Ladysmith Black Mambazo, July 30, 2018
World Travels: World Music For Kids
℗ 2010 Musical Kidz, LLC
Released on: 2010-01-01
Composer Lyricist: Traditional
Arranger, Work Arranger: Joseph Shabalala
**** Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases the traditional Zulu song 'There Comes Our Mothers" as sung by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.An explanation of this song is included in this post along with an unofficial Zulu to English translation. Additions and corrections of these lyrics are very welcome.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composer of this traditional South African song and thanks to Joseph Shabalala for his arrangement of this song. Thanks to Ladysmith Black Mambazo for their music and thanks to all those who are associated with tthis song and thanks to all those who quoted in this post.
..."This beautiful song from South Africa is used in both schools and homeschool settings as a way to celebrate mother’s day and honor the many things that mothers do for their children and their communities. The song tells the story of mothers in Africa who have farmed their land and go off to town to sell what they have grown. On the day they return, the children wait patiently and begin to sing as their mothers come into view. In the song, they imagine what their mothers may have brought them from the village. From the Zulu tradition, the lyrics are in English and in Zulu."
-snip- That page includes sheet music for this song, but doesn't include lyrics.
**** UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTION OF THE ZULU LYRICS FOR THE SONG "HERE COMES OUR MOTHERS " [From Google translate]
Zulu words (with some English words)
Ningi ba Ninga ba Ningi ba Ninga ba Naba omama
Esilethela izipho
Singabona apples
Singabona bananas
Singabona cookies.
Singabona sweeties.
Naba omama
English translation: There are many There are many There are many There are many
Here come our mothers [Here are our mothers] Bringing us presents We can see apples. We can see bananas We can see cookies. We can see sweeties.
Here come our mothers.
-snip- This is my attempted transcription from the Ladysmith Black Mambazo YouTube sound file based on Google translates results for English to Zulu sentences, with transcription suggestions from Mama Lisa's blog post about that song*.
-snip-. This approximation of that song's Zulu words is often quoted online. However, the title for that blog page "Can Anyone Help with the Zulu Song “Here Come Our Mothers"?" and Mama Lisa's request for help with the spelling of the Zulu text recognizes that those words aren't accurate.
Some members of this choir are hitting hand held small "cushion" drums.
At 3:12 in this video the men forcefully push hands down to ground and raise hands near their face with wiggling fingers with the left hand a little higher up than the right hand.
**** Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases five videos of The Twelve Apostles Church In Trinity (TTACT also given as TACT), a South African based Apostolic denomination.
This post also includes some very brief statements about this denomination. I've also included my Editorial notes about my reasons for publishing this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural and religious purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. -snip- Clickhttps://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/black-faced-minstrelsy-in-south-africas.html for a related pancocojams post entitled "Black Faced Minstrelsy In South Africa's Influence On The Custom Of Isicathamiya Groups Wearing White Gloves And Sometimes Making The "Jazz Hands" Gesture."
**** PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE In addition to these videos' music, I'm particularly interested in documenting the custom of choir members wearing white gloves or wearing another colored gloves. I posit that this custom of wearing gloves as part of the choir's attire has its source in South Africa's Isicathamiya choral groups and the Isicathamiya choral groups got the custom of wearing white gloves from the United States black faced minstrel groups (and from other minstrel groups (including a Black group known as the Virginia Jubilee Singers) who toured South Africa in the 19th and early 20th century.
The choral singing still of this Apostolic denomination reminds me of Isicathamiya choral singing.
I'm also interested in documenting the choirs' dancing/marching movements as well as their extensive use of hand gestures while they sing. These characteristics also remind me of Isicathamiya choral groups. Although I'm certainly no expert on Isicathamiya music or on Zulu culture, it appears to me that the dance movements and hand gestures that both of these vocal music groups performed in the past and still perform now come from traditional Zulu culture (Think of Ladysmith Black Mambazo as an example of an Isicathamiya music group although that group is much smaller than Isicathamiya groups and didn't/ doesn't wear the suits and gloves that Isicathamiya groups wore and still wear).
I'm curious about the hand gestures that singers in both these types of South African music use. Unfortunately, I haven't found any information online about what any of these hand gestures mean. Is performing imitative gestures while singing traditional in Zulu and/or other South African ethnic groups?
Are the gestures that resemble "jazz hands" / "spirit fingers" from traditional Zulu culture or from United States minstrel groups that toured South Africa (and elsewhere) in the late 19th century and the early 20th century?*
Hopefully, people who are knowledgeable about these subjects will share some information here or elsewhere online. Doing so would be greatly appreciated.
**** I haven't found any information in English about The Twelve Apostles Church in Trinity (TTACT) besides its Facebook page with this information: https://www.facebook.com/The12ACT/
"The Twelve Apostles Church in Trinity
Apostolic Church
321 Avoca Road, Effingham Heights, Durban, South Africa." -snip- I don't know anything about the history of The Twelve Apostles Church in Trinity (TTACT) denomination or the differences, if any, between that denomination and The Twelve Apostles Church In Christ (TTACC). However, their name similarities suggests that there was or is some connection between these denominations.
As is the case with that post, after the videos that are showcased in this post, I've included notes about the singers' attire and whether they wore white gloves or another color gloves.
