Search

In viewing the contemporary musical landscape in South Africa 20 years after the fall of apartheid, this article seeks to understand how the discourse of musicology might expand in an interdisciplinary manner to allow for the analysis of current compositions. In doing so, the article traces interdisciplinary tendencies in recent musicological scholarship to locate such an expansion in the study of heterogeneous compositions. These compositions attempt to critically engage with their environment and as such the article seeks an analytical approach that might unlock this critical potential. One such composition is Mocke Jansen van Veuren'sJozi Rhythmanaloguesand thus it becomes a case study in the article. The work uses Lefebvre's notion of rhythmanalysis as a premise and is situated strongly in contemporary Johannesburg, South Africa. Through understanding this premise and attempting to unlock how it, through the unfolding of the composition, might engage with its environment, it becomes clear that interdisciplinary expansion of a fundamental grammar of musicology is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rhythm is an important element in music. In indigenous African music, it does not occur in a linear (Western) sense but in a cyclical (African) sense. Cycles are a key rhythmic element in indigenous African music and operate according to well-established principles. Two variations of the cyclical pattern commonly known as the “standard” pattern will be explored for their educational potential at tertiary level. As part of this paper, rhythmic principles (the most important of which are pulse, beat, cycle and polyrhythm) will be discussed with a particular focus on how they can be used to sharpen the rhythmic acuity of tertiary level learners. All of these are explained at first, then presented as parts of South African dance-song genres at the end of the paper. Two dance-song examples of the three-against-two polyrhythm are also provided. I suggest recorded examples in the “Sound of Africa” series, available from the International Library of African Music. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on an African dance tshikona reedpipe of Venda in South Africa which includes information on the use of reed pipes in the dance, technique of dancing, and rhythmic pattern of reed pipes.