan and Tuvinian throat singing, which surprised them enormously as in their Xhosa tribe nly the Women learn this style of Overtone Singing. It was even more special because we sang in the Chruch in District Six which was a bastion of Resistance during the Anti- apartheid struggle."

**
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28. @traskmiguel866, 2023
"Are there any recordings of that event in 1999 I am so curious in understanding the origins of these styles of singing?"

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2019

29. @busisiwengoma6114
"Except that first one, the rest sound familiar from when I was raised in my village. I did not know there was a formal name for the sounds though"

**
30. @skimanization
"Prof. Dave Gargie, a German, of University of Fort Hare, Eatern Cape, South Africa, did these recordings when there was no internet, youtube, etc. but captured the essence of the Xhosa indigenous songs, singing styles such as "Overtone Singing" or "UMNGQOKOLO" in the Xhosa language.  Some people have heared these sounds perhaps from Mongoleans but these sounds originate with the original people, the TWA or SAN or BUSHMEN/WOMEN as they are called by the whites.  In fact the XHOSA people of South Africa had very close relationships with these people and that is why their language is very similar to the TWA, using "Click" and "Throat" harsh sounds that are very difficult for other Africans and Europeans to imitate unless they grew up speaking or listening to the language. 

As I live in Europe I once demonstrated the "click" sounds to some of my fellow workers and students, they were all amazed and asked me "where did we get these sounds, and could they be expressed in Roman Numerals?".  I said YES!...in fact, we the XHOSA we use Roman Numerals to write our language including the "explosive click and throat sounds" we make when we speak.  One of them asked me if the children are also required to learn these difficult sounds, and she thought it's very unfair!!!  I said YES, and they always play and compose music and other games using these sounds, it's like breathing the air in and out...just like that...none of them feel any difficulty. 

When you listen to the TWA or Bushmen/women music you only here "Clicks and Throat" sounds with many other multi-phonic background sounds accompanied by complex rhythms.  If these sounds and rhythms are difficult for some of the tribes in Africa, how much more to the Europeans? But in case of Mongoleans or Chinese using "Throat singing" or UMNGQOKOLO it's clear that the ancient TWA and black Africans were more than likely to have lived in their countries and are now silenced or extinct as aborigines.  I came across that history of Africans as aborigines in many European, Asian, and the Americas. What I like about Prof.Dave Dargie is his curiosity about XHOSA music and for preserving it, during the times of colonisation and apartheid, and releasing it now on youtube for the present generation, and that's how I came to hear and know about him and our XHOSA traditional music at close range.  Thanks."
-snip-
I reformatted this comment from its original one paragraph to increase its readability.

** 
Reply
31. @bbl82, 2021
"Thank you for this detailed explanation 🙏🏽My dad worked at UFH until 1986. My cousin is into Xhosa history/culture. I’ll definitely pass on your explanation to him."

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32. @skimanization, 2021
"@bbl82  My father was born in e Dikeni not far from Fort Hare University, and myself having born and bred in Cape Town I always told myself that when I'm old enough I would teach my Xhosa culture, it's music, it's unique language, and so on.  That's why I'm an international musician and a self made scholar/historian.  Also aware that many of our great African leaders came from Fort Hare, and therefore I'll be glad to be associated with that university in the near future. There's a lot of misinformation and misconceptions about our past relationships with ABATWA.  Most people say we came from the north and conquered them in South Africa, not knowing that we are the miraculous ancient children of them, we have a great ancient history of co-existence and intermarriages.  I'd be more than pleased to discuss or argue this with anybody.  I live and work in the UK but always come back home sometimes.  Thanks."

**
33. @tranquanghai
"It was the discovery of throat singing performed by Xhosa women by Dr. David Dargie in 1983 in South Africa."

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34. zizisafespace, 2020
"@tranquanghai  he did not discover anything, our way of singing has always been prevelant since ancient times. Choose your words accordingly next time"

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35. @buhlemlokoti2709, 2021
"@rue8988  So therefore we can say that he made it known to the world, not discovered it. Its the wording that needs to be changed."

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36. @buhlemlokoti2709
"@zizisafespace  I totally agree Zizipho. One cant discover something that is already there from ancient times."

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37.@owezantsi5326, 2023
"@tranquanghai  niyasiqhela Nina. Discovery??? Abelunda bayaphapha"
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English:
"@tranquanghai  you guys are getting away from us. Discovery??? The Abelunda are flying."
-snip-
Read the AI Overview explanation for the phrase "The Abelunda are flying" in the discussion thread for this pancocojams post.

****
2020

38. @lornantsizi3573
"Still watching in 2020!! Ndiyinzalelwane kwaXhosa ndiyazingca!!!❤❤"
-snip-
"Still watching in 2020!! I am a proud Xhosa native!!!❤❤"

**
39. @KleeTheToppie
"16:42

I had to timestamp

Oooo I feel the vibesss with this, I love it❤❤💯💯"

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40. @zukomnukwa1726, 2022
"The best part of the entire"
-snip-
A number of other commenters indicated that the song at that time stamp was their favorite song in this film.

**
41. @mansamusa6505
"Growing up I've always enjoyed it when old women sing like this, just never new it was throat singing."

**
42. @nisalvare57
"I can't believe how similar the blues sounds to this. It's clear this musics influences are still present today. This is beautiful"

**
43. @simonmonty7171
"Almost sounded like blues at some point 🤔"

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44. @noxolotshabangu8055, 2024
"It is. They were created by the same people, Africans. There’s nothing that separates us at all."

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45. @politonno2499, 2025
"Central and southern african traditional music are one of the best indigineous music in the world. Some of them are the roots of rock and roll and blues"

**
46. @enzoluhlelihle4211
"Umhlobo wenene fm is letting us down as a xhosa nation why they don't play this kind of music interd of playing other cultures music like zulu music and phondoland music, please umhlobo wenene play us our own music ndiyanicela"
-snip-
From AI Overview:
"Umhlobo wenene is a national radio station owned by the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation). Its main studio is located in Gqeberha (Eastern Cape), South Africa."...

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47.@nolufefentanjana8405, 2024
"Lamarhuxu omhlobo kumnke bonke Abantu zange basiphakamisa isintu pha bebesicinezela"
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English:
"Those so-called friends abandoned us; they never uplifted our people—instead, they oppressed us."

**
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48. @thegoat5141, 2025
"Yoh, Radio2000 and SAFM play more Xhosa music than Umhlobo Wenene. Ndayeka ukumamela umhlobo wenene"
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English:
"Yeah, Radio2000 and SAFM play more Xhosa music than Umhlobo Wenene. I stopped listening to Umhlobo Wenene"

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49. @GeneralMkhwanazeee, 2026
"Programe director has a boss and they are there for a pay day......"

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50. @tiffany1717
"Lalah Hathaway the American singer brought me here.  She does this. She was teaching the history."

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51. @mrmister1657
"I hope they can keep this culture alive"

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52. @user-ce5yh3zx4v
"@xxTsitsanaxx  i should have been more specific. Unfortunately i grew up in the city and i am yet to see this type of singing."

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53. @user-ce5yh3zx4v
"So sad these are my people and we don't practice this kind of singing anymore".

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54. @jeromelj1010
"Steven Bantu Biko’s father is from this village, e Ngqoko"

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55. @Lindaduba-sf4pu, 2024
"I didn't that Steve Biko is from Lady Frere..

Wow..

Stompie Mavi is from Queenstown yena."

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2021

56. @gabby3056
"it really seems like something to behold can only imagine what its actually like bein there clappin with them and appreciating their rhythm and style"

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57. @Dve_Svyatyni, 2021
"roots of Hip Hop"

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58. @elsakristina2689
"I can hear hints of a gospel melody! Maybe it came from the melodies of this tradition."

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59. @mahaliag7488
"Blues, jazz, gospel. Black roots run deep"

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60. @noxolotshabangu8055, 2024
"Gospel is a creation of Africans. Why would you think they are not connected, including jazz."

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2022

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2023

61. @siyavuyambuli284
"My people went via the ships and sang the blues."

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62. @Guizzexe, 2025
" @siyavuyambuli284 i am so sensitive to this history. And I think, as an artist from 2025, we are due to thank these people for what they have created ."

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63. @anar_0035
"11:40 to 12:23 was a vibe fr"

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2024

64. @poisonboxingfitness
"Am Xhosa and am in South Africa but, you won't believe how greatful I am of these videos and lessons to learn. 🎉"

**
65. @khalemomohlafuno44
"This is AmaXhosa in Lesotho

In South Africa they don't sing like.this"

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66. @noxolotshabangu8055
"@khalemomohlafuno44 You are so wrong. Where do you think Madosini comes from? Please do tell untruths about our culture, if you don’t know it’s better to be quiet. Please. This music exists through out the Greater Cape Province."

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67.@MrUtnab
"@khalemomohlafuno44  that is a lie. These are women of Ngqoko in the Eastern Cape. That is the only village that still has Umgqokolo."