The attire that TTACT members wear in these showcased videos is somewhat similar to the attire that TTACC members wear. In both groups the males wear identical attire and the females wear identical attire, except for the each group's leader.
The TTACT men and boys wear royal blue jackets (or light blue suit jackets), white shirts, blue ties, white pants, and white gloves .The group leader for the male group doesn't wear any gloves.
In some of these showcased TTACT videos, the women wear a white blouse (sometimes with a red insignia) and royal blue skirts to the knees or shortly below the knees. Sometimes for the women who also wear a white bonnet or a white tied scarf. In some videos the women don't wear gloves. However, in one of the videos, the women wear identical white dresses that are slightly below the knees. A sky blue corsage is pinned on the top right hand side of the dress. The women wear a white bonnet, sky blue long gloves, and white dress shoes.
DISCLAIMER: These descriptions of the attire for TTACT members only refers to the videos that are showcased in this post. Members of this denomination may wear other attire on other occasions.
I have included a few notes in this post about some of the hand gestures and dance movements the singers did in those showcased videos.
Additions and corrections are welcome for all of these editorial notes.
**** SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: - TTACTSO UNIZULU lapho kuGcwele by Clement
nqobile DeNqobee, May 11,
2022
**** SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: TTACT 2022 Evangelical brothers. Mthatha | Apostle and Youth day
Ncedo Mbini, Jun 27, 2022
Evangelical Junior brothers. Umzimvubu region 🌈
[…]
Disclaimer: All my videos are recorded by me, there is no
third party involved. My videos don't mean to harm ivangeli lika baba, my
motive is to show the world the beauty of TTACT and to share our songs to
anyone who would like to listen to them. -snip-
Around 8:32 in this video, the singers are doing a hand motion that is similar to what people in the United States and in some other nations call "jazz hands" or "spirit fingers.".
This pancocojams post showcases five videos of The Twelve Apostles Church In Christ (TTACC also given as TACC) a South African based Apostolic denomination.
Brief information about The Twelve Apostles Church In Christ is included in this post along with my editorial notes.
The content of this post is presented for cultural and religious purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. -snip- Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/black-faced-minstrelsy-in-south-africas.html for a related pancocojams post entitled "Black Faced Minstrelsy In South Africa's Influence On The Custom Of Isicathamiya Groups Wearing White Gloves And Sometimes Making The "Jazz Hands" Gesture."
In addition to these videos' music, I'm particularly interested in documenting the custom of choir members wearing white gloves or wearing another colored gloves. I posit that this custom of wearing gloves as part of the choir's attire has its source in South Africa's Isicathamiya choral groups and the Isicathamiya choral groups got the custom of wearing white gloves from the United States black faced minstrel groups (and from other minstrel groups (including a Black group known as the Virginia Jubilee Singers) who toured South Africa in the 19th and early 20th century.
The choral singing still of this Apostolic denomination reminds me of Isicathamiya choral singing.
I'm also interested in documenting the choirs' dancing/marching movements as well as their extensive use of hand gestures while they sing. These characteristics also remind me of Isicathamiya choral groups. Although I'm certainly no expert on Isicathamiya music or on Zulu culture, it appears to me that the dance movements and hand gestures that both of these vocal music groups performed in the past and still perform now come from traditional Zulu culture (Think of Ladysmith Black Mambazo as an example of an Isicathamiya music group although that group is much smaller than Isicathamiya groups and didn't/ doesn't wear the suits and gloves that Isicathamiya groups wore and still wear).
I'm curious about the hand gestures that singers in both these types of South African music use. Unfortunately, I haven't found any information online about what any of these hand gestures mean. Is performing imitative gestures while singing traditional in Zulu and/or other South African ethnic groups?
Are the gestures that resemble "jazz hands" / "spirit fingers" from traditional Zulu culture or from United States minstrel groups that toured South Africa (and elsewhere) in the late 19th century and the early 20th century?*
Hopefully, people who are knowledgeable about these subjects will share some information here or elsewhere online. Doing so would be greatly appreciated.
**** SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE TWELVE APOSTLES CHURCH IN CHRIST The history of the Twelve Apostles Church In Christ is difficult to follow without talking about politics, race, religious schisms, and more.
Here's a quote from https://twelveapostlescc.org/ “Twelve Apostles Church In Christ is an independent
Apostolic Church with its Head Administration office in East London, South
Africa.
Membership is well in access of 4 million…Due to the political legacy of the
previous (white) regime, the members are predominately black Africans.”...
Excerpt for Showcase Video #1, these videos are numbered for referencing purposes only and are given in chronological order with the oldest videos given first.
My brief notes about the choirs' hand gestures may be included after these videos.
DISCLAIMER: These descriptions of the attire for TTACC members only refers to the videos that are showcased in this post. Members of this denomination may wear other attire on other occasions.
I have included a few notes in this post about some of the hand gestures and dance movements the singers did in those showcased videos.
Additions and corrections are welcome for all of these editorial notes.
SHOWCASE VIDEO # 2: TTACC 2019 Thanksgiving Evangelical brothers
Ncedo Mbini, Aug 14, 2019
Evangelical brothers kwiThanksgiving 11.08.2019..
Abavangeli bakaBaba -snip- The men wear identical royal blue suit jackets, white shirt, white pants, and black shoes. The men wear a royal blue tie, white gloves, and black dress shoes.
