The aim of this study has been to locate a subcultural aspect of neotraditional music performance, and relate this to the broader historical, social, political, economic, and cultural processes of lived experience. In looking at the performance and compositional output of three township neotraditional musicians, I have attempted to focus on the individual construction and articulation of this lived experience. I have sought to link individuals to aspects of social and historical circumstance, perhaps to account for the undeniably social basis of performance generally. In this respect I have also recognised a common, overriding perception by the three township neotraditional performers, namely that of their pursuits as straddling a continuum of performance experience and epoch. In this way I have been led to examine elements which characterise this continuum in the urban black social experience. Thus, the bulk of the second chapter has been informed by existing archival documentary materials, scholarly studies of the socioeconomic, political, cultural and social performance developments among urban Africans in and around Durban prior to 1960. Several interviews with neotraditional performers of this era have also gone towards augmenting a backdrop for the emergent social performance practice of the townships since their consolidation from about the late 1950s onwards. It is from this melting pot of experience that I have attempted to pick up the threads that link the present subjects with what had unfolded before their time. However socially and culturally disjunctive the advent of the townships might be construed, it is as well the dynamics of such conjunctive and disjunctive experience in social performance practice which stand out clearly as symptoms in the course of urban black performance development. I have viewed the experience of the township as manifest in the lives of its citizens, here typified by the three subjects. I have sought the processing of the elements of the environment and its articulation in their individual compositional and performance styles. In the third chapter is delineated the influential aspect of learning and its effect upon the total expressive potential of the individuals. From a close scrutiny of contributing factors in the formative experiences of individual musicians, there emerge elements which highlight the intertextual and coeval nature of lived experience of the three subjects. The inclusion in the first chapter of my early musical consciousness acknowledges both the individual and the shared, social aspect of the musical performance experience. It is also in the intertwined careers of individual musicians that one of the most pertinent theoretical assumptions of this study finds resonance - namely the potential to be changed by, as well as to change, the experience of others (Jackson 1989). Chapter 4 seeks to account for the widespread employment of the guitar, especially in Natal and KwaZulu, as a primary instrument of neotraditional performance expressivity. The section on the tin-guitar exemplifies a general, grassroots understanding of the intervallic possibilities and rudimentary harmonies potentiated by neotraditional musical experiences. Chapter 5 deals with the stylistic approaches of the three subjects to performance and composition. An attempt is made to highlight their individual manipulation and understanding of the elements of form and structure, melody, harmony and rhythm. Chapter 6 focusses attention on the reproduction and representation of the music of the three subjects on records, radio, live performance and the print media. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, 1998.

During the mid-1930s, a tradition of music-making which drew its repertoire almost exclusively from the music of Indian films began among Indian South African ensembles in and around the city of Durban. This dissertation examines the ways in which the re-created music of Indian films served as a popular expressive medium for the majority of Indian South Africans in and around the city of Durban between 1930 and 1970. Unlike ethnomusicological and popular music studies that focus on musics which are generally both composed and performed by the same group of people, this study deals with a repertoire that was by and large imported directly from another geo- 'graphic, political, and social context: India. The study is based on the premise that the performance of music can serve as a valuable historical text, and it posits that the musical structures and performance practices of the ensembles under study encode vital information about shared socio-political experiences and the Indian South African identities that emerged during the period under discussion. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1999.

This dissertation investigates the working experiences of musicians who play original music as a form of employment. The study describes the venues and locations of music performance, including music clubs, concerts and festivals. This is done from the point of view of a concert-goer who is aware of the labour processes occurring at these shows, as well as the infrastructure and support necessary to make such events occur. The music investigated is original popular music which does not afford the artists any other forms of sponsorship apart from the earnings received from performances. The musicians interviewed are thus people who play music as their sole form of income, or aspire to be this position. The experiences of these musicians, as gleaned from loosely structured interviews utilising open ended questions, allow the study to make some generalisations about what it takes to play music as a fulltime form of employment. This is the focus of the study, particularly the fact that music is not only a skill and talent to be developed, but also that music is a unique job which has it's own stresses, strains and rewards. Problems experienced by the musicians, as described by the musicians themselves, cast a clearer understanding of the way in which this form of work is run. The actual mechanics of music performance, such as the prohibitive costs of equipment, and the dealings with club-owners, are discussed. Technology is evaluated in terms of its impact on music performance as a career. Some record companies were also approached in an attempt to understand the constraints and problems faced by these commercial enterprises. The perceptions that these companies have of local original music artists is contrasted with the perceptions that the artists seemed to have of the companies. This makes for interesting comparative material, and allows the study to identify some obstacles between artist and industry. The study concludes with a description of the local music industry and a discussion of some of the reasons why it has developed in this way, as well as a look at some suggestions for change. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1994.