 **
68. @gigstheartist682
"Those woman would sing me into a trance 😭😭"

**
69. @sakhematiti4513
"I always cry every time I listen these grandmas singing.. the remind my grandma ❤️❤️😭😭😭"

**
70. @lumkilentetha
"Growing up as a Xhosa boy in the mountains of Quthing, Lesotho, I have always believed that our strong Xhosa culture continues to thrive here, even to these days. It brings me joy to see that the same kind of music was  sung by Xhosa people in South Africa. The girls used to sing these songs "Ejakeni", "Emchochweni" nase "sejandweni" . Amakhwenkwe oona echocha"

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71. @vuyolwethumangqwengqwe5226
"Kumnandi uva nase Lesotho nisibambile isiXhosa"
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English:
"It's nice to hear that Lesotho is holding Xhosa"
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: Here's my standard English translation for that Xhosa sentence:
"It's nice to hear that Xhosa people living in [the nation of Lesotho] are still carrying on Xhosa traditions.

****
72.@gugulethuthwala4406
"😭 I'm Zulu from KZN, I dreamt of ds people singing for me and I was dancing differently, bengithi ngiphupha izinto zami ezingekho" .
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English:
"😭 I'm Zulu from KZN, I dreamt of people singing for me and I was dancing differently, I thought I was dreaming of things that didn't exist."

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73. @TaLloyd5, 2025
"Just shows ukuthi singabantu banye izingane zikamnguni"
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English:
"Just shows that we are all the same people, children of the same god."

****
2025

74. @keketsomega8358
"Thembu guys who go to the mountain song like that"

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75.@RainyBoi-g2v
"One of the best throat singers"

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2026

76. @j.vizgirdaitė
"My parents are Lithuanian and the group singing reminds me of sutartinés, a melody will invoke itself while the singer changes to a different melody"

**
77. @keketsomega8358
"Bantu spirituality. Its called ubungoma or Ngoma. Healing though music"

**
78.@MlungisiNonkonyana-py9wh
"Thanks to whosoever showcased this masterpiece I as a Xhosa nation we owe you an honor this is what I call investigative research  and offcourse without being bias or derogatory thanks for such an exhibition"

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Xhosa (South African) Music: Singing , Dancing, & Hand Clapping (Excerpt from 1981 Dissertation By Deirdre Doris Hansen), Part II

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents Part II of my excerpt of a 1981 dissertation by Deirdre Doris Hansen, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. I happened upon this PDF while searching online for information about the body stances and movements that were done and are done while singing and dancing to isiXhosa music. 

This excerpt is from page 113 through page 153 (with portions of those pages and with a number of those pages not included in this excerpt.)

This post is a continuation of my (somewhat arbitrary) excerpting of sections of that lengthy 411 page dissertation. That pancocojams post https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/10/xhosa-south-african-music-singing.html was originally published in October 2023 and is completely reprinted in October 2026 provides an excerpt of chapter 2 of that dissertation (from 19 to page 41). A number of portions of those pages weren't  excerpted. 

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Deirdre Doris Hansen for her research and writing. Thanks to all those who contributed to this research and thanks to the person or persons who published this dissertation online.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/10/xhosa-south-african-music-singing.html for the reprint of October 2023 forthe post that I'm now referring to as Part I of this pancocojams series that consists of excerpts of Xhosa music, singing, dancing, and hand clapping.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/10/2012-youtube-video-of-xhosa-women.html  for a pancocojams post that showcases a 2012 YouTube video which documents Xhosa women in 1985-1998 performing "overtone singing" (a vocal technique that is the same as or similar to "throat singing".

(A portion of the dissertation excerpt that is found below in this pancocojams post discusses that form of singing without using the term "overtone singing" or the term "throat singing").  
****
DISCLAIMER
I am an African American who knows very little about South African culture other than what I've read online and offline and what I've watched in YouTube videos.

I recommend that people interested in traditional Xhosa music read that entire dissertation or, at least, a fuller portion of that dissertation that I'm excerpting in this pancocojams blog.

In addition to the valuable cultural information and observations about amaXhosa culture, this dissertation includes riveting accounts about how Deirdre Doris Hansen, a White South African woman, eventually was accepted by some and then by other (but not all) amaXhosa, which enabled her to do ethnomusicology fieldwork among that population during apartheid (1969-1972).  

That said, it's also important to note the dates that this field work was done and recognize that the this is a historical picture of Xhosa music and dance that undoubtedly has changed considerably since that 1960-1972.

It would be interesting to read current descriptions about that subject from Xhosa people or other people from South Africa. It would be even greater to view current online videos about the types of Xhosa music and dance that are discussed in this 1981 university dissertation. 

Please share any information and/or video and other online links that you are aware of. Thanks!  

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1981 DISSERTATION EXCERPT 

[from fieldwork among the amaXhosa in 1969-1972].  

The text of this dissertation is given "as is" (with typographical errors or misspelled words). 

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/188774534.pdf

THE MUSIC OF THE XHOSA - SPEAKING PEOPLE

Deirdre Doris Hansen 

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,

for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Grahamstown 1981

[…]

[page] 113

..."Music is an intrinsic part of Cape Nguni social life; it is performed and enjoyed by a large number of people, many of whom are accomplished in some form of music, while a few are considered to be outstanding musicians. In western modern
industrial societies, with their complex division of labour, and marked as they are by occupational specialization, advanced technologies and scientific knovJledge, music is not as fully integrated into daily life. Although many people listen to,

[page] 114

and enjoy it, relatively few peoplA actively participate in it and even fewer are accomplished. People are divided socially into specialized groups - artists, scholars, artisans, merchants, engineers, etc. - and every person depends on his fellowmen for a livelihood. But because he never meets all of them, this , interdependence of people in a common task t is forgotten  Blacking 1969: lO ). In contrast, there is
still face - to - face co - operation in Cape Nguni society: each perS(jrl is aware of hifl independe'1.ce on others, although he is self - supporting. Thus eV9ryone tends to forget how important everyo~e else is in society. Music is no longer an integral and functioning part of society; it has become entertainment, or a~ least is closely connecte1 with it.

[page] 115

As such' it brings people together for as long as it is seen and heard, and then it is forgotten and people are separated once more' ( Blacking 1964: 41). An example is
the symphony season of the National Orchestra of the South African Broadcasting Corporation which is held annually and which everyone who can afford it, attends. In view of this one can argue that western European music reinforces social
solidarity in much the same way as Xhosa music, for it brings together a certain section of the society for a certain length of time. But the solidarity function of traditional Xhosa music was much greater for it brought together a very large
portion of the society, and the whole society conceptually.

Th8 principle of individual in community is epitomized in the structure of Xhosa music. Just as the life of each person 

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is bound up with the community and its well - being, so in music are the efforts of each person directed toward the satisfactory performance of a song. Each person must sing and dance well and co - operate with his neighbour so that the total pattern of the song be correct and its performance therefore satisfactory and successful. Thus in both society and in music, the individual contributes to the good of the community.

Since almost everyone participates in music, there is no basic distinctio~ between , artist ' and ' audience ' which is characteristic of western European music. The concepts ' art and' artist ' reflect the specialization which is a main feature of modern complex societies, and which is virtually absent in simple societies.

In Cape Nguni society today, as far as performances of traditional Xhosa music are concerned, there is no separation from' artist ' and' audience, because everyone sings with and not for someone. There is, therefore, no concept of ' solo I musical performance which implies such a separation.

Vocal style and vocal technique

In communal performances, ' s610 ' singing is confined to starting a song and leading off the chorus. The' soloist t 16 is called umhlabeli ( song leader) or umkhokeli entlabelweni ( , leader in the singing' ). He/she will - hlabela ( lit. ' stab for ' ) the chorus, who - ~ ( I agree ' ) in response. IDlabe la . is used when referring to the singing of one person. The phrase "uku hlaba umkhosi " ( , to sound the war cry' ), which was used in olden times, is still heard today at Black competitive sporting events, e.g. football matches. When the rival teams sing their songs to encourage their players, they are said to" hlaba umkhosi ". - Vuma a lso means' I to sing I ( cf. ..;;uku=~_vu~m_a, p. 19 ), but it is used in non - musical contexts, as when a person signifies his approval by a consenting nod and/or grunt of the head, when he is said to I umvum' umhloko I. - Vuma denotes the singing of two or more persons. It is used in various contexts ( thes'e are given in the Xhosa dicti'onaries ) but has two main mean ings: (i) agree, consent, assent to, accede and so on, and

(ii) to sing, always with some one, or others. Thus - vuma also indicates the nature of Xhosa music: it is harmonic in concept; it is something done by several persons, and conflists of several voices sounding together. Furthermore, - vuma implies that the part sung by the chorus ( who are called

[page] 117
ab~',vumi ) must fit, mllst agree with the part sung by the : o~e leader. In fact, the chorus part derives from the song leader's part, and finishes it off musically. Once both parts are sung, the song pattern is established.

