South African Music Origins
Into this mix of indigenous African cultures came a European power. Beginning in the 1600s, the Dutch colonized South Africa, arriving in increasing numbers to live and work, and not interacting easily with the indigenous populations. They also forcibly brought slaves from other parts of Africa to South Africa to work their farms and plantations. In terms of music, Dutch people formed instrumental bands like those they had known in Europe, with brass and wind instruments. Later, European missionaries also arrived in South Africa, bringing Western Christian religion and musical styles like choral singing with them. By the 1800s, these elements were filtering into more traditional South African musical styles.
By the early 20th century, more and more restrictions were placed on the indigenous populations. Many African people were forced into specific areas of cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town. These areas, called townships, often sat on the edge of urban centers. In reality, they were economically-disadvantaged areas where life was difficult and lacked many of the resources available to the white populations. But in the townships, African musical styles blended and mixed with Western influences like choral music and jazz. The result was a rich musical style unique to South Africa.
South African Music Styles
South African music includes many styles, and we can't discuss them all. But let's explore a few important ones.
In the 1920s, in the townships around Johannesburg, a style of music developed called marabi. It mixed African sounds from cultures like the Xhosa and Zulu with Western jazz. Marabi, played on a keyboard-like piano and a variety of percussions, was performed in illegal bars and nightclubs where people gathered. It proved influential and played a role in the development of two later musical styles, kwela and mbaqanga.
Kwela developed around the 1940s as urban music, performed by street musicians who often had to outrun the police who constantly tried to stop them. Based on marabi, jazz, and African vocal music from Zulu people, kwela featured prominent use of the penny whistle, an inexpensive type of flute as well as strings like the banjo. An upbeat music with a happy sound, kwela has a rhythmic foundation and often features four-bar repeated themes.
Like kwela, the music style called mbaqanga also developed from marabi. Another product of the African townships, it mixes Big Band Swing and jazz with a Zulu influence. It developed in the 1960s and included more electric instruments and a funkier sound. But it also encouraged white and Black people to intermingle, and so the government completely destroyed several townships where it was played.
Possibly the best-known South African music style is isicathamiya. It developed after World War I as secular a cappella choral singing with coordinated dance moves. Isicathamiya grew out of a blending of Zulu music with Western choral styles and other South African influences. Performed by male vocal ensembles, it's done in a call-and-response format, where one statement is made and then another comments upon it.
You might have heard examples of music related to isicathamiya, especially the song ''The Lion Sleeps Tonight,'' based on a Zulu tune called Mbube. One of the most famous South African isicathamiya groups is Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In 1986, they sang on Paul Simon's album Graceland, and they've toured the world, bringing South African music to a wider audience.
Lesson Summary
All right, let's take a moment or two to review what we've learned. As we've seen, South African music is a type of music that's a complex blend of African and Western cultures that reflects a history of conflict and perseverance. It includes music from indigenous cultures, meaning the people who are originally from that geographic location, like the Khoisan, who sang polyphonic chants in which multiple independent melodies are sung at the same time; the KwaXhosa, who have strong oral musical traditions, with women performing songs and dances for ceremonies; and the Zulu, who use a cappella singing (a cappella meaning singing without any instrumental accompaniment). It also includes European traditions that come from centuries of Dutch colonization and the arrival of European missionaries.
In the early 20th century, many African people were forced to live in townships, which often sat on the edge of urban centers, and they became important centers of musical development where African music and Western styles like jazz mixed. South African music styles include marabi, which is mixed African sounds from cultures like the Xhosa and Zulu with Western jazz. It, in turn, influenced styles like upbeat kwela, which developed around the 1940s as urban music performed by street musicians who often had to outrun the police who constantly tried to stop them, and funkier mbaqanga, which mixes Big Band Swing and jazz with a Zulu influence.
We also learned that one of the most well-known styles of South African music is isicathamiya, which grew out of a blending of Zulu music with Western choral styles and other South African influences that works in call-and-response. Remember that call-and-response is a format where one statement is made and then another comments upon it. An example of a famous isicathamiya group is Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
