No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2003.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1999.

The pieces presented in this portfolio are in some ways a synthesis of my own musical history up to this point in time. Though I was scarcely aware as a child, I now know that the diverse strains of modem African American music and their largely non-African American inspirations originate from the larger, older branches of Jazz and Blues. Nevertheless, the music that forms the lion's share of my early musical memories-African American and African American inspired music- is still quite distinct from its West African ancestral music that I would later come to learn and love so much. After being inspired primarily by Rhythm and Blues, Rock, Blues and Jazz through the pre-teen and teenage years, I discovered Latin music of Cuban origin. Soon after that I began to explore traditional Afro-Cuban and West African music. These new musics resonated strongly with me, and I began to learn and play them not long after that first exposure. A probable reason for the aforementioned resonance lies in the 'rhythmic priming' provided by my early exposure to African American music. This state of rhythmic awareness was excited by the complex rhythmic interplay subsequently heard between West African musicians and between Afro-Cuban musicians, hinted at but rarely as fully developed in the African American music I was used to. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense that this rhythmic sensibility, developed through exposure to American music, would be stimulated and fulfilled by traditional West African percussion music. As much as I came to enjoy that type of polyrhythmic, percussion based music, however, in time I also began to wonder at the possibility of creating a similar music but with more harmonic movement, perhaps even modulation to different keys. This would require different instruments, and it would require mastery of another musical world: that of western, and in particular for my sensibilities, Jazz harmony. This pursuit-the attempt to combine at once an African rhythmic sensibility with a Jazz harmonic sensibility-is one that will no doubt occupy me for some time into the future. It is also a major source of inspiration, sometimes obvious and at other times more subtle, in the creation of this portfolio. The aforementioned fusion of African rhythm and Western harmony, in conceptual terms, is not something altogether new. That rhythmic, melodic and harmonic complexities co-exist in the Jazz tradition is no secret. What's more, much of the music referred to as 'Latin' is named as such because it has already absorbed and incorporated the rhythmic vitality of the African origins of much of the populace, and their predisposition to Afro-Latin (Afro-Cuban, Afro-Dominican, Afro-Puerto Rican, Afro-Brazilian, etc.) folkloric music with its direct link to the percussive music of West Africa. However, composition and arrangement are processes of the individual. I don't claim to be the first one to attempt the stated objective combination of African and European elements; what I can say is that I am the first one to do it in my own particular way. Thus this portfolio presents a combination, not only of different styles, but of underlying objectives as well. These objectives have been in mind throughout the creative process. In addition to the aforementioned objective of blending African and Jazz elements (1), it has been my intent to demonstrate proficiency in more traditional Jazz, Latin and even orchestral arranging frameworks (2), hopefully achieving a balance that allows my own voice to shine subtly through (3). / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, 2010.

The main focus of this work explores the ideological concepts surrounding the early development of South African urban music. First, a brief description of the development of some of the major urban music styles of the continent of Africa is provided. This is followed by an overview of the early development of South African urban styles, and includes definitions of the styles as they occurred chronologically up to the development of African jazz in the 1940s. Kwela is discussed as the major commercial offshoot of African jazz in the 1950s. The concepts and beliefs, or 'thought worlds', which were transmitted from white South African liberals to elite black intellectuals in the 1930s and 1940s, in so far as they were presented in the press of these decades, are examined. Specifically, the effects of these liberal ideological concepts on the preference for western civilisation in general and western music in particular is discussed. The role of Black America as the flagship of black progress, achievement, and above all, success in the realms of music, is assessed in relation to its impetus for the black elite 'liberal' strategy which essentially appealed to white moral conscience. The concepts of Africanism and 'New Africanism' are investigated so as to determine their influence on the creation of unique, syncretic African forms, and in particular, on the birth of African jazz or mbaqanga of the 1940s. The viability of describing elite support for the Africanisation of jazz in this decade as expressing or emanating from political militancy as a manifestation of the 'philosophy' of 'New Africanism' is debated. The 1950s are presented as a decade which can be described in generalised terms as one of 'urban protest', in which a mélange of hedonism and political assertion provides the context for the creation of highly commercialised African urban styles. The use of the colloquial epithet 'msakazo' as an umbrella term for these styles is discussed, focussing on the ideological perspectives of the proponents and opponents of the genre. Reasons for the vehement opposition to African styles by some in the media who simultaneously sponsored American progressive jazz styles such as bebop, are analysed. Emphasis throughout the work is given to the interplay between Government policies and the development of the different styles. In particular, the role of the Nationalist Party policy of Apartheid, and its direct and indirect effects on the demise of African jazz, is examined. / Thesis (DPhil (Music))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Music / unrestricted

During the middle decades of the twentieth century, the exiling from South Africa of jazz musicians, including The Blue Notes, brought the discourses of local jazz, its performance culture and repertoires, to international attention. This process points to jazz’s global reach and raises questions about its adoption by differently constituted cultural subjects. Arjun Appadurai’s arguments about global homogenisation and heterogenisation come into play here, and have special significance today, when the study of jazz performance and history is increasingly part of the music education of young South Africans. Questions about who ‘owns’ jazz and what constitutes its authenticity loom large, as do questions about its global entanglement. The careers of The Blue Notes emerge from a background of South African syncretic musical performance; as such, they belong within the protracted history of African cultural engagement with European and American mediations of modernity. Among other issues, my thesis examines the use of jazz-influenced repertoires in the narration of cultural identities in postcolonial South Africa, under apartheid, and in exile. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This thesis is an exploration of the history of the pennywhistle in black South African popular music, the most important style to evolve around this instrument being kwela music. An analysis of kwela is conducted from several perspectives: historical, musical, socio-cultural and political. Chapter I explores the urban South African musical styles which preceded and influenced kwela. The first of these genres was marabi, which developed in Johannesburg's slumyards in the first three decades of the this century. Marabi was followed by tsaba-tsaba in the late thirties, which in tum gave way to the swing influenced genre of "African Jazz" in the forties. Chapter II chronologically traces the use of the pennywhistle in urban black South African popular music. An examination of kwela is preceded by a discussion of the pennywhistle-and-drum "Scottish" marching bands of the thirties and forties, and the rhythm-and-blues pennywhistle style of the early fifties. Various venues and their effect on the performance of kwela are explored, as are the effects of international recognition on the style's development. Chapter III comprises an in-depth musical analysis of kwela's stylistic components. The structure of kwela music and its harmonic, melodic and rhythmic components are examined. A discussion of kwela's instrumentation includes an examination of the roles of the guitar, banjo, string bass, drum-set, pennywhistle and saxophone. Chapter IV is an exploration of the social context and cultural milieu which spawned and nurtured the development of kwela music. Chapter V examines the relationship between kwela and South African politics in the fifties. An overview of this political environment is followed by an examination of the effects of particular apartheid legislation on the development of music in general and kwela in particular. Chapter VI concludes with an exploration of the ways in which various interest groups were able to find meaning and identity in kwela music. Included here, for instance, are the ways in which kwela contributed to the formation of urban black identity, and how the style came to have meaning for various white interest groups. Finally, the meaning of kwela today is considered. / Thesis (M.Mus)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

MAAS / Department of Music.