Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Update: October 22, 2019
This is Part IV of a four part pancocojams series that showcases brief excerpts about certain forms of Black church music in Southern Africa and showcases a few YouTube video examples of South Africa's amakhorasi music.
Part IV showcases videos of URCSA services. Special focus in these videos is on some members of that denomination playing uMpampampa (hand drum) and other indigenous musical instruments as an integral part of their church services.
Selected comments from one of these video's discussion thread are also included in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/10/black-church-music-in-zambia-excerpt.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents a brief excerpt of a 2015 doctoral thesis for the University of the Western Cape written by Kapenwa Kondolo. The thesis is entitled "The Ministry of Music: A Case Study On The United Church of Zambia And The New Jerusalem Church".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/10/information-about-south-africas.html for Part II of this series. Part II is divided into two sections. Section A presents a summary of a 2016 social science book by Austin C. Okigbo entitled Music, Culture, and the Politics of Health: Ethnography of a South African AIDS Choir Section A also presents a brief excerpt from that book which provides information about certain forms of Black South African church music.
Section B presents a brief excerpt from a 2005 doctoral thesis that includes information about certain forms of music in South African churches.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/10/information-about-south-africas-urcsa.html for Part III of this series. Part III provides information about Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) and showcases videos of URCSA services.
The content of this post is presented for ethnomusicology, cultural, and religious purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these selected videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
Part III of this pancocojams series lists indigenous musical instruments that are played for Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa church services. One of these instruments is what Americans call "cow bells", and the other is the uMpampampa hand drum (also called "iBeat"). Also, in at least two of the videos which are featured in this pancocojams post show a djembe drum being played (in one video a woman bends down and plays the djembe and in another video a man stands, holding the djembe between his knees).
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UPDATE: October 12, 2019
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.
-end of 10/12/2019 Update-
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: 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"
**
UPDATE: October 22, 2019
[This comment is in response to several requests for the name of this song (including a request that I made in that video's discussion thread.]
9. Sihle Ntlabati, 2019
"The name of the hymn is Sikhangele ngobubhele English translation is We seek with kindness"
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Example #2: URCSA Khayelitsha
Aug 30, 2017
-snip-
Notice that throughout this video a man stands playing a djembe. This video and the video given below as #3 in this post are both from URCSA Khayelitsha. I don't know how common it is to play one or more djembes along with uMpampampas and other indigenous African instruments during that particular church's URCSA church services and/or during other URCSA church services. Please share information about this topic if you are familiar with these church services. Thanks!
Here's information about the very popular djembe drum:
"The djembe drum is said to have been invented in the 12th Century by the Mandinke tribe in what is now Mali, in West Africa. It has been played by West Africans for generations forming an integral part of ritualistic life in Mali, Guinea, Senegal and other neighbouring West African countries." http://www.drumafrica.co.uk/articles/the-djembe/
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Example #3: URCSA Khayelitsha
Siphesihle Butumelo TsengiweAug 8, 2018
Hosana 154
-snip-
Notice that around 4:16 a woman can be seen bending down playing a djembe.
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Example #4: Re rata ha rekabona Jesu
Letsatsi Mohlomi, Feb 4, 2018
URCSA CFM Johannesburg Presbytery at Tembisa Wes
-snip-
This video shows part of the church's collection [of money].
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Example #5: MBB BODIBE AT LITCHTENBURG NOORD
makwati jaftaphello, Feb 8, 2017
URC LITCHTENBURG NOORD REVIVAL
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This concludes this five part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
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