Academic literature on the topic 'Tenors (Singers) – South Africa'

Focusing on the Virginia Jubilee Singers, an African American singing ensemble that toured South Africa in the late nineteenth century, this article reveals how the transnational reach of commercialized black music informed debates about race, modernity, and black nationalism in South Africa. The South African performances of the Jubilee Singers enlivened debates concerning race, labor and the place of black South Africans in a rapidly industrializing South Africa. A visit from the first generation of global black American superstars fueled both white and black concerns about the racial political economy. The sonic actions of the Jubilee Singers were therefore a springboard for black South African claims for recognition as modern, educated and educable subjects, capable of, and entitled to, the full apparatus, and insignia, of liberal self-determination. Although black South Africans welcomed the Jubilee Singers enthusiastically, the article cautions against reading their positive reception as evidence that black Africans had no agenda of their own and looked to African Americans as their leaders in a joint struggle.

A general historical survey of African zither types cannot fail to highlight the disproportionalities brought about in the study of Africa by the essentialistic ideology of Afrocentrism. Thus the widely known videoclip of the 1987 hit Yé-ké-yé-ké by the late Mory Kante (d. 22nd May 2020), musician and composer of Guinean Mandinka origin has allowed millions to experience the kora harp lute with which he accompanied his song and popularized this instrument as well as the musical tradition of the West African griots, while the obviously related mvet harp zither is scarcely known today. This despite the fact that both the latter instrument type and its specialists, the mbomo mvet master singers, played a very similar role in the cultures of the Central African chiefdoms, as did the nanga bards playing the enanga trough zither in the East African kingdoms. Another important and interesting historical insight provided by a careful morphological and etymological analysis of African zither types and their terminology that takes comparative account of South and Southeast Asian data and ethnographic parallels concerns the possibility of borrowings. Thus stick and raft zither types may well have reached the eastern half of West Africa and the northeastern part of Central Africa – several centuries prior to the era of European geographical explorations – owing to population movements over the Red Sea. It seems therefore probable that the African stick bridges harp zithers (in fact a sui generis instrument type rather than a subtype of zithers) developed from South Asian stick zither types. On the other hand, tube zithers and box zithers – fretted-enhanced versions of the stick zither – certainly reached Africa because of the migration of Austronesian-speaking groups over the Indian Ocean, since their recent ethnographic analogies have survived in Southeast Asia as well. By contrast types of trough zither, confined to East Africa, must have developed in Africa from box zither types, which are based on similar techniques of making the strings tense. The hypothesis of African zither types having originated from beyond the Indian Ocean is further strengthened by the absence of these instruments in such regions of Sub-Saharan Africa as the Atlantic coast of West Africa as well as in Northeast, Southwest and South Africa. Thus the historical overview of African zither types also helps refute the erroneous idea that prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonizers the continent was isolated from the rest of the world. In fact seafaring peoples such as the Austronesians, Chinese, Indians, Arabs and Persians did continually reach it, bringing with them cultural artifacts, production techniques and agricultural products among other things, which would then spread over large distances along the trade routes over Africa.