The steady handc lap accompaliment ( u':~ - qhwaba ) \-Jhich co~stitutes the metrical framework of the song ( as it does of near ly a 11 Xhos.~, music ) is usua lly begun by the leader of Vie chorils, either befor·' or after the song leader enters with 
the S03f melody. Exceptions to this general rule are the , perso~al ' so~gs (amagwijo ) in which the claps are often introduced by the ' owner " 1<10 c.lso ac-t s as song leader ( cf Figure 13 (a) and (b) :l34-6). Song and clap entries never coincide.

[...]

[page] 124

The song commences with a statement of the song-melody by the sone leader and chorusj this may be regarded as an Introduction. At first glance this Introduction appears to have been abridged, having a total duration of 11X~ clap beats, whereas strophe length, whic~ becomes apparent in the second statement of the song melody, ( No.2 in transcription, Figure ll(a) , is 16)(.') clap beats. In fact, the song leader's part which 'lines the song' ( i.e. introduces it ) actually commences between the 2nd and 3rd claps of the basic metre (X = where the claps would be). The claps are introduced by the chorus in bar 12, on a beat corresponding to no. 14 of the basic clap pattern of 16 claps.

[…]

[page] 125

It is do~e quite spontaneo~sly, and there is no prescribed vari3tion procedure for any specific type of song. 

Improvisation is a st~ndnrd techGique of Xhosa m~sic, a~d l~ccent - variation is a way of improvising on the basic cl~pped pattern of a so~g witho~t in any way disturhing its vitally important rhyth~ic organization.

Tone quality is fairly important to the Cape Nguni.

Although their singing emerges initially fro~ an I open' or relatively relaxed throat, and has a smooth and rounded quality ( the song le~der being the exception as she tends to sing rather stridently), it changes during the course of a song when the singers, caught up in the emotional intensity engendered by the music, start to shout rather than to sing. 

This forced singing results in an overall I big sound " which is what is required if·a song is to qualify as being sung well.

Spe~king generally, the Cape Nguni may be said to sing with a I relaxed, op~n - throated I vocal technique, which becomes more tense and hoarse - sounding as the perforri1ance get sunder way. Thus their vocal style falls easily into the song style category assessed for the ' Bantu - African Hunter core ' ( excluding the Pygmies and Bushmen) by Alan Lomax and Edwin Erickson ( 1968). Speaki:lg about the' remarkable homogen - eity , of song - ztyle ' illustrhted on the African map these authors write:

'This striking uniformity of style covering perhaps a quarter of the continent, and linking large numbers of Bantu - speaking people to the Southern coast of the bulge and adjacent portions of the Sudan, may well be an important historical marker. The Upper Nile is the most similar to the South African Bantu, s~gg~8ting perhaps a style trace following the li~es of East African pastoralism' ( Lomax 1968: 92 - 94 )

 [page] 126

Concerninp: the singing style of these peoples, Lomax and Erickson continue:
'The r?gional profile is dominated by the style features of the Bantu - African Hunter core. The maJor approach to song is choral and antiphonal, with the characteristic use of overlap, so that at least two parts are fr0quently active at the same time. A well - blended, rhythmically tight, often polyphonic choral performance is the norm in most areas. The major vocal style is clear and unconstricted but with playful and intermittent use of high register, yodel, nasality, rasp and forcefulness. Rhythm is strictly maintained, as in most primitive styles and in most well - blended styles as well. Consonants are slurred over and texts are highly repetitious.

Everything contributes to an open texture, inviting participation fostered by a rock - steady beat, and by clear, liquid voices singing one note per syllable multileveled, multiparted, highly integrated, and playful - voiced' ( ibid. ).

Th8 above assessment is broadly descriptive of the singing style of the Cape Nguni; however, there are certain vocal characteristics which, as we shall see, are peculiar to Cape Nguni singing, and these will be discussed shortly. Hoarseness is usually the result of singing loudly and long. Should singers become hoarse or even lose their voices, they are usually congratulated for having given a satisfactory performance. On the other hand, should a singer , squeeze ' the sound from hiS/her throat ( - khameka ) to the extent that he makes screeching sounds ( khala kabukha1i_), he/she is given a violent poke or push, (I have seen a woman tap such an offender sharply on the head with her stick) and told to lower ( - thob~ ) hiS/her voice, and not to I sing like a child I. Children tend to Sing at full volu~e; this is
taken for granted and never checked, unless they also screech or make similar unpleasant sounds.

 [page] 127

School choirs are trained rather rigorously. I have attended countless r~hearsals, and in all these great attention was paid to tone quality as well as general interprgtation of the song, the choirmaster often intro ducing ~~pressiv~ signs into the solfa score and i'1sisting that the children observe them. Should the child~en have fa.iled to sing the exact notes written in the score, " hich they were' taught by rote ( a~'ld they nearly always di:1 this they \~er(' not checked so long as the notes that they DID sing fitted in with the other voicR parts. School children thus did exactly what their tribal brothers and sisters did when they sang. They simply improvised on their respective voice pout s \"l:'lich they had assiduous ly learnt by rote.

Variation in tone quality is of far greater importance than tone quality per see The rhythmic 'heterophony , which results when a number of people sing together, takes on tone colour, when a few of them' sing with the throat' ( - vuma ngomqala ) and' change the voice' ( jika ilizwi) OR produce peculiar vocal - percussive sounds in regular metre. 

The voice - changing technique called uku - ngqokola is known and practised by all the chiefdom clusters. The Bhaca and Mfengu have an alternate term - uku - ndyondya - meaning , to breathe with difficulty, as in cases of asthma; to speak in a deep voice ' A Mfengu woman described - ndyondya as ' singing in a deep. rasping voice, breathing with trouble as if one had umkhuhlane ( umkhuhlwane ) ( catarrh, 'flu, etc. )'. The voice takes its rise from a partially constricted gullet; the singer presses his chin back into the neck, focuses his voice down into the bottom of his throat ( - deni, lit. ' down there, a long way' ), and

[page] 128

sings as throatily as he can. This detracts from the clarity of the notes of the melody. The lee;ato phrasing, character istic of a II Cape Nguni singing, bpcomes distorted: the singer deliberately slides from one tone to the next in a heavy glissando. Some singers do not sink their chins into the n 0 ck, and one can observe and feel their throat muscles become taut and distended as they sing. Vocal tension is considerable, ~nd the voice register is lower than it would normally be. Informants told me that one could change the voice I any way one Liked I but this was the most common way to do so. They also told me that old men and women are the best abangqokoli because their voices are I deni I anyway. 

Uku - ngqokola is done by any singer who wishes to do so. I never heard more than two people - ngqokola at the same time, and when I askeJ why this was so, I was told that too many people I roaring I would I hide' the song, and that uku -ngqokola was a way to I make taste of a song I and not to spoil it. Long practice is necessary before one becomes proficient at this voicR changing technique; the difficulty lies in
sustaining it for some length of time. A II too often the singer becomes hoarse or temporarily loses his voice. For these reasons, but more for the musical one (mentioned earlier) - that it is supposed to enhance a song, ngqokola is done
episodically in the course of a song.

[...]

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[...]

Vocal Sounds

These are non - musical sounds that qualify as music when they are made in musical contexts.

(i) uku - tshotsha

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This may best be described as the series of growls, roars and snarls made to a regular metre by adolescent boys at their party - umtshotsho - as they dance to the singing and clapping done by their girlfriends. The boys - tshotsha as they perform
the shaking movement - uku - tyityimba. Uku - tshotsha is the , singing' of adolescent boys and therefore is considered to be music. The' dressed' equivalent of these boys attend umbhayizelo dances for which they wear flared patched trousers and bright scarves. They perform the same vocal sounds which

[page] 131

they call uku - bhayezela. (Example No.7 on Tape la ).

(ii) uku - bhod1a (., to bring wind up from the stom2ch ' ) are the belching sounds made by young unmarripd men when dancine at their parties ( iintlomb~ ), at which their girl friends provide the singing and clappilg, and occasionally participate in the dancing. (Example No.8 on Tape 1a ).

(iii) uku - godla sounds are similar to those of uku - tshotsha; they sound as if one is trying to clear ones throat, or collect inG saliva to expectorate, whereas - tshotsha may be described as pharyngeal roaring. Uku - godla is done by anyone and in
any musical context, although men do so far more than women.

On one occasion a woman participating in the performance of umngqungqo began to godla ' for fun ' and the other women laughed and said she was' trying to be a man '

The Bhaca, Xesibe and Mpondo have a term denoting the same sort( s) of sound, uku - gwinqa. 1\11 these sounds qualify as music when made during the course of a musical performance.

They are always made in time with the prevailing metre, and always by the performer when he/she is dancing a special dance step. These sounds are furthermore generally made in cross - rhythms to the dance steps; they so to speak punctuate the dancer's movements and draw attention to them. Thus these patterns of potentially musical sounds not only extend the dimensions of Xhosa rhythmic heterop~ony, they also give it colour. (Example No.9 on Tape la ).