In the beginning of the video the men bend down with the fingers
of both of their hands wiggling, the men slowly raise their hands in their air
above their head with the fingers still wiggling.
**** SHOWCASE VIDEO #3:TTACCSO UNIZULU - Ganda Ganda
TTACCSO TV, Premiered Feb 17, 2020
TTACCSO UNIZULU performed this song in 2018 National Closing function hosted by TTACCSO TUT. This song titled Ganda Ganda was composed by Mhlungu. -snip-
The young women wear a white blouse with a knee length royal blue skirt. They also wear a white head scarf, white socks, and white tennis shoes. The young men wear a royal blue suit jacket, a royal blue tie, white shirt, white pants, black belt, and black shoes. They also wear white gloves.
****SHOWCASE VIDEO #4: TACC 2020 Opening Bizana IMPM - abamazanga ubaba
Thethelela Khwatha, Mar 13, 2020
19,723 views • Mar 13, 2020
Welcoming of mother chief ❤❤❤
-snip-
The women dress identically in white blouses with royal blue shirt below the knees and a blue tied belt. They also wear a tied white scarf and white scandals. They don't wear any gloves.
**** SHOWCASE VIDEO #5: TACC Mothers' Worship Medley by Mother Lulu Matyumza, Mother Mabhola and Mother Sinama
Thethelela Khwatha, Oct 14, 2021
Thursday service -snip- The women don't wear any gloves. They wear a white blouse and blue skirt with a white scarf over their hair.
Notice the woman rubbing the palms of her hands together
than clapping her hands around .022 in this video. I've noticed that hand gesture in videos of the South African music form known as "amagwijo" ("igwijo" / "gwijo").
Also, throughout this
video notice the women raising one arm
over their head and wiggling that hand (not waving that hand from side to
side).
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.
**** 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.
**** 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".
[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.
The vast number of Zulu men who entered the migrant labor system were made to occupy the marginal spaces of the cities: squalid, single-sex hostels, compounds, and impoverished locations. City dwelling demanded creative responses to the dislocation from home and family and to the new experiences of everyday life. With urban development in South Africa, Blacks formed trade unions, sports organizations, and entertainment clubs. Zulu isicathamiya groups developed a complex network of weekly competitions; they were prescribed and stately occasions, organized around set pieces, as had been the convention of school and mission competitions. Choral groups comprised men who shared regional and kinship ties. While isicathamiya competitions may have originated in Durban and KwaZulu Natal, they soon emerged among Zulu migrants in Johannesburg, where performances took on subtle stylistic differences."...
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.”...
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."...
..."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."...
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.
**** 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".
**** 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.
**** 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!
Statistics for this video as of March 2, 2021at 2:09 AM ET Total number of views - 3,586,053 Total number of likes - 15K Total number of dislikes - 577 Total number of comments - 1,079
**** Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases the official YouTube video "Hello My Baby" by South Africa's "Ladysmith Black Mambazo".
This post presents information about Ladysmith Black Mambazo and information about the song "Hello My Baby". The lyrics for this song are also included in this post.
This content is presented for cultural, inspirational, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owner.
Thanks to Ladysmith Black Mambazo for their music. Thanks to the producer of this video and all those who are associated with this video. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube. -snip-
**** INFORMATION ABOUT LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO AND THEIR SONG "HELLO MY BABY" Excerpt #1: From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladysmith_Black_Mambazo "Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral
group singing in the local vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They became
known internationally after singing with Paul Simon on his 1986 album
Graceland, and have won multiple awards, including five Grammy Awards,[1]
dedicating their fifth Grammy to the late former President Nelson Mandela.[2]
Formed by Joseph Shabalala in 1960, Ladysmith Black Mambazo
became one of South Africa's most prolific recording artists, with their
releases receiving gold and platinum disc honours.[3] The group became a mobile
academy[4] of South African cultural heritage through their African indigenous
isicathamiya music.[2]'...
** Excerpt #2: From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezinkulu "Ezinkulu is an album by the South African isicathamiya group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The album featured songs included "How Long Should I Wait" and "Hello My Baby", the first English-language songs sung by the group. The album (#BL 186) was recorded on April 19, 1979, and released later that month." -snip- Google translate from Zulu to English: Ezinkulu= great
Joseph Shabalala lived an impactful life from being born the
eldest of 8 children that lived on a farm in Tugela, an area close to the town
of Ladysmith in South Africa. He formed the Ladysmith Black Mambazo band and
led the acapella choir to compose songs that fused indigenous Zulu songs and
dances with South African isicathamiya, an a capella tradition that was
frequently accompanied by a soft, shuffling style of dance. The band signed a
recording contract in 1970 after an accomplished radio performance and in 1973,
they released Africa’s first gold-selling album, ‘Amabutho’.
In 1987, they released ‘Shaka Zulu’, their first
worldwide album produced by Paul Simon and it went on to win the Grammy award for
Best Traditional Folk Album. Joseph Shabalala and the Ladysmith Black Mambazo
band also contributed backing vocals on Paul Simon’s multi-million-selling ‘Graceland’
album and they were able to perform hit songs like “Hello My Baby” during Paul
Simon’s “Graceland : The African Tour” concerts.