Music and dance are human universals. Understanding the communicative nature and the interpersonal dynamics of making music and dancing has a wide area of applications from academic to artistic, educational and therapeutic uses. Cross-cultural and embodied cognitive approaches are important, as they ensure a view across a spectrum of cultural practices and allow us to explore which aspects of cognitive performance are learned and how. In this study, our aims were to use a case study to investigate possible cross-cultural differences in movement, especially corporeal representation of beat and metre; to study group entrainment and factors contributing to synchronisation accuracy. From earlier studies in various fields of behavioural and brain imaging research (perception and attention, music performance, action observation network in the brain etc.) we expected that experts would be more coherent and better entrained, or mutually synchronised to each other, but we were interested in the temporal dynamics of entrainment in a group and the details of these differences. In our study, a choir from South Africa and a group of Finnish choir singers were brought together for a two-day workshop. Songs with choreographed dance movements from various cultures in southern Africa (e.g. Zulu, Sotho and Xhosa) were taught to Finnish participants, and a simple dance choreography was made for a Finnish song that was taught by the Finnish participants. Video, audio and movement data were recorded over a number of performances and practice sessions. Several participants were interviewed informally during the course of the workshop. In this study we analyse two recordings of performances, one of the African and the Finnish song-and-dance. As expected, the analysis showed differences in embodiment of rhythm and synchronisation between the novices and experts. The novices were very focused on footsteps and their whole body was entrained to just the beat-level of the metrical hierarchy. The experts, however, demonstrated entrainment to multiple metrical levels, with different parts of their bodies. Analysis of the temporal dynamics of the interpersonal relationships within each group revealed a process of continuous, mutual adaptation to achieve accurate entrainment. Investigation of group entrainment and individual deviations from the mean phase revealed roles of leaders and followers and illustrated differences in beat-by-beat synchrony and coordination of larger structures, including bars, phrases and the whole song. The findings demonstrate how making music and dancing in a group is an enlightening example of joint action and that dynamics of interpersonal coordination can be studied in a relatively naturalistic setting. Mimicry, mirroring, shared intentions and intersubjectivity, with all their emotional consequences can be experienced, observed and to some degree manipulated and studied in these settings. Our rich data set of natural musical behaviour are intended to help to direct the stricter, experimental research designs on this matter, as well as inform especially multi-cultural educationalists about learning patterns of rhythmic dance movements.

Guided by socio-musicological perspectives, this article contends that Toya Delazy and Nakhane Touré grapple with issues pertaining to love and sexuality in their music. This is against the background of South Africa being hailed as a progressive country, especially relating to its constitution that acquiescently protects the rights of sexual minorities. Notwithstanding such constitutional protections, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT) continue to be victimised particularly in the impoverished townships of this country. Although they celebrate same-sex love, this article contends that such celebration is based on guilt and shame. Singing against such guilt and shame is a significant element in the construction of their sexual identity and acceptation of their same-sex love. The article concludes that Toya Delazy and Nakhane Touré’s songs are pioneering in South Africa for their open depiction of queer love in a socio-cultural milieu that considers such identities and modes of self-expression as unnatural, deviant and taboo. This music can thus be considered as a transgressive space that seeks to rehabilitate the manner in which same-sex love is perceived.

Deon van der Walt was, at the height of his career, considered the leading lyric tenor of his generation. In a career that spanned more than 25 years he performed in the great opera houses of the world and sang for the leading conductors of the time, sharing the stage with the best singers in the world. He was the first male South African to accomplish the so-called “grand slam” of opera, having sung in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (London), Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna), La Scala (Milan) and the Metropolitan Opera House (New York). He was also a prolific oratorio and lieder singer, collaborating with the best artists the musical world had to offer. In addition he left a large recorded legacy, both published and unpublished. His untimely death on 29 November 2005 was extensively reported on both locally and abroad - a fact which again highlighted the importance of his personal and professional contribution to the international opera world.The Deon van der Walt Collection is the single most important key to unlocking the life and career of one of the most successful South African opera singers of all time. It was bequeathed to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Library the Deon van der Walt Trust in 2007. The collection is made up of an arbitrary assortment of books, documents, sound and video recordings that were left in van der Walt’s Zürich accommodations at the time of his death in 2005. It is housed in separate section on the lower level of the South Campus Library of the NMMU. The collection has been partially catalogued by the NMMU Library but left largely unattended for the last 6 years. The compiling of an annotated catalogue of this collection is the vital first step in connecting the dots of an extraordinary musical career that was hailed as one of the greatest of his time.

This thesis explores connections between British amateur singers and black South African choral music that, over the past fifty years, have grown in strength and significance. By concentrating on a set of representative case studies, it investigates how and why this music is learned, performed and rehearsed within a variety of choirs and ensembles of different styles and experiences. In addition, the thesis focuses on certain songs that have become popular within specific choral contexts, and discusses the reasoning behind their enthusiastic reception and attractive power. My approach is ethnographical, and the material I present is taken from my own participant-observations of choir rehearsals, workshops and performances, as well as from interviews I conducted with choir members and leaders. On a theoretical level, this thesis engages critically with ethnomusicological and anthropological debates surrounding cultural appropriation. Particularly pertinent to each chapter are discussions concerning authenticity, cultural authority and power relations, and I explore the politics and logistics that are associated with British singers’ encounters with black South African choral music. By discussing critically these different levels of encounter and engagement, I offer some new and intriguing standpoints from which to consider existing debates surrounding cultural appropriation and, in so doing, suggest approaches for theorising cross-cultural encounters through a more nuanced postcolonial lens.