I tried to find out whether some of these vocal sounds are used for any special reason, but I was not very successful. 

Informants stated that they were merely another way of ' playing' ( uku - dlala ), a term which is often used to describe music –

[page] 132

making generally. A few diviners said that ' singing' ( - dlala ) was greatly loved by the ancertral shades, and that they liked especially the method of ' playing and 
changing the voice '. It may be that some of these vocal sounds are evidence of hyperventilation, intended to induce trance, but I am as yet unable to corne to any conclusions about this.

Uku - kikizela are ululations which are produced by executing a rapid tremolo with the tongue. They do not qualify as m'~sic, and are made by women only, in those songs which are sung on occasions of great rejoicing, e.g. the , corning out ' ( umphumo ) of circumcised boys, weddings ( umtshato pl. imitshato ), the installations ( umbeko pl. imibeko ) of chiefs and headmen, and the commencement and conclusion of girls' initiation.

Uku - memelela: to hum or ' sing with the lips closed '. This term refers specifically to the humming done by a person when milking a cow. The humming is believed to soothe the animal and induce a good flow of milk. The term is also used to describe the singing -' 'mmmmmmmmm' - with closed lips which (i) accompanies normal singing, or (ii) alternates with it, in a song. Humming is a characteristic feature of the March ing songs of boys and young men en route to their dance parties, and the War songs of boys on their way to a stick fight ( esitikeni, loc., ' place of sticks' ). In these songs the humming is both rhythmic and emphatic

[...]

Once the pattern of the song has been established, it is repeatei ad infi~itum, the chorus always beinE guided by the song leader, and all singers being controlled by the handclaps. Th(:; tempo remai:1.s constant, although the singing invariab ly rises in pitch. The tied handclap beats in Figures 6 and 10 indjcate that there are no audible claps oa these beats; the singers merely acknowledge them with a slight jerk of their claspei hands. When singers clap, they either bring the hands together as in praying, the palms and fingers lying against oae another or ( and this is more common ) the foar fingers of one hand are brought into contact with the palm of the other hand, so that one hand is at a right angle to the' other. The accented c lap beats in' FiguJ'!-; 12 indicate that they are louder than the clap beats which alternate with them. This clap pattern is varied duri~g the course of the song, changing from a) to (b)

[…]

in which each clap is louder than the one before it ( this is not given in,Figure ll).

Accent - variation in the clap -patterns of songs is a common feature of much Xhosa music.

[…]

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The Cape Nguni distinguish between high pitch and low pitch, and use the adjectives - khulu ( t big, great' ) and - ncinci ( t small' ) to describe the voice registers of men and women. Thus a man is said to have a ' big , voice ilizwi elikhulu ( meaning low), while a woman usually has a  small' voice - ilizwi elincinci ( meaning high). When a woman has an exceptionally deep voice, she is said to t have a beard' ( umfazi unendevu). This phrase is commonly used to describe a woman who has had no children, the reason being that t she could not because she was almost made a man '.

Old age and the infirmities which often accompany it can change the pitch of the voice considerably. Should an old person have a very deep voice ( and many of them do have this ), or practically no voice at all, owing to persistent bronchial trouble, it is said of him/her that his/her voice t is very low/very smal.l because it has been hurt through old age t( ilizwi lakhe limele ngokwendala ukuba likhulu elincikane ).

[page] 138

Songs are classified as being either (t) iingoma ezikhnwulezayo ( , hurried, hastened songs ' ) and (2)

iingoma ezilibalayo ( , delayed songs'). Nearly all the divination songs, and the dance songs of children and young men and women fall into category (1), and the dance songs of married men and women fall into category (2). One Qwathi man
explained this tempo distinction as follows:

'You see, it is a question of energy. The younger ones are more energetic and quick; the abafana ( young men ) are the go - between. The amadoda ( married men) have settled down to manhood.

They dance in a slow, dignified way'.

The organization of dancing groups

A social gathering is always an occasion for music. Depending on the nature and purpose of the gathering, the music is performed by (1) members of a particular social group who are traditionally responsible for the music, and (2) anybody
attending the gathering and who wishes to participate in the musical activities.

(1) refers to the social institutions of the Cape Nguni, i.e. gatherings of people that follow a pattern in their activities. 

They are repetitive and take place for specific purposes. These institutions are boys' initiation ( ukwalusa ), not practised by all the chiefdom clusters; girls' initiation ( ukuthombisa/intonjane); the final initiation of diviners ( umphumo ); the First Fruits ceremony of the Bhaca, known as ingcubhe, which is ' a scaled - down version of the Zulu incwala ' ( Hammond Tooke (ed.) 1974: 26l ), and which today is celebrated in an ~ttenuated form, and similar ceremonies among the Mpondo and
Thembu which have practically died out

[page] 139

(2) refers to the dance parties of the different age groups, beer drinks and big feasts which are attended by everyone, and the' clubs' or ' sports' of married men and unattached women. The dance parties are: (i) umtshotsho for' Red' boys and girls aged thirteen to twenty years; intlombe of young adults ( Mpondo version is iguburha ), while the dance party of their' dressed' social equivalents ( iindlavini )
Mpondo, Bhaca and Xesibe ) is called umtshotsho. 

Everyone is free to attend the big feasts ( umgidi and umjadu ) where meat and beer are available, as well as beer drinks etywaleni) where the older men and women are served with beer. The' clubs' and' sports' of married men and unattached women ( ibhasi and itimiti ) are attended tinly by these people, and full tribal dress is compulsory. There is a small admission fee, and the wives of the men may attend these events as spectators. They do not wear formal dress, and must sit with the other spectators in the courtyard ( inkundla). These are exclusive' clubs' and right of admission is reserved. Other places where older men and women gather are the' bars' where beer is sold, and people always sing and dance after they have had a few rounds of beer.  

, School ' people also attend' tea - meetings' ( iitimiti ) where no alcoholic beverages are served. At these functions the music usually consists of ' school songs' and church hymns ( amaculo). The same sort of music is performed at school concerts ( umculo pl. imiculo ), and today traditional songs are often introduced into concert programmes.

The Cape Nguni youth organizations who regularly hold dance parties of the same name - umtshotsho ( pre - initiation)

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and intlombe ( post - initiation ), and iguburha = Mpondo and Xesibe ' Red' youths are controlled by committees who enforce certain standards of social and musical behaviour. At the head of each committee is the leader of the organization, who is known as umanty~,umajestili ( , magistrate' ) or umphathi ( , manager' or  controller' ) in the umtshotsho and umbhayizelo groups, and as umphathi wengoma ( , song manager " ' song controller' ) in the intlombe,'~burha and umtshotsho ( iindlavini ) groups.

The leader is always male and a senior member of the group. In the umtshotsho group he may be nineteen or twenty years of age. The initiation of boys is often delayed ( mainly for financial reasons) and a boy may be in his early twenties before he is initiated. By then he will have done a few stints on the mines or in the cane - fields in the Republic of South Africa, and will therefore have accumulated quite a bit of mon~y, and be an experienced traveller. He will also be ' an experienced lover, and this together with the money he has, and the confident manner he has acquired, makes him very attractive to girls' ( young Thembu girl, Cacadu district, August 1970 ).

A leader is elected to his position by the other members of the group. Actual leadership is determined by an extended stick - fighting contest between all the boys who aspire to be the leader of the group ( cf. Mayer and Mayer 1970: 159 l89). Quite often a boy who is the son or relative of an important person, e.g. a chief or headman, or councillor, is automatically elected leader, but he still has to take part in a stick - fighting contest, which he may win' on points.

While doing fieldwork in Cacadu district in 1970, I found out

[page] 141
that many of these boys preferred not to stand as possible leaders of umtshotsho groups because these had such a bad reputation in the district. One boy who discussed the matter with me, told me that some of the groups were so wild and uncontrolled that they were I becoming almost as fierce as the Mpondo iindlavini:

The committee controlling the I Red I young adultorganizations are similarly constructed. Tile senior members ( abafana, i.e. initiated young men) who will marry in a few years time and thus leave the group, are knOl'VD among the Thembu and Mfengu as idu1isi pl. iidulisi ( lit. I young men who take part in faction fights I, from iduli ( n. ) meaning I a fight, skirmish I). The younger members who are newly - initiated youths, are known by their formal name - ikrhwala pl. amakrhwala ( from - krhwala ( v.i. ) meaning I to begin to ripen I ).

The Mpondo and Xesibe boys do not go through an initiation school, but as young men they attend iguburha, which resembles the intlombe of the Xhosa, Thembu and Mfengu. They are known as abafana banombola ( I raw young men who paint with clay I ).

