Zion Christian Chuches' Mokhukhu Choirs (information and videos)

Nyiko Chris Mathebula, Jun 5, 2015
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A commenter wrote that this video was recorded in 1994.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - Feb. 28, 2024

This pancocojams post presents general information about Southern Africa's Zion Christian Church.

Four YouTube videos of Mokhukhu performances are also included in this post.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the Mokhukhu members of Zion Christian Church. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. 
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/01/general-information-about-southern.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "General Information About (Southern Africa's) Zion Christian Church (Article Excerpts)."

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INFORMATION ABOUT ZION CHRISTIAN CHURCHES' MOKHUKHU CHOIRS
Excerpt #1
From http://dictionary.sensagent.com/zion%20christian/en-en/
..."There are several formations within the ZCC which have been created to provide prayer and communion forums for members. The main ones are Mokhukhu, the Female Choir, the Male Choir, the Brass Band, and Nkedi. Mokhukhu is generally regarded by members as the most important of all the groups.

The origins of Mokhukhu

In Sepedi the word mokhukhu means a "shack" or "shanty." In Zion City Moria - the headquarters of the ZCC - situated some 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Polokwane (previously Pietersburg) in the Limpopo (previously Northern Province) Province, there are many such shacks.3 The manner in which the word mokhukhu came to be applied to a dominant formation within the ZCC lies in the early history of conflicts within the church. After Engenas Lekganyane's death in 1948, Joseph, his son and appointed heir, succeeded him as the leader of the church. However, Joseph's older brother, Edward, contested this with the help of some church members. Traditional custom was in his favor as the older brother, for among the Bapedi the eldest son succeeds his father. It is said that, as a way of intimidating Joseph's followers, the pro-Edward faction burned the shacks in which Joseph's supporters lived. When each shack was ablaze, the Edward faction danced and sang a song containing the words u yasha umkhukhu (a shack is burning). This song, which was isiZulu, was begun by pro-Edward migrant workers based in what was then known as the Reef. The dancing pattern they formed eventually became popular within the branch that the Edward camp established after the conflict and came to be known as Mokhukhu. The name now refers to both the dance pattern and to the group that performs the dance."...

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EXCERPT #2
From http://www.atiner.gr/presentations/Simon-Moripe.pdf

AUTHOR: SIMON. MORIPE

INSTITUTION: UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO – SOUTH AFRICA [no publishing date given; retrieved Jan 17, 2022]

MUSIC AND DANCE

• The height of the ZCC calendar is the Annual Easter pilgrimage to Moriah.

• The Mokhukhu dancers are conspicuous in their uniform and attract thousands of spectators.

• At Moriah they normally compete against each other, but not necessary for a prize or a reward.

[...]

On the streets and sidewalks of South Africa, members of Mokhukhu dance

are instantly recognisable.

• They all wear their white boots, khaki suits, khaki shirts, black tie, and a

black cap with a silver five-pointed star on the forehead, with letters ZCC,

sown on a small strip of green baize cloth and proudly pinned to their clothes.

• Mokhukhu simply means a shelter, a place giving protection from danger or a place providing food and accommodation.

• The Mokhukhu musical group is indeed a place of safety within the structures of the ZCC.

• The communal dance by male adherents involves leaping energetically into air and coming down firmly on both feet, with much jollification and rhythmic movement.

• It is a very rigorous dance.

• These men are able to sing for the whole night with only few intervals for tea and coffee without sugar and milk, which is prayed for.

• Mokhukhu dance is above all a healing dance, epitomizing the characteristics of sharing and egalitarianism.

• It provides healing in the most generic sense: it may cure a sick body or mind as the healer pulls out sickness by laying on hands; mend the social fabric as the dance promotes social cohesion and a manageable release of hostility.

• Mokhukhu dance is an act of worship.

• The Mokhukhu dance provides an outlet to the emotional expression of religious life and is a powerful means of communication in African traditional life.

• It helps to express fellowship and participation in life. It also helps to reduce stress and depression."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: Mosesetjane kosha

Langa Ralph, July 17, 2019

Kosha

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: @ mississippi with Ivory park

mamphi mcdonald, Dec 8, 2020

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #4: ZCC mokhukhu Botswana11

Keemisitswe Ngaka, October 2, 2019

Mokhukhu BOTS

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Information About South Africa's URCSA Denomination & Information About uMpampampas (Hand Drums)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III 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 III provides information about Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) and information about the uMpampampas hand drum.

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/videos-examples-of-south-africas-urcsa.html for Part IV of this series. Part IV showcases videos of URCSA services. Special focus in these videos is on some members of that denomination playing uMpampampas (hand drums) and other indigenous musical instruments as an integral part of their church 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 quoted in this post.
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Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/11/five-videos-of-vusi-mighty-singers.html for a 2023 pancocojams post about South Africa's "Clap & Tap" Gospel music. That post includes a video that shows men playing an i beat (uMpampampas) while they sing in a Clap & Tap choir. 

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INFORMATION ABOUT URCSA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniting_Reformed_Church_in_Southern_Africa
"The Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (Afrikaans: Verenigende Gereformeerde Kerk in Suid-Afrika) was formed by the union of the black and coloured Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk mission churches.

Main markers in the URCSA'S history
In 1652 the Dutch formed a halfway station at the Cape, which was approximately halfway between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, and introduced slavery by whites.

Various foreign mission organisations started working in South Africa, which led to the formation of a number of denominations amongst those people who otherwise would have been excluded from the main churches, largely over issues of race.

This process motivated the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) in South Africa to start its own independent mission work.

In 1857 the NGK synod decided to have separate services for coloured (mixed race) members.

A separate church, the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) was formed in 1881.

For blacks, the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) was formed in 1951.

In 1974 the synod of the DRCA decided in favour of church unity. In 1978 the DRMC decided likewise.

In 1986 the Belhar Confession – with its strong emphasis on unity, reconciliation and justice – was formulated and adopted by the DRMC.

In 1994 the DRMC and the DRCA united to form the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA).

[...]

Statistics
The Uniting Reformed Church consists of approximately 1,230,000 members of them about 500,000 confessing members (excluding all those who are only baptised) and 683 congregations. Its name (which is in the continuous tense) and its logo (which is an incomplete circle) reflects the Church's emphasis on unity, and its hope for an even greater church unification within the family of God.[2]"....

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INFORMATION ABOUT UMpampampas (hand drums)
Excerpt #1:
From https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/29287/thesis_law_2018_perkins_grainne.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
"Danger and Death
Organisational and Occupational Responses to the
Murder of Police in South Africa – a Case Study.

Gráinne Perkins
[...]

A thesis submitted in the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law University of Cape Town in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

[...]

Glossary

[...] “uMpampampa Handmade drum, onomatopoeia word owing to the sound it makes when
struck, i.e. mpa-mpa-mpa”
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[more from google search entry]
“…. handle allowed it to be held in one hand and beaten by the other free hand.. In the isiXhosa language the pillow is called the 'uMpampampa'.

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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.

Drums: There are many kinds of drums. The type of drum depends on the people themselves. Ugandan drums, Tanzanian hand drums, and Atumpan drums can for instance be used. Among the amaXhosa a similar drum is called igubu. The drum is open on both sides and these sides are covered by animal skin. Two sticks are
used to beat the drum on the sides. Among amaXhosa this drum is mostly used by Zionist and diviners. Boys use it as well."
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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 found after Video Example #1 in Part IV of this pancocojams series.]

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This concludes Part III of this four part pancocojams series.

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