Pennywhistle kwela : a musical, historical and socio-political analysis.
Loading...
Date
1993
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
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.
Description
Thesis (M.Mus)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.
Keywords
Pennywhistle Kwela., Blacks--South Africa--Music--History and criticism., Jazz--South Africa--History and criticism., Ethnomusicology--South Africa., Theses--Music.