The iindlavini gangs of the Bhaca, Mpondo and Xesibe also

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have committees headed by a I song manager I ( umphathi wengoma ) who is supported by a I lieutenant I or I driver I ( I udrayiva " cf. Hammond - Tooke 1962: 79 - 80 ), or ' policeman' ( iphoyisa = Xesibe and Mpondo). The members of these gangs address their leaders as ~ chief ' ( inkosi pl. {inkosi ) when they speak to him.

Every song manager is an accomplished singer and dancer; , he has to be, because he would look very silly if he sang and danced badly' Although he is essentially the manager of the

[page] 142
group rather t i lan of the music of th( group, he and his committee are directly concerned with its musical activities. They are responsible for arranging the dance parties, and rehearsals if there is a dance competition in the offing, and for making sure that all the members attend these. 

Anyone who fails to do so is ' brought to court' before the manager, is ' tried' and subsequently fined. This is considered to be both a disgrace and an unnecessary expense, although the , fine ' ( usually some item of bead - work, among the ' Red' youth, or money, among the iindlavini ), is always put towards the organization's' funds' Among the iindlavini, failure to attend any meeting or dance party is often seen to be an act of disloyalty to the group, and the culprit is sometimes' banned' temporarily or even permanently from the group. If the latter, , he might just as well move to another district as he will never live it down' ( Bhaca guide, 1971 ).

The song manager is easily identified from the other young men ( or boys) by his exceptionally ornate dress. Although all the men wear every article of adornment they may have, the song manager is invariably bedecked with bead - work, all made by his many' sweethearts' and female admirers.

 Because girls and young women provide most of the singing and clapping in musical performances, the song leaders are nearly always females. A girl is chosen largely for her ability to sing and clap well and to lead the chorus generally. She is supported by a dance leader, also a girl, whose duty it is to , show ' the girls the various stylized movements and postures which they do from time to time during a dance performance.

[page] 143
The men are the chief dancers ( the Bhaca iindlavini excluded ), who do almost all the dancing, durine which they make vocal - percussive sounds.

The song manager and the so~g leader always discuss the music which is to be performed at the various dance sessions. Both choose songs from a repertoire of music, and when the programme has been fixed, the song leader will rehearse the girls on their own at a specified time and place. (This is not typical of the Bhaca iindlavini, who always practise together ( men and girls) as a group, there being no sex segregation ).

When the girls have been sufficiently rehearsed, the song leader will notify the song manager that the I girls are singing well I and he will then arrange general rehearsals for the whole group. 

Thr:re is therefore a close musical association between the sone manager and the song leader. There is also, as I found out, a sexual relationship between them. I spoke to members of twenty - one youth groups, and in every case the song leader was, at the time the ' Number One sweetheart ' of the song manager. Among the ' Red I people and the non Christians, the term ' sweetheart I means that there is a metsha liaison between two people, :.e. they are' going steady' and probably practise uku - metsha ( intra - crural intercourse ).

This does not mean that the male partner gives his attentions to one girl only; other girls in the group may be his partners from time to time, but his' sweetheart' will be the acknowledged leader of the girls.

Dance parties may be formal ( festive dress is compulsory ) or informal ( every - day clothes may be worn ), but neatness of dress is imperative, and anyone who dresses untidily or

[page] 144
does not comply with the standards of dress ( e.g. girls must wear head - scarves, and are allowed to have only one type of whistlA which is used to indicate changes in dance steps at the sonr leader's request; men must wear blankets around their waists and must retain these when da~cing ), is  arrested ' by a committee member and ' brought to court ' Si~ilarly, ~nyone contravening the' laws' of the group, ( e.g. leaving the dance hut without permission, smol:ing, dancing and singing badly, misbehaving and ' showing off ' ) is also arrested. The committee are extremely diligent in maintaining a high standard of musical performance, and in the course of a dance they will occupy different places in the dancing group so that they , can wa~ch over everyone '.

Amo~g the ' Red' people, when a person is ' brought to court ' he is told to stand be~ore a large flat rectangular stone which is always placed in the centre of the dance hut.

This stone is the song manager's' chair' or ' throne' It also serves as a dancing platform for the song manager and the other committee members, who take turns in dancing and posturing on its flat surface. The song manager mayor may not take part in all the dances, but he usually terminates the music, either with a shout and a wave of the hand, or ( more usual ) with a series of blasts on a whistle.

I attended a dance competition between the intlombe groups of the llala and Qwathi, who belong to the Thembu c~iefdom cluster. The Rala song manager controlled his team rigidly, both before and during and after the competition. No - one was permitted to smoke or'drink: beer before the event,

[page] 145
as it might be detrimental to their performance. They did not have a lone warming - up session for the same reason. ( The Qwa thi did just the opposite ). I was not allowed to take any photographs until after the competition, nor was I permitted to do anything which might distract the group, and take thei~ minds off the serious matter in hand the competition.

During the competition, the song manager stood in the centre of the hut on the flat stone, while the other men formed a semicircle before him. The men danced round the song manager, who' conducted' them from his central position. He performed - tyityimba and made vocal sounds, from time to time shouting encouraging remarks to his team, who also made similar vocal sounds, exclamations, and performed - bhodla, - godla, and - ngqokola as they danced.

Three songs were sung in all; during the second and third songs, men took turns in occupying the central position of the song manager, and dancing in an exhibitionistic way

exaggerated movements, etc. The song manager joined the

body of dancers.

[…]

[page]  148
…The so~g is begun by the song leaier, whose entry is followed one crotchet beat later b~T clapping, introdllced by the chorus leader and sulJsequent ly taken up by the SO'lg leaier on the 5th crotchet. The rest of the chorus take up the claps in the full execution of the strophe that follows ( II in score ), and in which the chorus sings for the first time. The chorus response reproduces the song leaier's part exqctly, as it does in the next, and successive repetitions of the strophe, when textual and very slight variations are introduced. This is the general pattern
in this particul~r song, although there are ( fur~her on ) a number of strophe repetitions in which the chorus part remains fixed while the song leader's part continually varies. 

Strophe III in the score ( p. l46 ) is repeated several times… and during these
repetitions the patterns of vocal sounds and ' noises ' are introduced by the male dancers. These patterns begin success ively in this transcription, as they do in my recording, the reason being that I roved with my microphone while recording.

In actual fact the different patterns were going Simultaneously for several repetitions of the strophe. This performance was a very extended one, lasting approximately 26 minutes, and during this time the male dancers changed th~ir patterns, or ceased to sing for a few strophe repetitions.

[...]

The fact that there are at least two leaders in a song - and - dance group, one for the singing ( umhlabeli ) and one for the dancing ( umkhokeli emxhentsweni ), does
not mean that one is a better singer than the other, who excels in dancing. Both can sing and dance well, but neither can fulfil both functions. The dance leader's duty is to control and guide the dancers, leaving the song leader free to lead and guide the chorus. The dance leader would find it difficult to lead the singing well, because she

[page] 150

would lack sufficie~lt breath to sing because of exertions incurred through dancinr. She choJs~s th~ steps and indicates thRm - w\en and how they ar? to be executed.

\'hf':n the n.unber of performr::rs is exceptio:'la 1 ly large there are usually two of each. On one occasio~ ( th? installaiio:'l of a pop~lar headman ), as many as 600

wom'con performed their ~].gqungqo dance, and there vJer:-' three SO:'lg leaders, each of whom had an assistant The Tshawe people who attend their exclusive' clubs' are controlled by a committee co~sisting of the leader or ( chief' ( inkosi ) and his' councillors' ( amaphakathi ). One of these acts as a ' secretary , ( unobhala ) whose duty it is to notify members abo~t forthcoming' club' events.

The mllsic performed at these functions is organized a long lines similar to those of the' Red' youth gro~ps. The womeD provide the singing and clapping, and the men do most of the d'l,ncing, a 1 thOllgh there is plenty of scope for t solo t performances. The music performed at ordinary beer drinks and work parties is spontaneous and the men and women maintain their roles as chief dancers ( men ), and singers and clappers ( women ), although both sexes give ¥ solo' performances
which are often very vigorous and exhibitionistic.

The song leader starts off the song, and leads off the chorus; she also introduces improvisations which guide the chorus in their responses. S~ould a song leader wish to perform ' so lo ' ( and everyon- likes to do so during the course of a dance song ), her assistant ( sub - leader) will take over. Thp song leader's solo usually consists of vocal

[page] 151

improvisations ( sO:.J.n:is or vocables) accompanying vigoro:.J.s d~ncing - shaking and co~tortions, stnmpi~g, simll~ted horse - riding ( altho~eh Cape ~guni women do ~ot ride horses ), anything she likes to do - w~ile the others co~tinue with the prescribed singing and dance - movements, a hJays guided by the sub - leader, and dance leader and assistant. Again, should the song lea,der wish to improvise vocally and introduce n2W variations of the so~g - me lody, J!8r assistant wi II see that these improvisations are not swa,mped by any vocal improvisations from other excited singers. I have seen a woman place her hand across the mouth of another woman Who was all but swamping the song leader). Depending on the number of
performers, ~8ually two but never more than three persons do a ' solo' stint at anyone time. When the song leader improvises, everyone holds back. The assistants exhort the singers to sing and dance well, and they admonish those who do not. Laders and their assistants are always aware of what the other is doing. The dance leader often uses a. whistle to indicate a change in steps, or in a certain dance formation.