The “Hello My Baby” performance from the tour shows
frontman, Joseph Shabalala in his elements as he leads the passionate acapella
performance of lush, warm, glorious harmonies. Their stylistic mixture of
Christian harmonies and Zulu chants created a spiritually-charged atmosphere
that still gives us goosebumps when we watch the old video recording.
Joseph Shabalala died at 78 but the impact of his music
means his legacy will live forever.”… -snip- For more information about this style of South African music, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/excerpt-from-1997-article-about.html for the 2018 pancocojams post entitled "Excerpt From A 1997 Article About Isicathamiya Music (The
Music Style Popularized By Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
**** LYRICS= HELLO MY BABY
Hey baby
Hey beautiful girl
Hey baby hey
Sing hey baby hey
Hey baby hey hey
Hey beautiful girl
Come along, come along
To kiss me
Before I'm going
Come along
Come along
To kiss me
Before I'm going
Don't you kiss me nice nice
Before I'm going
Don't you kiss me nice nice
Before I'm going
Come along
Come along
Come along
You you you
Don't you meditate
I sent a messenger to tell you that
I want to meet you at the station
Come along, come along, to kiss me before I'm going
Come along come along
To kiss me before I'm going
Don't you kiss me nice, nice
Come along
Come along
Come along
You you you
Hello my baby
Hello my baby
Hello my sweet
Hello my baby
Hello my sweetheart
Don't you meditate
Don't you meditate
I send a messenger to tell you that I want to meet you
This pancocojams post presents information about Black American Jubilee singing and Black American minstrel singers on South Africa's isicathamiya music.
In addition, this post showcases two videos of isicathamiya music.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to African Americans and South Africans for this musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to those groups that are featured in these videos. Thanks also to the publishers of these university papers and these YouTube videos.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT BLACK AMERICAN JUBILEE SINGING
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_quartet
"Jubilee quartets were popular African-American religious musical groups in the first half of the 20th century. The name derives from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of singers organized by George L. White at Fisk University in 1871 to sing Negro spirituals. The members of the original Fisk Jubilee Quartet (1909-1916) were Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers (second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass), and John W. Work II (first tenor).[1] Students at other historically black schools, such as Hampton Institute, Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University, followed suit.
The early jubilee quartets featured close harmonies, formal arrangements and a "flatfooted" style of singing that emphasized restrained musical expression and technique derived from Western musical traditions. Early quartets reinforced their respectable image by adopting uniforms that a university glee club might wear and discouraging improvisation.
In time, however, the popularity of the jubilee style spread from the universities to black churches, where quartets, singing before audiences with a tradition of enthusiastic response, began to absorb much of the energy and freedom of Gospel music coming out of Holiness churches. Groups such as the Golden Gate Quartet—originally named the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet—infused their performances of spirituals with the rhythmic beat of blues and jazz and gradually began including gospel standards written by Thomas A. Dorsey and others in their repertoire. The Gates and other jubilee quartets gained nationwide popularity through radio broadcasts, records and touring in the 1930s and 1940s.
Other groups, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (formally known as the Happyland Jubilee Singers) that had begun singing in the conventional jubilee style went further, creating the more improvisational and fervent style of quartet singing known as "hard Gospel". That new style largely eclipsed jubilee singing by the 1950s."...
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TWO VIDEO EXAMPLES OF ISICATHAMIYA MUSIC
Video #1: Amazing Zulu ISICATHAMIYA choirs
VIVIDPRO, Published on Feb 27, 2009
Zulu Isicathamiya choirs
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Here are three comments from this video's discussion thread
Peter Gibbs, 2013
"I had a chance to see one of these competitions in Durban... it lasted all night and included a fashion show. I think I sitll have some of it filmed, but I had the sense during my time in Durban that the culture (especially the musical culture) was on the verge of being swalled up by modernity... I heard some of the older kids sing in one of the schools there as well. You just can't not smile. :)"
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REPLY
VIVIDPRO, 2013
"Hey Peter, Thanks for the comment. Yeah! thats why I did this video, unfortunately this cappella style of singing is quietly dis-intergrating with all the Kwaito, Afro beat and House taking over in the dance halls but at least at this stage, there is still a national competition held once a year where these back room basement choirs gather for competition to prove who the best choir is.....going to try to film that this year."
**
John Jones, 2018
"I used to be a judge Sat nights YMCA's and hostels all over Dbn and Pmb. I got bundled ( in a nice but firm way ) into a Valiant one night and taken somewhere. Can't remember where as it was my first time.Competition lasted all night into the early hours of Sunday. With time for a dressing competition. I was 'tested' on my first night because I was offered a bribe in the toilets. I refused and became a sought after judge. The handlers got to know where I lived and used to come and pick me up. The funny thing was I knew nothing about dressing ( still dont lol ) and nothing about music in general let alone Isicathamiya. My 'judgements' were never questioned which was nice."
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Video #2: Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Homeless Live
LadysmthBlackMambazo, Published on Jan 13, 2011
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EXCERPT #1:
From https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1366g1/Virginia-Jubilee-Singers-an-African-American-minstrel-troupe-toured-South/
Introduction to World Music-...
