Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents three videos of South Africa's Isicathamaya groups wearing white gloves or (since at least 2017) wearing gloves of another color.
In at least one of these videos, an Isicathamiya group makes a form of the "jazz hands" gesture.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who helped develop the vocal performance styles that are featured in this post. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those are featured in this post. Thanks to all those are associated with these showcased videos.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This pancocojams post is published to spark consideration about these topics which hopefully will results in online and offline information about this subject by those who are far more knowledgeable than I am about the influence of black faced minstrelsy upon certain South African vocal performances.
There's no doubt that the Isicathamiya custom of wearing white gloves (or lately, wearing other color gloves) has its source in 19th century United States black-faced minstrelsy. This pancocojams posts introduces to some people the historical fact that groups of United States White minstrel groups and United States Black minstrel groups toured South Africa in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, and thus helped birth the creation of South African minstrel groups and other vocal group performances such as Isicathamiya. (People in the United States may be familiar with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. That group's singing and performance style is based on Isicathamiya, although that group is much smaller than other Isicathamiya groups and their attire is quite different from Isicathamiya groups.)
The second part that I posit in this post -that some Isicathamiya groups perform the hand gesture that is known as "jazz hands" or "spirit fingers" and that those Isicathamiya hand gestures have their source in black faced minstrelsy is much more questionable.
When I refer to South African singers "doing jazz hands" I don't mean that they hold (or held) their arms extended from their waist and wiggle their fingers. Instead, their hands are held near the top of their head and their fingers are wiggled.
I don't know whether the history of Isicathamiya supports the notion that that gesture was commonly done. I also don't know if that gesture is widely done in the 21st century.
I also don't know whether that gesture that is performed now by Isicathamiya groups (and probably was performed by Isicathamiya groups in the past) has/had its origin in traditional Zulu or other South African ethnic groups' dances. In other words, was that gesture performed by United States black faced minstrels in the 19th century before they toured South Africa?
Furthermore, I don't know whether the "jazz hand" gesture that Isicathamiya groups do (and presumable did in the past) means the same thing/s as jazz hands mean and meant in the United States.
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This pancocojams post pre-supposes that its readers have some knowledge about black faced minstrelsy in the United States and black faced minstrelsy in South Africa. This pancocojams post also pre-supposes that its readers are familiar with the history of and how to make the hand gesture that is now known as "jazz hands" or "spirit fingers".
Here's a quote from the 2018 pancocojams post entitled "Excerpt From A 1997 article About Isicathamiya Music (The Music Style Popularized By Ladysmith Black Mambazo)" http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/excerpt-from-1997-article-about.html
[quoting "Songs Of The Night: Isicathamiya Choral Music From KwaZulu Natal" by Angela Impey https://folklife.si.edu/resources/Festival1997/songsof.htm
..."By the 1920s, minstrel shows had gained widespread popularity throughout South Africa, extending deep into remote parts of the countryside, where traditional performance practices remained relatively unaltered. These shows particularly impressed Zulu migrant workers from the KwaZulu Natal regions, who combined stylistic elements of minstrelsy performance with ingoma (dance characterized by forward-stretching hands and high-kicking footwork) and izingoma zomtshado (Zulu wedding songs closely related in structure to ingoma songs) to form the prototype of present-day isicathamiya song and dance.
Also, click https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-05-so-youve-never-heard-of-reuben-t-caluza-that-needs-to-change/ for the Oct. 5, 2021 article by Emma Dollery entitled "So, you’ve never heard of Reuben T. Caluza? That needs to change."
Here's a brief excerpt of that article:
[Reuben T.] "Caluza was born near Edendale, KwaZulu-Natal (then called
Natal) in 1895, and, according to this short biography, displayed musical
talent at a very early age. His talent was further developed in secondary
school, when he attended John Dube’s Ohlange High School, the first school
founded by a black South African, and one of the first institutions of higher
learning for people of colour. Later, he spent time in America, where he
studied music at Hampton University and then Columbia University, after which
he returned to South Africa to be appointed the head of Adams College School of
Music.
It was in America that Caluza first encountered ragtime, a
genre which originated in African American musical communities and is sometimes
credited as a precursor to jazz. Miller expands: “This influence of ragtime had
a big impact: Caluza was instrumental in developing and revolutionising the
‘concert form’, freeing it up from static missionary choral performance and
rather combining movement/dancing with singing performance, relating to the
action-songs of isicathamiya, which became a central part of concert
entertainment in South African choral music.”...
Also, click https://esat.sun.ac.za/index.php/Minstrels#The_African_Minstrels for information about black faced minstrelsy in 19th/early 20th century South Africa and a list of a black faced minstrel groups who toured that nation or were from that nation.
Here are two brief excerpts from that page:
“The Virginia Jubilee Singers and Orpheus McAdoo
An influential jubilee and minstrelsy group who visited
South Africa in the 1890s under the leadership of impresario Orpheus McAdoo.