The performance of the indl~mu dance by Bhaca iindLavini often involves so many people that, when done indoors as it usually is ( unless it is performed at the Chief's Great Place, when it is performed out - of - doors ), a number of people ( usually eight to twelvd ) will get up and dance indlamu in a single line, while the rest of the group will sit ( or squat down) and sing and clap. Very often the roles of song leader and sub - leader (assistant) are divided 

[page] 152
between the man who is participating in the smaller group as a sons leader, and the girl w~o is leading the chorus who are sitting and singing. Members of the entire groap will take turns in dancing in smaller' sub - groups' and the Gam0 musical situation is observed. This is typical of Bhaca indlamu dances when they take place indoors it is a convenient arrangement because it permits the whole group to dance together in a rather small ~rea. The Mpondo iindlavini are' all - male gangs' who
nevertheless attend their dance p3rties with their girl friends. Their m'.lsic repertoire includes many songs which are sung exclusively by the men. They are known as ' break and are sung between performances of ' big , songs like indlamu and umgajo. In these songs the role of song leader is assumed by a man, while the rest of the group sing and take turns in performing' solo' dances.

A successful performance requires a great feeling for community, and the teamwork in all dancing groups is sometimes quite astonishing, particularly in a dance like umngqungqo in which almost always a large number of women take part ( there are always plenty of married women about ), and_in w~ich there is no steadily sounding beat. Assistants are of great importance to their leaders, and very often a song leader chooses her assistant. Assistants are a convenient source of choice phrases and dance steps that others in their immediate vicinity as well as their leaders, can draw on. Their phrases and steps often help their leaders along when,
for a moment, they cannot think of something new to sing or

[page] 153
dance, in which case they might falter and bring the whole group down with them. Without this smooth teamwork b~twQen leaders and assistants, and between them and the chorus, the whole performance would collapse.

When a change of any sort in the pattern is to occur, as in (i) clapping, (ii) the dance - steps and the movements and formatio~ of the dancers, the leaders indicate these in the following ways:

(i) The song leader starts to sing more and more loudly shortly before the change is due, so that she draws the attention of everyone to her. At the sam8 time she stretches her arms forward, and upward into the air, still clapping.

Immediately before the change is made, she shouts' Jika! ' ( meaning' turn! change! ' ), and, if everyone has been clapping' J J J, then they wi 1 1 c lap in double - quick
time: n n n; the same occurs when doub le c laps become augmented, as from n n n to J J J (ii) The dance leader will blow her ( or his) whistle some beats before the change is made; then she will shout t Jika! t or blow in double time, and indicate the steps to be executed. If the dancers have been dancing in a circle anti - clockwise, the dance leader will blow her whistle as before, then lift her arms and indicate a turning movement, shout t Jika! " at which all the dancers will turn and proceed dancing clockwise. The individual leaders have their own methods of controlling and directing their group, but jika and/or the whistle tones are common change signals, and are used by all Cape Nguni people."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: This is the end of that section of this dissertation.

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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Xhosa (South African) Music: Singing , Dancing, & Hand Clapping (Excerpt from 1981 Dissertation By Deirdre Doris Hansen) complete reprint

Edited by Azizi Powell

[This is a complete reprint of an October 2023 pancocojams post that presents excerpts from a 1981 dissertation that I found online about South African (Xhosa) music and dance. That 2023 post remains on this blog.

I'm reprinting that 2023 post to help people become aware of it and because I plan to publish other pancocojams posts of excerpts from that lengthy dissertation.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/10/xhosa-south-african-music-singing_0286892360.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. [I'm referring to the October 2023 post and this reprint as Part I of that series.]

This pancocojams post presents an excerpt from a 1981 dissertation by Deirdre Doris Hansen, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. I happened upon this PDF while searching online for information about the body stances and movements that were done and are done while singing and dancing to isiXhosa music.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Deirdre Doris Hansen for her research and writing. Thanks to all those who contributed to this research and thanks to the person or persons who published this dissertation online.
-snip-
DISCLAIMER
I am an African American who knows very little about South African culture other than what I've read online and offline and what I've watched in YouTube videos.

I recommend that people interested in traditional Xhosa music read that entire dissertation. In addition to the valuable cultural information and observations about amaXhosa culture, this dissertation includes riveting accounts about how Deirdre Doris Hansen, a White South African woman, eventually was accepted by some and then by other (but not all) amaXhosa, which enabled her to do ethnomusicology fieldwork among that population during apartheid (1969-1972).  

That said, it's also important to note the dates that this field work was done and recognize that the this is a historical picture of Xhosa music and dance that undoubtedly has changed considerably since that 1960-1972.

It would be interesting to read current descriptions about that subject from Xhosa people or other people from South Africa. It would be even greater to view current online videos about the types of Xhosa music and dance that are discussed in this 1981 university dissertation. 

Please share any information and/or video and other online links that you are aware of. Thanks!  

****
1981 DISSERTATION EXCERPT 

[from fieldwork among the amaXhosa in 1969-1972].  

The text of this dissertation is given "as is" (with typographical errors or misspelled words). 

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/188774534.pdf

THE MUSIC OF THE XHOSA - SPEAKING PEOPLE

Deirdre Doris Hansen 

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,

for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Grahamstown 1981

 […]

"CHAPTER 2

XHOSA MUSICAL CONCEPTS AND BEHAVIOUR

Definition and concepts of Xhosa music

The Cape Nguni are generally communicative and expressive about their music. The most outstanding feature is that the different chiefdo~ clusters share similar if not identical concepts, viz:

'Music is something that is done only by human beings.
It consists of words and certain sounds which are sung
to a number of beat~ which are clapped, and we call this
singing - ukuvuma,.l

This view is widely held among the Cape Nguni as is the following one expressed in the words of Angelinah Mgudlwa

( 14: 10: 69 ):

'Olubini uhlobo lokuvuma; ukuvuma ngelizwi kanti kukho ukuvuma ngezinto ezikhaliswayo' ('There are two ways of singing; there is Singing with the voice; on the other hand there is singing with "things made to cry", i.e. musical instruments' ).

These two widespread opinions emphasize that music is regarded as a social fact, and that it is organized around the rhythmical expression of words and sounds and the physical movements employed when clapping, or playing an instrument.

Although dancing is not specifically mentioned in these views, it is an integral part of musical activity. Indeed, it is so highly integrated with music - making that many informants did not bother to mention it in their explanations about music, because they assumed ( as I subsequently found out) that I knew that ' singing and danCing are the same thing , and that , the two go together '.

All songs, whether they are sung or played on an instrument, are called I songs in the Xhosa language I, i.e. Xhosa music ( ingoma yesiXhosa pl. iingoma zesiXhosa). Many individuals speak of their music as being specifically I the songs of the Thembu people I or I the songs of the Xhosa people I ( iingoma zabaThembu, iingoma zamaXhosa ) and so on. A few older men and women described their music as I the music in the Mfengu language I ( iingoma zesiMfengu) but this type of description is rarely used. 2

During fieldwork among the Bhaca, I seldom heard the term -Xhosa used when they spoke about their music, which they always described as I the songs of the Bhaca people I iingoma zamaBhaca ). The people belonging to the older chiefdom clusters - the Xhosa, Thembu, Bomvana and Mpondo alternately referto their music as I the music of the sons of Xhosa I ( iingoma zikwaXhosa ) because I we are all people of Xhosa and our music is his music I During the past ten years a strong feeling of national unity, fostered to some extent by the Transkei's constitutional progress and subsequent attainment of indepen dence, has brought about changes in attitude and terminology.

Today a large percentage of Cape Nguni describe their music asI the songs of the Xhosa nation I ( iingoma zesizwe samaXhosa ). According to informants the term ingoma pl. iingoma ( meaning I song, music I) is I a very old word I, and I the only word we have ever used when we speak of music I Nowadays it is used to describe traditional Xhosa music and the secular music which has been added to it as a result of European influence.

This includes (i) I school music I ( iingoma zesikolo ) which consists of choral songs by Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho and Swazi

20

composers, and (ii) township music ( umbaqanga ) comprising traditional songs which have been given new arrangements ( , dressed up I ) by urban musicians, and modern jazz, dance music and European pop music played by urban bands. All these are loosely referred to as iingoma. The same term is used in
the description of the music of Separatist churches, e.g. Zionists' music ( iingoma zamaZiyoni ) and Bhengu music iingoma zamaBhe:lgu ), referring to the church of Bhengu.

All music performed in European - run churches, such as (i) European hymns whose texts have been translated into Xhosa, and (ii) sacred choral songs and carols by Xhosa composers, are called iculo pl. amaculo ( song, hymn ).3 One voluble informant made the following di distinction between , ingoma ' and' iculo ,. , Ingoma is for all music that has nothing to do with the missionaries and haE got to do with all Christian church music' ( Sigidimi Xundu, 22: 6: 69 ).