Course: MUSIC 009
School: Pennsylvania State University
..."Virginia Jubilee Singers, an African-American minstrel troupe, toured South Africa in 1890, performing in concert halls for white South Africans and in churches and community halls for black South Africans. While on tour the Virginia Jubilee Singers sang spirituals such as "Steal Away" and "The Gospel Train" along with traditional minstrel songs such as "The Old Folks at Home" and "Old Black Joe." Both white and black South Africans were extremely impressed with the American minstrel performances, but the music, particularly the spirituals, appealed especially to the black South African people, who could relate to the longing for freedom and justice communicated in the songs. Soon black South Africans began forming their own minstrel troupes. The music of the minstrel troupes was typically a four-part singing style. Gradually the South African minstrel music, known as isikhunzi (lit. "coon" style), incorporated more traditional South African dances and songs.
Urban music
During the 1870s and 1880s many rural South Africans migrated to the cities to work in the mines and factories. In the cities formerly-rural South Africans were exposed to many urban musical styles, particularly ragtime, ragtime dancing, and jazz. Thus urban styles (e.g., ragtime, and American jazz styles) had an influence on traditional South African music, including isicathamiya. The four musical traditions described above came together to create isicathamiya, and in the early years they also provided the repertoire for isicathamiya performers. The typical sound of isicathamiya or mbube is a cappella male voices. (There are some female isicathamiya groups, but traditionally this is a men's genre.) The music is typically in four-part harmony, which is Western-influenced, with most voice parts singing repeating ostinato patterns. There is an emphasis on the lowest voice, which is characteristic of traditional Nguni polyphony, with a heavy doubling of the bass part. And a soloist sings the top voice, usually in a more improvisatory manner and sometimes in a falsetto voice (a man's high register, far above the normal male range). Isicathamiya favors a call and response form, in which the voices overlap. No two voices begin or end their phrases at the same time, creating an overlapping effect. Another distinguishing feature is the use of glissando, as heard in traditional Nguni music. (You can see how much the other musical genres influenced this genre.) The texts, usually in Zulu or another South African language, often address real-life experiences, sometimes criticizing or protesting current events.
Listening Exercise
Isicathamiya arose around 1915 in Durban, with groups like The Crocodiles and The Durban Evening Birds, and spread quickly to other cities. By the 1930s it had become very popular throughout all of South Africa. The group that truly defined the isicathamiya sound was Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds, who came into the spotlight in the 1930s.”...
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EXCERPT #2:
Pancocojams Editor's Note: I amended the spelling of the "n word" that is given in this article. The page number are given at the bottom of each page.
From https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39666757.pdf
University ol the Witwatersrand
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg 2001
THE MAKING OF CLASS
9-1 4 February, 1987
AUTHOR: V. Erlmann
TITLE: "Singing Brings Joy To The Distressed"
The Social History Of Zulu Migrant Workers'
Choral Comnetions
..."Ethnomusicological studies have as yet to come to terms with the profound changes African societies have been undergoing as a result of massive industrialization, labor migration and urbanization. Although, parallel to early studies of African labor, the prevailing paradigm in ethnomusicological studies of African music continues to be detribalization, more recent studies of "town music" in Africa stress the continuity of traditional rural musical expression in a changed environment. Traditional music is no longer seen as irreconcilable with urban life, but as a major agent of adaptation to new forms of social organization (Kaemmer 1977). Labor migration as a major factor of urbanization seems to be one of the central mechanisms that directs the transformation of traditional performance practices in the urban socio-economic environment. However, few studies (Koetting 1979-80) have effectively examined the relationship between labor migration and musical performance, and even fewer studies (Coplan 1982, 1985, Collins and Richards 1982) have addressed the complex theoretical problems posed by new emerging forms of .urban and popular music in Africa in categories other than "acculturation", "detribalization", or their derivatives.
This paper is an attempt to redress the balance by offering an examination of the social history of a genre of Zulu choral music called isicathamiya. Closely linked with almost a century of industrialization and urbanization in the oldest and most advanced political economy of the continent, this all male vocal tradition
[page 1]
is still alive and popular with Zulu migrant workers in the industrial centers of Johannesburg and Durban. Weekly all night competitions that involve as many as 30 choirs, form the vital artery of isicathamiya music. These events are referred to by the English term "competition", a term most performers prefer to the slightly derogatory term ingoma ebusuku (night song). Recently, the Durban based vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo introduced this vibrant and long-lived urban musical tradition to international audiences. Although the history of isicathamiya is well documented on commercial recordings and radio transcripts, with the exception of three brief studies (Larlham 1981, Rycroft 1957, Sithole 1979) it has not attracted the attention of ethnomusicologists.
[page 2]
[...]
"2. THE HISTORY OF ISICATHAMIYA: STYLE AND CONTEXT
In October 1956, the following article appeared in the Zulu newspaper Ilanga Lase Natal:
The history of the jazbaatjie singers dates back to 1890. It becomes clearer after 1925 and usable after 1939. The legendary Champions were led by Mabhulukwana Mbatha of Baumannville. There are hundreds of them in Durban alone. There are the Crocodiles of Enoch Mzobe, the Home Tigers of Samson Ntcmbela, the Five Roses of Aaron Ntcmbela...to name but a few. The jazbaatjie musicians have their own mannerisms. Educationally they are generally literate only in their own language. They.dress well and are simple in style. They believe in the principle "as loud as your voice can take it " when singing. Each member of a group almost tries to sing louder than his comrades. The audience are in most cases men. The few women you see now and then, are admirers of certain individual singers. The jazbaatjies, as they are commonly known, love to compete among one another and the popular trophy in Natal is a nice live goat for the winners, 5 for the second prize and 2/10 for the third. Their adjudicators are usually picked at random in the street so that they may not know or have any special interest in any individual group. If they are Africans, they stand a good chance of being beaten up should their verdict be queried. Attempts to bribe adjudicators are often made by some competitors. The competitors pay as much as 2 or more in order to enter a contest and there is a lot of money being made by organizers of such contests. The money comes from the musicians themselves and the spectators are entertained almost free of charge.
