Video Clips Of Audiences At South African Gospel Choir Joyous Celebration Concerts With Yellow Hand Held "Clappers"

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update: June 27, 2022

This pancocojams post presents information, comments, and video examples of the yellow clapping devices that are held by a number of audience attendees at various concerts by the South African Gospel choir Joyous Celebration.

A video of the uMpampampa instrument that is played by some members of the South African Christian denomination Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) is also included in this post.

The Addendum of this post showcases some examples video clips of Joyous Celebration concert audiences where the audiences don't appear to hold these yellow clapping devices.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, folkloric, and religious purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this pancocojams post and all those who are featured in videos that are embedded in this post.

****
DISCLAIMER
I'm African American and acknowledge that I'm an outsider to South African culture and to the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) religious denomination. I've never traveled to South Africa (or to any other African country for that matter), and don't speak any language but English. In addition, I've not been fortunate enough to attend any Joyous Celebration concert in the United States (as I presume there have been such concerts).

I'm publishing this post because it suddenly occurred to me yesterday when I watched a Joyous Celebration YouTube video that the yellow "clappers" that some audience members held are very similar to the uMpampampa hand drum that are found in this pancocojams post that I recently published: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/10/videos-examples-of-south-africas-urcsa.html "Videos Examples Of South Africa's URCSA Denomination (with focus on uMpampampa (hand drum)".

"Clappers" and "clapping devices" are my terms for these musical accompaniment devices and are used for referent and descriptive purposes without any assumption on my part that these are the correct terms for these devices.

I've found very little information or comments online about the URCSA churches' uMpampampa musical instrument. And I've found even less information or comments online about the yellow clapping devices that many Joyous Celebration concert attendees "clapping devices". The images of  Joyous Celebration concert audiences using  these "clappers" are scattered throughout various Joyous Celebration music videos.

The 2015 Joyous Celebration video entitled "Hallelujah Nkateko - Lihle's version" includes a
few clips of Joyous Celebration choir members holding these yellow clappers.     

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES
The yellow hand held "clappers" that are held by some Joyous Celebration concert attendees appear to be a smaller version of the uMpampampa (hand drum) that is performed by some men and women during services of the South African Christian denomination Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). I've read references to the uMpampampa as a "pillow" and referents to the smaller "Joyous Celebration" device as a "cushion", but it appears from my reading that both of these terms are considered to be incorrect and are frown upon by some South Africans.

Some scenes in the 2015 Joyous Celebration YouTube video entitled "Hallelujah Nkateko- Lihle's Version" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUrnIYOpR-w show a few choir members holding these yellow clappers. There may be other videos of Joyous Celebration choir members with these clappers, but the clappers are usually shown in some images of Joyous Celebration audiences. Those screen shots that I've found of Joyous Celebration audiences show them having the yellow clapper affixed to their left hand by an elastic (rubber band) and being hit with their right hand. Presumably, these "clappers" result in a louder sound than that which would have been made by clapping hands. Also, using one hand to clap this device means that your hands won't hurt as much as they would if you were clapping both your hands together.  

In contrast, the URCSA's "clappers" are played like a musical instruments with while the men and women playing them dance along with other worshipers. Also, the URCSA "uMpampampa that I've seen in videos are either white, or red or blue, or black, and not the yellow which appears to be the only color the Joyous Celebration clappers have. The URCSA "hand drums" are sometimes (it appears incorrectly) referred to as "pillows"* and the hand held yellow devices that some Joyous Celebration concert attendees hold are sometimes descriptively, but again probably incorrectly referred to as "cushions".

I don't know when these "clappers" began to be held by Joyous Celebration audiences or choir members and I don't know how widespread this custom has been and remains in 2019 (when this editorial comment was written) among Joyous Celebration choir members and their concert attendees and/or among other South African audiences at other religious church services or concerts. Furthermore, I wonder if the uMpampampa or the smaller versions of these clappers that I've noticed being held by some Joyous Celebration audiences/choir members have ever been used by audiences during non-religious concerts or other secular gatherings.

The Addendum below showcases examples of some Joyous Celebration videos which don't appear to have any shots of audiences or choir members holding these yellow clappers.

The only information that I recall reading at this time about Joyous Celebration audiences' use of these yellow "clappers" is given below.

My questions about these musical/clapping devices aren't meant to detract from paramount purpose of these videos as religious songs - to praise God. However, for the historical, cultural, and folkloric record please share any information that you know about uMpampampa and/or the Joyous Celebration audiences use of these yellow clappers.

Thank you.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND/OR CLAPPING DEVICE THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS POST
Excerpt #1:
Here's a portion of a 2005 South African dissertation that I found online that refers to an instrument that appears to describe the hand drum known as "uMpampampa":
From https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10413/5102/Malembe_Sipho_S_2005.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

South African popular Gospel Music
In the Post-Apartheid Era: Genre, Production, Mediation and Consumption.
Sipho S. Malembe

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree Masters in Music (MMus),
At the School of Music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal
Howard College
..."A number of early artists/groups stood out remarkably, in clearly demarcating and defining the genre of local 'Gospel'. Without going into depth with their music, I want to highlight a few such artists/groups. One of the very early 'Gospel' groups is Amodadana aseWesile. This group began in the mid 70's. Their music is hymnal, which is a direct influence of the missionaries' music. Their music is also characterised by translating well-known missionaries' hymns into local indigenous languages, as pointed to by Muwowo, in Table
2.1.

