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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Five South African Wedding Songs By Platform One

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases five videos/sound files of the South African music group Platform One. Information about this group and selected comments from some of the featured videos YouTube viewer comment threads are also included in this post.

If you have information about the meaning of these songs, please add it in the comment thread of the video and/or this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT PLATFORM ONE
From https://www.facebook.com/PlatformOnesouthafrica/info
"Platform One was formed in 1989. It consisted of Pure Gold, Senior Choir and Nani Ntengo. It was formed in Mzimhlophe Soweto. It recorded its first album titled Isencance Ingane which was released in 1990. The song was very popular around South Africa and it sold more than 500 000 copies, and for that album Platform One reached Gold and Double Platinum...

Description
We are a group of 3 members and do Traditional wedding songs, We rocked SA and we back to rock more. Members: Nani Ntengo, Sonto Dladla and Nelisiwe Jele"

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FEATHRED EXAMPLES
(These examples are presented in chronological order based on their posting date on YouTube with the oldest videos given first.)

Example #1: Isencane Platform One



Thandielove, Uploaded on May 30, 2008
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this song's viewer comment thread:

freddiep21, 2008
"ahh i love this tune!! it should play on my wedding. it brings back memories of early 90's. it was a hit it played on my uncle's wedding! where can i get this CD?"

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bluerings20, 2008
"lovely song,takes me back in time when i was a lot younger in Zim,reminds me of weddings in Zim too!!"
-snip-
"Zim" = Zimbabwe

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ziya139, 2009
"The song says: Can't u c this disaster the child is still young 2 get married..."

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Vincent Simelane, 2012
"Amen amen ... proudly south african!! gone are the day when weddings abt singing and dancing !! now all therre is is BEER BEER BEER..."

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lindo shozi. 2013
"I will need a hand,who who in their right mind wud marry this child is still young,My baby is too young to get married. In short thats the meaning of the song"

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Example #2: Platform One Sizolala La



Thandielove, Uploaded on Nov 9, 2009
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this song's viewer comment thread:

Boikanyo Molale, 2009
"we danced to this at uncles wedding way bac in 1999. i was still a small boi aniway."

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2thobza, 2011
"i love this song thnx Thandielove it reminds me of hw my mom cn b at weddings"

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Example #3: Platform One - Womnyakazisa Mayelele

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Bi Tra, Published on Nov 2, 2012

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Example #4: Platform One - Ivalaza



Bi Tra, Published on Jan 2, 2013
South African Music
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this song's viewer comment thread:

Cecil Gape, 2013
"classic tune guys !"

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Vincent Simelane, 2013
"suka !!! gone are the days when wedding were fun and nyc eish now its more of a show off and fanancial transaction than anything else"

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TheBong27, 2013
"@ Muziwenhlanhla Mchunu_ valaza refers to the car, its a short township name for the American muscle car "Valiant".
-snip-
I don't know what "muscle car" means except that it may mean a "sports car". I'm American but I had to look up information about the Valiant car. The Plymouth Valiant is an automobile manufactured by the Plymouth division of Chrysler Corporation in the United States from 1960 to 1976. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Valiant. South Africa was one of the nations around the world in which the Plymouth (also known as the Chrysler) Valiant was marketed.

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Example #5: Platform One: Taste & Pass



zuluboys, Published on Aug 14, 2013

Forget fancy studio and stage setup, this is simplicity at its best and with cows and goats to boot!

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Thanks to Platform One for their musical legacy. Thanks also to those who I quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos/sound files on YouTube.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

1 comment:

  1. I'm curious about when these wedding songs were composed.

    The one about the Valiant car -given as Example #4- can be no earlier than the 1960s when that car was manufactured and began to be marketed in South Africa. But what of the other examples of wedding songs that Platform One sings?

    Are they from the mid 20th century or so, or are they older than that? And are they folk songs with different versions of the lyrics or are there known composers for these songs? Also, is the custom of singing and dancing to wedding songs unique to one South African ethnic group or is a custom of many or all Black (and Colored) South Africans?
    And lastly, is this custom still as popular in the 21st century as was in the 20th century?

    I've tried to find information about wedding songs online, but am having difficulty finding any articles.

    Thanks in advance for any responses to these questions.

    ReplyDelete