The group was also known as the Virginia Concert Company, the Virginia Jubilee
Concert Company, McAdoo's Vaudeville Company or even simply as The Jubilee
Singers. Their visits are believed to have had a substantial influence on the
style of the Cape Coon Carnival
See the Virginia Jubilee Singers”
-snip-
This write up doesn’t note that these performers were Black Americans.
**
"The cultural influence of the minstrelsy movement in South
Africa
The impact of the first visit by the original Christy's
Minstrels and the various minstrel-style shows subsequently done by the various
garrison theatre companies, visiting professionals and a number of amateur
companies, in the course of the 19th century has been quite profound.
One of the most noticeable of the longer-term effects of the exposure to the Christy's performances, is to be seen in the way they directly influenced the form, dress and style of what was long known as the Coon Carnival, or Kaapse Klopse, in Cape Town, put on by troupes hailing from various regions of the larger Cape Town area. The annual event, taking place on the 2nd of January (referred to as "Tweede Nuwejaar), is today called the Cape Minstrel Carnival in English, though still referred to as the Kaapse Klopse in Afrikaans.
Besides this key event, a number of other South African
minstrel groups - such as the African Darkies, African Own Entertainers, and
the Midnight Follies - became popular, and in their turn influenced township
performance in various parts of the country, through their use of so-called
"coon" songs and skits borrowed from recordings and sheet music from
Britain and the USA."...
**
Click https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-fabulous-history-of-jazz-hands "The Fabulous History of JAZZ HANDS!" Here's a brief excerpt from that article:
..."The exact origins of jazz hands are a bit murky, but as with most performative dance, it likely has its roots in African dance traditions. “I see one thread of it coming up through the African-American foundation of jazz dance, and that authentic jazz tradition,” says Rebecca Katz Harwood, Associate Professor of Musical Theater at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. ”In as much as vaudeville grows out of minstrelsy, that’s another step backwards on the family tree of jazz hands.”
It’s likely that the simple act of shaking your hands as part of the performance came into use when vaudeville performers began taking their cues from these traditions. As vaudeville began evolving into film, it brought jazz hands with it. Some people contend that jazz hands can be traced back to Al Jolson’s 1927 film, The Jazz Singer. In the film, Jolson plays a young man who defies his strict Jewish parents, and becomes a singer. The film is mainly remembered both for being the first ever “talkie,” with dialogue synchronized to the action, and also for Jolson’s incredibly offensive blackface minstrelsy. The performance numbers in the film, which were praised upon its release, are still somewhat unforgettable today (if you can get past the blackface).
Some of Jolson’s moves are reminiscent of what we would call
jazz hands, with arms outstretched and hands extended pleadingly to the
audience, but his moves lack the signature shake. “When I think of Al Jolson, I
think of the blackface and the white gloves over his hands. And of course part
of what those white gloves do is draw attention to the hands,” says Katz
Harwood."...
For an example of "jazz hands", click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BatoXPSA3HQ "The Simpsons - Jazz Hands", published by AreaEightyNine, Jul 13, 2017.
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YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF ISICATHAMIYA GROUPS
These videos are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
SHOWCASE #1: Zulu Messengers , AmaBhoza KaCothoza Umdlalo ka BGK 1
Zulu Messengers, Oct 9,
2017
-snip-
I especially want to direct your attention to the song that starts at 55:57 and the portion of that song that begins at 1.01:17. I believe that the wide eyes, big smile, and wiggling white gloved hands next to their
faces definitely resemble black face minstrelsy.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: UMDLALO Wase MzimkhuluNMZ
NMZ Multimedia, Aug 16, 2017
-snip-
9:52 in this video shows the group leader holding his hands above his face, wiggling those hands, and grimacing. That grimacing is part of a longer series of mimicking movements, and differs from the "happy/excited" emotions that are conveyed by "jazz hands".
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: Inkululeko ejajini (Iphimbo Iscathamiya Music Organization)
Inkululeko, Nov. 29, 2021
-snip-
This contemporary Iscathamiya group incorporated Zulu dance movements into their performance. The leader performed a large number of imitative hand gestures. While I didn't see anything that I'd call the "jazz hands" gesture that is performed near the top of the head as I've seen it in the video given as #1 in this pancocojams post, wouldn't have been out of place among these other imitative gestures.
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ADDENDUM
I haven't come across any videos of the world famous Isicathamiya and mbube group Ladysmith Black Mambazo wearing Western suits and gloves like the other Isicathamiya groups. It's likely that they wore suits and white gloves when they were competing in isicathamiya competitions. (They won so often that they were asked to stop competing).
If you've come across Ladysmith Black Mambazo or any other Isicathamiya group doing "jazz hands" (other than waving goodbye as at 1:21 in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sghfvbd0Nbg , please share that link or links.)
Also, if you have any other information about the imitative movements and hand gestures these groups make, please share that information. Thanks!
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