Thesis (M. Mus.)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Who is Nellie du Toit and what is the extent of her career as singer and voice teacher? The void in South African historiography in respect to the life and work of South African performing artists gave rise to investigate the career of Nellie du Toit. Known as one of South Africa’s most illustrious opera singers of the 1960’s and 1970’s, who made her career exclusively in South Africa, she is regarded as one of the most sought after voice teachers. Her career as singer spanned almost three decades. As voice teacher her career of over forty years is still ongoing. This study traces her biographical details chronologically beginning with her youth years in a very musical family. Her full-time music studies took place at the South African College of Music in Cape Town, from 1950 to 1952. Here her singing teacher Madame Adelheid Armhold and Gregorio Fiasconaro, head of the Opera School, were influential in laying the foundations for her career. After a period of over a year in England Du Toit was one of several young South African singers to contribute to pioneering opera in South Africa, often sung in the vernacular. Du Toit sang in forty-five opera seasons for the Provincial Arts Councils in the seventeen years between 1963 and 1979, when her opera career ended. In 1986 she returned to the opera stage as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss. This was also her final farewell as opera singer. The title role in Madama Butterfly can be regarded as her hallmark. Her stunning portrayal of Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor was regarded as a mile stone in South African opera history, as was her interpretation of Jenůfa. She was also hailed as a Mozart singer. Not only was she regarded as one of the world’s best “Butterflies” at the International Madame Butterfly Competition in Japan in 1970, but has she also been awarded three Nederburg Opera Prizes. Apart from opera, Du Toit gave numerous recitals of classical and light classical music, regularly sang in orchestral concerts and oratorio and was active as broadcasting artist. Her work as voice teacher always ran parallel to her singing activities. Her academic career at the Universities at Stellenbosch and Cape Town spanned fourteen years: from 1980 to 1993. Nellie du Toit’s achievements in music were laureated with the Medal of Honour from the Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986 and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch in 1998.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Wie is Nellie du Toit en wat is die omvang van haar loopbaan as sangeres en sangpedagoog? Die leemte in Suid-Afrikaanse historiografie met betrekking tot die lewe en werk van Suid- Afrikaanse uitvoerende kunstenaars het aanleiding gegee tot hierdie ondersoek na die loopbaan van Nellie du Toit. Bekend as een van Suid Afrika se vermaarde operasangeresse van die 1960’s en 1970’s wat haar loopbaan eksklusief in Suid-Afrika gemaak het, word sy ook beskou as een van die mees gesogte sangpedagoë. Haar loopbaan as uitvoerende kunstenaar het oor byna drie dekades gestrek. Haar loopbaan as sangpedagoog, ná meer as veertig jaar, gaan steeds voort. Hierdie studie ondersoek haar lewe en loopbaan chronologies, beginnende met haar jeugjare in ʼn baie musikale gesin. Haar voltydse musiekstudies aan die Suid-Afrikaanse Musiekkollege in Kaapstad het van 1950 tot 1952 geduur. Hier het Madame Adelheid Armhold, haar sangpedagoog, en Gregorio Fiasconaro, hoof van die Operaskool, ʼn stewige fondament vir haar loopbaan gelê. Na ʼn tydperk van meer as ʼn jaar in Engeland, het Nellie du Toit een van die jong Suid-Afrikaanse sangers geword wat operabaanbrekerswerk in Suid-Afrika gedoen het. Du Toit het in vyf-en-veertig operaseisoene vir die Uitvoerende Kunsterade gesing in die sewentien jaar tussen 1963 en 1979, die jaar waarin haar operaloopbaan tot ʼn einde gekom het. In 1986 het sy na die operaverhoog teruggekeer in die rol van die Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier van Richard Strauss. Dit was ook haar finale vaarwel as operasangeres. Die titelrol in Madama Butterfly kan as Du Toit se kenteken beskou word. Haar merkwaardige uitbeelding van Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor is beskou as ʼn mylpaal in die Suid-Afrikaanse operageskiedenis. Dit geld ook vir haar vertolking van Jenůfa. Sy was ook hoog aangeskryf as Mozart-sangeres. Nellie du Toit is as een van die wêreld se beste “Butterflies” aangewys tydens die Internasionale Madame Butterfly Kompetisie in Japan in 1970. Daarbenewens het sy in Suid-Afrika drie Nederburg Operapryse ingepalm. Afgesien van opera het Nellie du Toit talryke uitvoerings van klassieke en ligte klassieke musiek gegee en gereeld in orkeskonserte, oratoria en as uitsaaikunstenaar opgetree. Naas haar loopbaan as uitvoerder het haar aktiwiteite as sangpedagoog byna ononderbroke voortgegaan. Haar akademiese loopbaan aan die Universiteite van Stellenbosch en Kaapstad het oor veertien jaar gestrek: van 1980 tot 1993. Nellie du Toit se prestasies in musiek is bekroon met die Erepenning van die Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns in 1986 en ʼn eredoktorsgraad van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch in 1998.