The jazbaatjie concerts are an attraction for the semi-literate. The music has grown so popular among Whites that it has been mistaken for pure Zulu traditional music. The "step" of the jazbaatjies remains unequaled in its uniqueness, while their beautiful compositions remained original and simple.
Although the term jazbaatjies has become somewhat obsolete , present day competitions in the single sex hostels near the Durban airport and oil refineries, or on the southern fringes of downtown Johannesburg do not differ substantiall y from the one the Ilanga correspondent witnessed in the 1950s. Apart from the "mannerisms" in stage behavior and dress, a modern observe r would most probably be astonished by the diversity of musical styles represented. Although generally recognized as one of the most advanced forms of Zulu musical expression , isicathamiya reflects a rich mixture of Western, Afro-American, traditional
[page 4]
and modern stylistic sources. American revival hymns, Zulu traditional wedding songs, rock and roll, yodeling a la Jimmie Rodgers - to name but a few, are all part of the choral repertoire. They are the product of intensive experimentation by several generations of migrant workers with the most advanced and popular urban styles available to them. Reflecting upon the experience and struggles of generations of migrant workers, isicathamiya performers molded these diverse idioms into a unique expression of Zulu working class identity. The evidence available on vintage records, in present-day performance styles as well as in performers' oral testimony indicates that the first isicathamiya performers drew on a complex mix of both traditional and modern styles that were themselves the products of long processes of urbanization, rural-urban interaction and labor migration; processes much older in any case than the 1890s. What the Ilanga critic did however realize correctly, is the fact that performance styles do not simply spring up out of nowhere. The historian searching for the origins of syncretic African performance styles in South Africa in particular, often finds himself confronted with the musical residues of the early phases of European colonization.
The "pre history" of isicathamiya starts in the second half of the 19th century when American minstrel shows had become by far the most popular form of stage entertainment in the urban centers. Although a Durban based group, the Ethiopian Serenaders, performed minstrel acts as early as 1858, it was only until 1862 that the world famous Christy Minstrels toured South Africa, followed by other illustrious troupes and a plethora of local companies.
Despite the crude caricatures of Blacks in minstrel shows, the repertoire, performance style and musical instruments of the minstrel stage were enthusiastically received by the growing black urban population of the late 19th century. As early as 1880, at least one black minstrel troupe, the Kafir Christy Minstrels, was operating in Durban, which the Durban newspaper Natal Mercury paternalistically described as "a troupe of eight genuine natives, bones and all, complete who really get through their songs very well."
For black audiences, however, no visiting minstrel troupe created a deeper impression than Orpheus McAdoo's Minstrel, Vaudeville and Concert Company. Between 1890 and 1898, McAdoo, one of the first Afro-Americans of note to visit South Africa, made two phenomenally successful tours of the country that lasted more than five years, and visited Durban and Natal no less than six times. Black audiences praised McAdoo as their "music hero", and at least two choirs, the South African Choir and the Zulu Choir, were formed in imitation of McAdoo's company. McAdoo's visits became so deeply ingrained in popular consciousness as a turning point in black musical history in South Africa that the Ilanga critic saw the history of isicathamiya beginning in 1890, and
[page 5]
that Thembinkosi Pewa, member of the legendary Evening Birds under Solomon Linda declared: "Our oldest brothers, the first to sing isicathamiya, were the Jubilee Brothers. That was in 1891." (Interview Pewa) By the turn of the century, minstrelsy had reached even remote rural areas with a fairly intact traditional performance culture. Mission school graduates formed minstrel troupes modeled on either McAdoo's company or on the numerous white blackface troupes, and adopted names such as AmaNigel Coons, Pirate Coons, Brave Natalian Coons, or Yellow Coons. As late as 1918, scenes like the following, reported from Umzumbe rural mission night school in Natal, were not uncommon:
One of the items was a march across the platform of all the urchins with a bone clapper, at the head of the line...and to the astonishment of all, one of the most heathenish boys stood up and sang "TiRerary", keeping time to his singing by the twirling of an invisible mustache. By at least the 1930s, traditional weddings songs, one of the stylistic sources of isicathamiya became known as boloha or umboloho.