Statements and evidence collected during my research confirmed the validity of this distinction, which is made by all Cape Nguni.

Among them it is generally accepted that music is not conceived apart from <-lords, and that' all songs have word::' , or at least ' names' ( titles) which express the emotions that underlay their composition or are at least associated with their performance. Even instrumental music is automat ica lly conceptua lized with words, which mayor may not be sung whenever this music is performed. 4 Verbalization depends on the social situation in which the music is produced, e.g.

'When a girl goes to the shop and has to walk a long way, she will take her umrhubhe ( mouth bow) or ifleyiti ( harmonica) and she will make the road shorter by playing a song. But she will not be able to sing the words of this song because she has to us~ her mouth to play'
(Nobandla Ivy Qhetswana, 14: 8: 70 ).

In this case the song will be wordless owing to the circumstances surrounding its performance. The same informant cont inues: , But if she meets friends, they will join her and sing words to her song '. Thus the presence of others, however few, will ensure that at least some words of the song wi 11 be sung.

Instruments are normally either played ' solo' ( by a single instrumentalist, with assorted vocalists improvising ad. lib. ), e.g. umrhubhe and accordion, or used in self -accompanied solo singing, plus or minus other supplementary non - instrumental performers, e.g. uhadi ( gourd bow), guitar and concertina. These performances seldom remain' solo' for long, because they invariably attract people who will listen and join in with singing and/or clapping. 5

Many informants imparted a great deal of information about the importance of words in songs, and all of them agreed that many of the songs played on instruments such as the umrhubhe, accordion and concertina, and certain uhadi songs, were really instrumental versions of vocal songs, and therefore had under -lying texts. Some of these informants were themselves performers on one or other of the aforementioned instruments. From them I was able to collect a number of instrumental songs which I was

22

able to compare with the sung versions with which they associated them. They told me that ALL vocal songs could be instrumentalized, but that ' respect ' and good taste dictated that certain songs should be ' left alone '. The music they played for me included instrumental versions of Mfengu dance music, divination music, children's dance music, a lullaty, Beer songs and indlamu dance music for Mpondo young unmarried men. During the performance they were supported by participants who sang and clapped for them.

[…]

The detailed explanations of many informants, including several who were acknowledged to be good at singing and dancing, revealed the following general attitudes to music:

(i) it is primarily concerned with the expression of high spirited feelings of togetherness, and its participants are affected mainly by its sound and its production, i.e. the activity that produces it.

(ii) although it is always conceived with words, these are not necessarily retained or even sung throughout a performance; words are crucial in certain types of music, but they are less important and even expendable in others.

(iii) it is able to express certain definite feelings with or without the help of words, e.g. joy, sorrow, fear, yearning and despair.

[…]

According to the Cape Nguni, intense feelings of joyous, exalted excitement are always experienced by people when they sing and dance together. Although they say that the music itself induces such feelings, it is in fact the musical process that does so. Music is appreciated and liked for its own sake,
and its sound does affect people, but it is the meaning of that sound, and above all, the process of making music, that has the greatest impact. Music is something which is so vibrant, strong and compulsive, that everyone who hears it feels compelled to sing and dance along with it. It is ideally performed on a

24

large scale: a large number of people combine in singing and dancing and achieve what is required of any good performance, a shared .transcendental experience in which the participants are I raised up I, and I go right out of themselves " and a , big' ( -khulu ) sound. Examples are the different styles of music performed occasionally by different groups within the society: umngqungqo and umyeyezelo performed by married women at girls' and boys' initiation celebrationsj intlombe or , doctors ' music performed by diviners and their associates at seancesj intlombe music performed by young unmarried adults at their dance - party of the same namej and umtshotsho music performed by teenagers at their dance - party, umtshotsho (cf. chap. 3). Both the communal activity and the sound it. produces affects the individual performers so powerfully that they reach a state of being that is transcendental. This condition is known as ihlombe and it is induced only by music and music mar.~ng. '.' 8 Informants were adamant about this, and I myself never heard it mentioned in non - musical contexts. It is something which' people become full of when they sing and dance together, and even those who watch them get it '. Their joy in associated action as well as their reciprocal response unites all of them - performers, audience and onlookers alike - in a very close bond of ihlombe. An Mfengu young man, James Mtho, gave the following statement after a successful performance which won his team first place in a dance competition:

'Of course there are always words to a song, and we usually sing these at the beginning. But when things warm up and we start getting ihlombe, we forget the words and we just sing our own, or we sing sounds. At the same time we dance until we are moving allover'

( 19: 7: 69 ).9

The many highly successful performances which 1 witnessed provide plenty of Justification for this explicit statement. Ihlombe becomes apparent when the singing becomes louder, when the pitch rises,lO when the dancing becomes hectic and violent and when the music becomes more expressive, with improvised words and sounds. At this stage the words of the song are no longer of importance and singers either add their own' new' words, or vccables which allow for greater freedom of musical expression. 

Today ihlombe is a synonym for' song' or ' mucic particularly among the urban Africans. The announcers on Radio Bantu ( the Xhosa and Zulu units) who present musical request programmes usually say they are going to ' play ihlombe ' ( betha/shaya ihlombe ) rather than' playa song' ( betha/shaya ingoma). Also, one has only to attend school concerts, during which serious choral Singing alternates with more light - hearted musical items; when these are performed one will always find some members of the audience singing along with the performers, or even on the stage with them.

(ii) In small - scale musical performances, such as ' solo' voca l songs with an instrurr,enta 1 accompaniment, performer( s) and audience share a similar experience of music - making, but they mayor may not attain ihlombej it depends on the nature of the music, and whether or not it is intended to induce the condition. If the music is an instrumentalization of a dance song, people will attain ihlombe, but then the degree of ihlombe will be comparatively smaller than that which is induced by large - scale performances. As one

26

informalt put it:' the bigger the music, ti-le bigger the ihlombe ' Rose Jakuja 2: 3: 71 ).

One may contrast the excitement and enjoyment of audiences at this kinrl of music, with their more sober reactions to instrumental ' songs of sorrow 1 which are intended' to make people cry 1 or at least evok~ sympathy from ~hem. Because they are concerned main ly with person,d fee lings, they are known as , personal songs' ( igwijo pl. 9.magwi;i£ ) and they are COIl sidered to be the most emotionally expressive music in the

27

Xhosa musical repertoire. Composers of these songs usually pe~form them themselves, either as vocal songs with an instru mental accompaniment, or as instrumental songs with short refrains which an audience may sing at appropriate moments. The songs may be new or variations o~ old ones, but in both cases they are treated as a medium for self - expression. In fact, the general tone of this musical style and the songs that belong to it express emotions about events with references to personal experiences. Women were the only performers I encountered using traditional instruments for such music, these being the uhadi and the umrhubhe. More recently men have taken to composing such songs which they accompany with modern European instruments such as the guitar, the accordion and the concertina. They have brought a wider range of experience in their music, which expresses adverse feelings of joy in living, aggression, resignatioYl, mockery, criticism and love. In this respect they differ from the women's instrumental music in which the prevailing emotion is sorrow.

[…]

It wiLL be evident from the foregoing discussion that the musical expression of definite thoughts and feeLings is something that is co~sciousLy attempted by Cape Nguni musicians. This is most important in their' personal' instrumentaL songs, in which specific emotions are expressed

[…]

What distinguishes speech from song is rhythm. Any pattern of words Eung or recited to a regular metre is mUEic. Many dance songs have sections consisting of rlythmically recited words. These occur either tetween sung repetitions of the songs or as closing sections to ttem. I did not find any songs whicll are rhythmic[l. tly rEcited throughout, as is the case in some Zulu, SWcti arjd Venda songs ( cf. Rycroft 1968: 11 & ibid. 1971: 237 - 238; Blacking 1967: 38sE ).17

Similarly, all pc.tterr1s of non - mUEic2.1 sour_ds, barks, yetls, shouts, exclamations, snorts and grunts - are accepted as music when included in a musical context, as in the performance of cheral dance songs. The traditional ox -.horn, isigodlo, whicfl yields one tone, was formerly used as a signal horn to annOULce an important event in the commur.ity - a vial', a meeting of the chief in council, or a hunting't,edition. It was also used at the boys' initiation ceremo~ c~ of the Bomvana, who called it butyu ( Kirty 1965: 79). The term isigodlo is rarely heard today. ALso, the Eomvana appear to have dropped the use of the horn in their initiation ceremonies for boys, which are today celebrated in an attenuated form. Its present - day prototype", uphondo ( Lit. 'horn' ), is sti 11 used, pE.rticl) lar ly by some Zionist groups in their re Ligious music, and the single tones, which are of course non - rhythm iCed, but which occur at certain points in the music, are accepted as music.

[...] 