As he suggested, this translation alters the rhythm into a more African-oriented one. The music also has a forward-driving, danceable rhythm. The very use of the percussive sounds, like 'tshiiif called 'isifutho', and 'isqamelo', a small hand-held pillow like instrument; to emphasise certain beats of the bar in a phrase, emphasises and strengthens the rhythm of the musIc."
-snip-
I've added italics to highlight sentences in this passage.

****
Excerpt #2
From https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/44f5/464c1570df0258d80affad087a77371f5782.pdf
"Echoes of orality in Christian Xhosa songs
M.M. Somniso
School of Language, Media and Communication
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
PORT ELIZABETH

Umpampampa: An umpampampa is a Bible-sized cushion covered with leather. It is held in one hand and beaten with the other. This is done to produce more sound and to regulate the rhythm."...
-snip-
I've noticed in several discussion threads of South African music videos (where men and/or women are playing this hand drum) that some people (my guess is that they are not from South Africa) think that this hand held drum is either a pillow or the church members' Bible (inside the pillow or without the covering for the Bible although the actual Bible isn't in there". In the discussion threads I've happened upon, when people refer to these instruments that way, South Africans are quick to correct them and share other terms they use for uMpampampas such as iBeat. "....

An example of such a discussion is given as Excerpt #3 below.
-snip-
This passage is quoted in https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/10/information-about-south-africas.html Information About South Africa's Amakhorasi (Gospel) Music (From An Excerpt Of A 2016 Book & A 2005 Doctoral Thesis)
(Part II of a four part pancocojams series that showcases brief excerpts about certain forms of Black church music in Southern Africa).

****
Excerpt #3
From the discussion thread for Joyous Celebration - Hi Hanya Mahala (Live at Carnival City, 2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsUa2rENH4Y
debo adediran, 2018
"i have been listening to this songs for years. its hasnt gone dry in my ears. GOD was truly in the concert. pls whats the yellow thing they used to clap called and any suggestions where i can get it pls? thank you"

**
REPLY
Mr R, 2018
"debo adediran
Traditionally, the Methodist Church which has influenced the gospel music and dancing in the RSA has been using cushions to bring out a beat when singing. Such beats were sometimes done without musical instruments. It is therefore upon such background that the popular Methodist feel is brought into the Joyous Celebration concerts."

****
A SHOWCASE VIDEO OF URCSA uMpampampa (hand drum) with a comment exchange about that instrument

URCSA Khayelitsha Ndikhangele Ngobubele 334



Sivuyisiwe Lutango , Mar 14, 2018
-snip-
Here's some comments from this video's discussion thread (with numbers added for referencing purposes only.)
1. Obakeng Boshielo, 2018
"i don't know what the lyrics are but i can feel the energy through the phone 😀 I love the way they hitting the pillows"

**
REPLY
2. sihle mabombo, 2019
"It's called umPhafphaf"

**
REPLY
3. Des, 2019
"its not the pillows, Its their Bibles or Worship books"

**
REPLY
4. Thandeka Malinga, 2019
"It's not a pillow nor a worship book but we call it a Beat"

**
REPLY
5. OBAKENG MICHAEL, 2019
"Ke beat...or bithi😂😂"

**
REPLY
6. Sanelisiwe Lurai, 2019
"😂😂😂 I'm dead ngu "Mpampampa" sis or iBeat"
-snip-
Here’s what I think this comment means: “I’m dead” is a colloquial American expression that means “I’m dying of laughter”. I don’t know what “ngu” means. After writing that word it appears to me that Sanelisiwe Lurai then wrote the two names that are used for what was referred to as a “pillow”. The word “sis” in that sentence is a referent for the female commenter (i.e. “sis” as a short form of the word “sister”.)

**
REPLY
7. Phiwe Mpahlwa, 2019
"Lol as Xhosa's we call it umpampampa"

**
REPLY
8. Veronica Tlhoni, 2019
"Reebitsa beat love"

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO CLIPS OF JOYOUS CELEBRATION AUDIENCE WITH YELLOW CLAPPERS
Example #1:
Joyous Celebration - Ngiphete' Ungqo



joyousVEVO, Oct 19, 2015

[...]