Doke and Vilakazi found the term to be etymologically related to Xhosa or Afrikaans for "polka" and defined it as a "dance with boots on (as on farms on festive occasions, N--ger* minstrels, etc.)" and as a "rough concert or night carnival party" (Doke, Vilakazi 1948:43). As late as 1934, Percival Kirby was able to document the widespread use of bone clappers called amathambo among rural Zulu (Kirby 1968:10-11), and octogenarian Eva Mbambo, member of the renowned Ohhlange Choir, recalls performing on the bones as late as 1928. Among the most influential troupes that popularized "coon", ragtime songs and other minstrel material throughout South Africa, was the Ohlange Choir of Ohlange Institute near Durban, founded by African National Congress president John Dube. The choir was led by Reuben T.Caluza, South Africa's most popular and innovative composer between World War I and the early 1930s. Mission educated performers such as Caluza were responsible for the emergence of precursor styles of isicathamiya, in bridging between elements of American minstrelsy and ragtime songs suited to predominantly urban tastes, and semi-traditional styles. Taking the Ohlange Choir on annual fund raising tours of the Transvaal mining towns and compounds, Caluza brought migrant workers in touch with the most polished forms of dance and topical song of the time. "In the compounds," choir member Selina Kuzwayo recalls, Caluza's show attracted "bigger crowds than anywhere." (Interview Kuzwayo) Not only were compound residents impressed by Caluza's skillful combination of dance, action, and topical lyrics, but the slick entertainment reflected positive, African images of the ideal urbanite, the "coon". Not without its own ambivalence, the figure of the sophisticated, self conscious "coon" had not only been a central tool of intra
[page 6]
communal criticism used by early Afro-American stage entertainers, but it ultimately helped to restore racial confidence (Oliver 1984:108). In the minds of South African migrant workers, the image and its corresponding musical style, soon merged into isikhunzi (coons), the earliest prototype of isicathamiya. The 1920s, at the height of Caluza's popularity and the "ragtime craze" among black South Africans, were a period of explosive industrialization that had profound effects on the lives of millions of black people. More than his skills as a performer and professional entertainer it was perhaps Caluza's ability to address the precarious living conditions of the growing black working class, that contributed to his popularity among compound residents. His song Sixotshwa Emsebenzini composed in 1924, depicts the hardship brought about by retrenchment and the job color bar. Themes such as these are recurrent in later as well as in contemporary isicathamiya songs. Thus in the early 1940s, the African Pride Singers echoed Caluza's resentment of the job color bar:
Why are they practicing the color bar? (I.L.A.M. 592S)12
Sawubona baba, a song performed regularly by the Durban group S.A.B.C.Easy Walkers, almost literally repeats Caluza's song Woza
Mfowethu in which the popular composer describes the search for a young migrant worker in Johannesburg by his family:
Greetings to you father.
We have come here on an important mission of seeking our brother.
Greetings to you father,
greetings to you mother,
greetings to you brother,
greetings to you sister.
He left his wife and children.
They are suffering back home.
He went in search of work,
but now ten years have passed without us knowing his whereabouts.
We want to take him back to see the children.
Avail yourself, brother!
Don't hide behind others!
Come, we want to go back with with you to see the children.
While the 1920s witnessed the formation of a working class, the 1930s saw it fully integrated into the socio-economic order. It is against the background of working class formation in Durban in the 1930s that the emergence of the first isicathamiya style from the middle class isikhunzi tradition has to be seen."...
This pancocojams post presents an excerpt from the online page entitled "Articles from the 1997 Festival of American Folklife Program Book. That article is entitled "Songs of the Night: Isicathamiya Choral Music from KwaZulu Natal" by Angela Impey.
The Addendum to this article showcases a YouTube video of an isicathamiya competition.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
I present excerpts of online articles on this blog to raise awareness of those articles. Pancocojams visitors are encouraged to read the entire article and those article's source material.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all members of isicathamiya choirs. Thanks also to Angela Impey, and all others who are quoted in this post. Also, thanks to the choirs that are featured in this embedded YouTube video and thanks to the publisher of that video on YouTube.
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Click the isicathamiya tag below to find more pancocojams post about this South African music genre.
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EXCERPT: SONGS OF THE NIGHT: ISICATHAMIYA CHORAL MUSIC FROM KWAZULU NATAL
by Angela Impey
The origins of isicathamiya are rooted in American minstrelsy and ragtime. U.S. vaudeville troupes such as Orpheus McAdoo and his Virginia Jubilee Singers toured South Africa extensively from 1890, inspiring the formation of numerous Black South African groups whose imitation of crude black-face troupes, song repertoire, and musical instruments signaled notions of cultural progress and self-improvement.
Even earlier, the educated, landed Black elite, or amakholwa (believers), whose Christian missionary education instilled in them the desire to imitate all things British, performed choral singing (imusic) - one of the main symbols of identification with Victorian values. Sankey and Moody urban revival hymns learned from the hymnal of the American Board Missions were central to the repertoire.
The Native Lands Act (1913) prohibited Black property ownership and forced thousands of indigenous peoples from their ancestral land. This devastating piece of legislation led to increasing political repression of all Black South Africans, regardless of educational, religious, and class status. In response, religious hymns were replaced with minstrelsy and other forms of African-American music and dance, as these performance models were considered better suited to emerging discourses of Black social and political dissent. The combination of four-part hymnody (imusic) and minstrelsy (and, later, "traditional" Zulu music) thus became the basis of much subsequent Black popular music in South Africa.