Wher. asked to describe a song, peop le begar. t.y stating when the sor.g is SULg, and therefore wbat kind of song it is. They would then indicate its basic metrical pattern by clapping, entering with the vocal part after a few claps. Most people er.tered with the 'chorus' part of the song, b~t in fact they could sing any part of a sor.g, with or without claps. When I asked women to sing ar. u~ngqungq~ song, they immediately assumed a body posture, began to dar.ce in a stately manner characteristic of the dance ( it is always performed by the IIlarried womer.,), and then sang, for this music has no clap accorr,panimer.t.

36

Rhythm rot only differentiates speech from music, it is a , law in music, and if you do not have it, then all you have is noise' ( James Mthamo, 18: 6: 69). It is the fundamer.tal regular beat in Xhosa music which is known in the vernacular as 'ngqor.ggo ( 'beat' ), an onomatopoeic term derived from ingqongqo, the stretched ox - hide which was beaten by women with sticks as an accorr.paniment to their singing, at events celebrating the initiation of boys, and which today has been replaced by more easily available substitutes. This basic beat is expressed manually, that is, by hand - clapping ( uku qhwaba ) and/or by physical movements made wi,en dancing, e.g. stepping frorr. one side to the other, kicking up and down and stamping to a regular metre. Apart from the usual way of clapping ( with the arms bent at the elbows), singers may extend the arms forwards and upwards prior to striking the hand~ together; or they may clap in the usual w~3, alternately striking the thighs with the palms of the hands. This was sometimes done during performances of the divination song urnhlahlo by Thembu and Xhosa singers, the hands being struck together and then struck on the skirt or lap, but it is not prescriptive of this music. The late Hugh Tracey mentioned a style of clapping knowr, as umngcutsho, which he witnessed when he recorded a song by young Mpondc married women in 1957, in Tabankulu district, Transkei ( PJlIA TR-33: A.l). The clapping was done by striking the open palm of the right hand on the fist or cuppec fingers of the left hand. I travelled in the same area in which this song had been recorded man~r years before, and neither there nor anywhere else did I encounter this term, nor did I find anyone who knew it or could tell me anything about it. Clapping styles suct as those I have described are regional.

37

They do not accompany any specific type of music, and they are often done because they are in vogue in certain areas. In the period 1969 - 70 clapping with extended arms was very fashion -able at teenage parties ( imitshotsho) held in Engcobo district, and informants told me that it had been star1ed by a group living in a neighbouring district ( Cacadu ), and that its popularity had spread rapidly. A Xesibe group wto also employed this form of clapping told me that they had been doing it ' for some time' and that they thought that it came from their neighbours, the Mpondo. They added that they favoured the style because it ' looked well and showed of the singers' arms and beads t ( 8: 3: 71 ).

38

Whichever style of clapping is e~ployed, aLL the singers will clap the same rhythmic patterns. Such a pattern can be varied by subdivisio~ of the main beat, e.g.: but it is never combined with a~other totally different rhythmic pattern. The pri~ciple of polyrhythm, in which I several rhythmic versions of the one metre are co~bined 18 together', is not applied to Cape Nguni clap patterns. Handclapping remains constant throughout a song. It does not impart any rhythm to the song - melody, w1ich has its own rhythmic scheme, but it is a~ organizing principLe in that it permits the polyrhythmic process to be appLied vocally to a m2.ximum degree.

Po lyrhythmic performe..nce in Xhosa music depends on , a number of peop Le ho lding separate pc..rts within a framework of metric unity I. This framework is determined by the number of handclaps, the total number of which constitutes the metrica.l framework of the song. In songs which are not accom -panied by clapping, the framework is fixed by a specific number of dance steps or instrumental beats. When performing poly rhythmically, individual singers sing eSEentially the same melody, but in a slightly different manner, thereby varying it. The variations are usualLy melodic and/or rhythmic, and may arise from variations in the words ( cf. chap. 6: 220 ).

Singers may introduce new words and phrases whose speech - tones and - rhythms generate contrasting vocal patterns. Singers may also produce vocal noises - yelps, grunts, barks, exclamations -with rhythmic regularity, but in doing so each singer is careful to adhere to the ta~ic metre of the song, as defined by handclaps or their equivalents. Cross accents occur wten the main accents of the basic meLody and aLL its varied repetitions do not agree with each other. The total effect of a large number of people performing at a high level of co - crdination and singing many different versions of the same melody at the same time, can be very complex, but it 1S in fact the result of considerable
individuatioL.The ctoral dance songs of unmarried and married adults of the older chiefdom clusters are typicaL examples of this polyrhythmic vocalization. When I heard and reccrded them for the first time, they seemed to me to be nothing but highly unified choruses led by song leaders whose individual parts were soon swallowed up in the group sound. I became aware of the leader - chorus reLatiocship and the rhythmic interaction of the individual singers only when I moved among them to reccrd their
individual vocal utterances. l9

The Thembu people of Engcobo district have a saying which describes this process of making music: , Bayongeza amanye amagama ukongeza urrnandi engomeni ( They add different words in their Singing to make taste of their song'). I heard this saying for the first time when I attended a girlsV initiation ceremony and had a chance to chat to many of the pecple present.

The married women in particular were very informative when I asked them to tell me ' how they do their singing and dancing' Nowinile Nkelecgeshe quoted the saying and added, ' But of course we are always guided led ) by the number of dance steps that we do when singing' ( 6: 9: 69). Several performances of the u~ngqungqo dance took place that day, and during them I was able to observe how the singing group organized its musical activity round the basic metre of the song, w1ich is expressed in dance steps to the left and to the right alternately. Furthermore, this left - right movement is reflected in the shifting tona lity of the song ( cf. ctap. 7: 548ss ).

The same process is employed in all the other styles of  Xhosa music to a gr~ater or lesser degree. This is deter -mined by the social situation in which the music is performed and the number of people who participate. In every style, Olm metre prevails throughout the song. This is the , "ground plan", whicl: serves as a point of reference for the infinite variety of detail possible within the scheme' ( Lomax 1968: 49). With the exception of ritual institutional music ( boys' and girls' initiation ), this basic metre is always expressed by handclaps.

At the home of Headman Kundlase Nomtsheketshe in the district of Kwa]3haca, the leader of a young men's group ( iindlavini ) explained the ]3haca style of singing with these words:

'Actually everyone does his own thing, but it must fit in with the others. You cannot sing just anything. A song has a certain sound ( tune ), and a beat, and all of us have to sing around tha.t' ( 3: 12: 70 ).

The Xesibe speak of singing in terms of ' each one throws her voice into the song I. O~ one occasion a quarrel broke out at a work party ( isitshongo ) when a fra.il old lady failed to establish the basic metre of a song. She clapped in a rather erratic fashion, and the other women complained that they would not be able to I throw their voices into the song I properly if she did not clap with more precision. The 

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old lady was eventually persuaded to let another woman lead the singing.

Clappin,rr is comnonly described as 'ne:ok"ler;z' imiphetho ngezandla ( making borders/ rims/edges with the h~nds ' ), a phrase which "Jas further e Lucida ted by a Bhaca gir I whom I met at the Great Place of Par: mount Ctief Wnbana Makhaula: 

'Umphetho is the long rope which women use when thatch ing a roof; they wind it round and round. This rope is imrortant as it holds the whole roof together. So it is with claps; they hold the song together by forming a boundary or edge round it. Anyone can do I'Jta t she like s when singing, but she must not go over thi~ edge'

( 2: l2: 70 ).

Thus in any musical situation the melodies arise with, and are controlled by, the motion of the rhythm, wtich also gener ates the clapping. Thp claps remind each singer that while he/she is free to do what hp/she likes when singing, he/she is still part of the group. Their comtined vocal patterns must always be rhythmically grouped and related to one another, and this is ensured by clapping, an integrating factor that keeps everyone harnessed to the rhythmic scheme of the m~sic.  The pclyrhythmic rrocess is essentially a process of , variation of the repetition, unity in the diversity , 20 in which each person retains his individuality but agrees to co - operate with others. It is also active in Xhosa instrumental music in which it is applied in a similar way with different results. For example, in uhadi music, which takes the form of acccmpa~ied song, the vocal line has its own rhythm, but it must synchronize with the rhythmic pattern of the instrumental accompaniment. Thus both voca.l and instrumental parts, whose starting and ending points usually differ, have independent but nevertheless strictly related rhythmic patterns"...

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REPRINT OF MY THREE COMMENTS ABOUT THIS EXCERPT THAT WERE PUBLISHED IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THAT 2023 PANCOCOJAMS POST
Azizi PowellOctober 23, 2023 at 10:03 AMWhile watching YouTube videos of Xhosa traditional dancing, I've noticed the custom among amaXhosa females (and maybe also males, but I admit that I've focused more on female dancers in this regard) of holding one arm in a particular angular position while dancing. I intent to publish at least one pancocojams post with a small sample of these videos soon and will add a link for that post in this discussion thread.