Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of IsiZulu Namagugu at the University of Zululand, 2007. / Music plays a vital role in African cultures and permeates all the spheres of life. Music is part and parcel of culture in African societies. Music informs culture, and culture also informs music. The study of African music using the comparative approach was fraught with numerous pitfalls and shortcomings. Music was studied in isolation, which led to a misconstrued picture of African music. This study has thus employed the ethnomusicological approach. The ethnomusicological approach ensures that music is analysed taking into consideration the cultural context of music. This study looks at mbaqanga music as culture and in culture. The history of mbaqanga music is, thus, analysed taking into account all the factors that impacted on its evolution. The first chapter serves as a background to this study. It deals with the aims of this research and the definition of terms. It also deals briefly with the research methodology employed in this study. The second chapter focuses on a literature review and analytic models. It also looks at the emergence of ethnomusicology as a discipline. It focuses on music as culture and music in culture, and, moreover, it looks at the types of popular music. The third chapter deals with the historical background of mbaqanga music. Genres such as marabi and kwela music are briefly discussed. The political and socio-cultural context of mbaqanga music is discussed. The role of musicians and the media in the development of mbaqanga music is also discussed. The fourth chapter deals with research methodology in detail. This chapter also focuses on the details related to data collection. The fifth chapter deals with the analysis and interpretation of data. It looks at findings from interviews conducted and the analysis of song texts. The sixth chapter offers recommendations and a summary of the findings.