One individual who made a significant contribution toward exploring expressive forms able to satisfy an emerging nationalist, Black identity was Reuben Caluza. A choral composer who emerged from a Presbyterian mission background in KwaZulu Natal, his musical education spanned the whole spectrum of Black performance (Erlmann 1991:118). Although not an overtly political man, Caluza lived with strong commitment to Christian values and was sensitive to social injustice. His convictions became the main inspirational source for his songs. His first composition, "Silusapho Lwase Africa" (We Are the Children of Africa), was adopted in 1913 as the first theme of the South African Native National Congress, the precursor of today's African National Congress. Caluza's use of four-part harmonies and melodies taken from European and American hymn tunes, coupled with Zulu lyrics, did not simply imitate White choral music but "expressed the new relationships and values of urban groups, who expected fuller participation in the social and political life of the community into which they had been drawn economically" (Blacking 1980:198 in Erlmann 1991:121).
Caluza directed the Ohlange Institute Choir, which he toured extensively and which people of all classes and identities came to hear. His concerts, considered one of the earliest forms of variety shows for Black performers, combined imusic, brass bands, film shows, ballroom dancing, traditional drum-and-reed ensembles, and back-to-back dances (Erlmann 1991:122). Significantly, Caluza introduced ragtime into his repertoire. Although black-face minstrelsy groups had existed for a number of years and had come to be known as coons (isikhunsi), Caluza's ragtime renditions, which combined slick dance action with Zulu topical lyrics, more vigorously represented nationalist sentiments through their positive images of the ideal Black urbanite (Erlmann 1991:159).
RURAL-URBAN COMMUNITIES
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.
The vast number of Zulu men who entered the migrant labor system were made to occupy the marginal spaces of the cities: squalid, single-sex hostels, compounds, and impoverished locations. City dwelling demanded creative responses to the dislocation from home and family and to the new experiences of everyday life. With urban development in South Africa, Blacks formed trade unions, sports organizations, and entertainment clubs. Zulu isicathamiya groups developed a complex network of weekly competitions; they were prescribed and stately occasions, organized around set pieces, as had been the convention of school and mission competitions. Choral groups comprised men who shared regional and kinship ties. While isicathamiya competitions may have originated in Durban and KwaZulu Natal, they soon emerged among Zulu migrants in Johannesburg, where performances took on subtle stylistic differences.
The organization of choirs and the repertoire of actions, dance, and songs which characterized isicathamiya performance did not merely represent creative adaption and straddling of rural and urban, traditional and Western worlds. Rather, choirs and the web of competitions which held them in place became an important survival strategy for migrants in an increasingly fragmented and alienated existence.
"We're here and suffering," sing the Nthuthuko Brothers, "just as we come from difficulties in Zululand.... we're going up and down, between town and homeland.... We're going here and there, riding the train, see you later my sweetheart" (Meintjes 1993:4).
THE SACRED DIMENSIONS OF ISICATHAMIYA
Isicathamiya song repertoire spans a wide range of styles and orientations, ranging from Zulu wedding songs to renditions of Beach Boys hits. However, basic to the performance genre is an underlying Christian commitment - expressed not only in frequent references to biblical texts and Christian hymn texture but also in the ritual action which patterns the competition. Choir members will customarily congregate in tight circles prior to a competition and pray for spiritual direction during their upcoming performance. (The gathering of men into tight circles with the leader in their midst also recalls isihaya, the cattle enclosure in a traditional village. Being the most sacred space in the homestead, it is considered a powerful, male domain where men likewise request guidance and spiritual strength from ancestors prior to going to war [Erlmann 1996:190]).
[...]
Angela Impey is a South African ethnomusicologist presently lecturing at the University of Natal, Durban. She received her doctorate from Indiana University in 1992, worked as music coordinator of the Johannesburg International Arts Alive Festival, and has worked with numerous outreach programs in southern Africa to facilitate research, documentation, and performance of indigenous music.
Works Cited
Erlmann, Veit. 1996. Nightsong: Performance, Power, and Practice in South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
_______. 1991. African Stars: Studies in Black South African Performance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Meintjes, Louise. 1993. "The Hobo Judge Wears No Coat Tails; Zulu Choristers Do." Unpublished paper."
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ADDENDUM: YOUTUBE VIDEO ABOUT ISICATHIMIYA
Amazing Zulu ISICATHAMIYA choirs
VIVIDPRO, Published on Feb 27, 2009
Zulu Isicathamiya choirs
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Here are a few comments exchange from this video's discussion thread:
Mabonga Khumalo, 2010
"i'm so glad this sacred music have been protected to survive the attack of modern day vultures. as a proud Zulu, it is a privilege & honour to finally see this old traditional music being airwaved on the internet for the whole world to enjoy. i use to go YMCA, during my time in Johannesburg to watch real men competing on a saturday night. well dressed, caring a lot of respect with them. may this legacy be protected for the next generation. thanks for posting.
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Peter Gibbs, 2013
"I had a chance to see one of these competitions in Durban... it lasted all night and included a fashion show. I think I sitll have some of it filmed, but I had the sense during my time in Durban that the culture (especially the musical culture) was on the verge of being swalled up by modernity... I heard some of the older kids sing in one of the schools there as well. You just can't not smile. :)"
**
REPLY
VIVIDPRO, 2013
"Hey Peter, Thanks for the comment. Yeah! thats why I did this video, unfortunately this cappella style of singing is quietly dis-intergrating with all the Kwaito, Afro beat and House taking over in the dance halls but at least at this stage, there is still a national competition held once a year where these back room basement choirs gather for competition to prove who the best choir is.....going to try to film that this year."