Song: Ngiphete Ungqo
Artist: Joyous Celebration
Album: Joyous Celebration 16 [2012]
-snip-
From the wikipedia article about Joyous Celebration which lists the dates and names of this South African Gospel choir's albums: "Joyous Celebration 16: Royal Priesthood - Live in Johannesburg at Carnival City's Big Top Arena (2012)"
-snip-
A good clip from this video that shows these clappers is at 1.30, but these yellow clapping devices can be seen at other times in audience shots in this video.
-snip-
This is a Xhosa song. Here's a comment about the song's meaning:
Bongumenzi Dlamini, 2017
"This song says we don't worry for we have the real gospel....".
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/south-africas-joyous-celebration-choir.html for a 2018 pancocojams post entitled "South Africa's Joyous Celebration Choir Featuring Nobathembu Mabeka - "Ngiphete' Ungqo" (information, video, & lyrics)"

****
Example #2: Joyous Celebration - Hi Hanya Mahala (Live at Carnival City, 2012)



joyousVEVO20, Aug 9, 2019

Music video by Joyous Celebration performing Hi Hanya Mahala (Live at Carnival City, 2012). (C) 2012 Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd/Joyous Celebration

[...]

Song: Hi Hanya Mahala
Artist: Joyous Celebration
Album: Joyous Celebration 16 [2012]
-snip-
A good clip from this video that shows these clappers is at 3.47-3:51, but these yellow clapping devices can be seen at other times in audience shots in this video.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/south-africas-joyous-celebration-choir_28.html
January 28, 2018

South Africa's Joyous Celebration Choir (16) - "Hi Hanya Mahala" (video & lyrics). The lyrics to this song (along with an English translation) are found in this post.

Commenters shared that this song is sung in Shangaan (Xitsonga) - the language spoken by the Tsonga people of southern Africa.

Here's a portion of a comment written in 2013 on that discussion thread:
"Hi Hanya Mahala (We are Living For Free)" by Mercy Ndlovu (Joyous Celebration 16)

1:(Solo:) Ka Jeso wamahala na waku xava ulava wini?
(Between a Jesus you can buy and one that’s free which do you want?)
(All:) Ndzi lava mahala (I want the free one)
(Solo:) Ai angana yini? (What does He have?)
(All:) Angana vutomi, bya kuhanya na kuhanyisa, alokose
(He has life, life to live and to heal)"...

****
Example #3: Joyous Celebration - Yesu Wena UnguMhlobo (Live At The CTICC, Cape Town, 2019) (Live)



joyousVEVO, Apr 18, 2019

Music video by Joyous Celebration performing Yesu Wena UnguMhlobo (Live At The CTICC, Cape Town, 2019) (Live). (C) 2019 Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd/Joyous Celebration Foundation

-snip-
A good clip from this video that shows these clappers is at 3.41, but these yellow clapping devices can be seen at other times in audience shots in this video.

Joyous Celebration is paying homage to the South African Methodist Church by singing one of their classic songs and wearing clothing that is the same or approximates the style of clothing that is worn by members of that denomination.

Here's the Xhosa lyrics for this song (and their English translation) from that video's discussion thread

Yesu! Wena unguMhlobo
Jesus! You are a friend
Umhlobo womphefumulo
A soulmate
Ndiza kuWe undincede
I come to You for help
Uncede le ntliziyo
Help this heart × 5

Themba limbi andinalo
I have no other hope
Endingabamba lona
That I can hold onto
Nqaba yimbi andinayo
I have no other refuge
Endingangena kuyo
That I can go onto × 6
Amen

[Hymn 195 Methodist Church of Southern Africa]

****
ADDENDUM - VIDEO CLIPS OF JOYOUS CELEBRATION AUDIENCES WHERE THE ATTENDEES DON'T APPEAR TO HAVE THESE YELLOW CLAPPING DEVICES
Example #1: JOYOUS CELEBRATION 11 - JABU & SIPHO - VUZO WAKHO



UkhoziFM TV, May 11, 2009

Joyous Celebration 11 Live at Sun City, North West at The Sun City Superbowl (2007) [Wikepedia]
-snip-
The audience stands and dances & sings along/singing along with choir. I didn't notice any hand held clappers. I also didn't see any cell phones.

****
Example #2: JOYOUS CELEBRATION 17 LONA BA RATANG



railsonberna railsonarao, Jul 27, 2016

[...]

Song: Lona Baratang
Artist: Joyous Celebration
Album: Volume 17 - Grateful
-snip-
Joyous Celebration 17: Grateful was filmed Live in Johannesburg at Rhema Bible Church (2013). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyous_Celebration

****
Example #3: Joyous Celebration 18 - Ntate Ke Mang



Gospel SA, Jun 5, 2014

"Ntate Ke Mang" from Joyous Celebration 18
-snip-
This song is from Joyous Celebration, Vol. 18 (One Purpose) which was released on Apr 2014.

****
Example #4: Joyous Celebration - Wenzile (Live)



joyousVEVO, Apr 20, 2018

Music video by Joyous Celebration performing Wenzile (Live). (C) 2018 Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd/Joyous Celebration
-snip-
A lot of audience members stand holding up cell phones to record the concert. I don't see any yellow hand held clappers.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/09/joyous-celebration-wenzile-video-lyrics.html for Part I of a pancocojams series on this song. That post is entitled Joyous Celebration - Wenzile (video, lyrics, & comments).

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.