At most universities internationally, secondary piano instruction is compulsory for all music students regardless of their field of specialisation. Vocal art students studying at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) are also expected to complete three years of basic piano tuition. Since the researcher teaches secondary piano at the Department of Performing Arts: Vocal Art (TUT), the aim of this study was to determine the objectives of the tuition, and appropriate methods through which they can be best achieved. The research is based on an investigation of relevant literature on secondary piano instruction for music majors at universities in South Africa and abroad. Since the researcher was primarily trained to teach basic piano to very young beginners, it was thought necessary to firstly investigate the field of adult education and basic piano instruction for adults and college-age students. The results of the literature search confirmed that basic piano tuition for children differs greatly from that for older beginners. It became clear that the success of basic piano instruction for adults greatly depends on the teacher’s understanding of these fundamental differences as well as knowledge of appropriate approaches and methods with which to accommodate adults’ unique characteristics. Subsequently, the purpose of teaching piano playing skills to non-piano music majors was investigated. Results indicated that there is a broad spectrum of skills which can aid the musician in his future career. These include technique, sight-reading, accompanying, harmonisation, transposing, repertory study, vocal score-reading and reduction, instrumental score reduction, improvisation, playing by ear, playing of folk songs, developing musicianship skills, critical listening, performance skills, chord playing, ensemble playing, realisation of figured bass, modulation, memorisation, music analysis, playing two or more parts from multiple staves, playing warm-up exercises, singing a vocal part while playing other parts, and jazz piano playing. The most important piano playing skills for non-piano music majors to acquire were identified as technique, sight-reading, accompanying, repertory study and improvisation. Controversies exist about the importance of each of these skills, but most teachers agree that they should all be present in the secondary piano curriculum. The most common method used to teach these skills to instrumentalists and singers was identified as group tuition. This method of teaching is not used merely because it is more economical but also for various musical and sociological reasons. Musical advantages include the acquisition of a broad spectrum of skills such as critical faculties, listening skills, ensemble activities, self-assessment skills, improved practice habits and progress, rhythmic stability, improved intonation, memory training and notational reading. Social advantages include interaction, peer-learning, motivation, encouragement, discovery-learning, enjoyment, involvement and the development of individuality and self-esteem. At the end of each chapter, specific guidelines for teaching basic piano to vocal art students at TUT are given. The study culminates in conclusions and recommendations drawn from the results of the literature investigation Copyright
Dissertation (Music)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Music
unrestricted

PhD (Xitsonga)
Xikolo xa Tisayense laswa Vanhu na Mahanyelo
Ndzavisiso lowu wu thyiwile Nxopaxopo wa Nkoka wa Tinsimu ta Thomas Hasani Chauke eka ku Tlakusa na ku Hluvukisa Xitsonga na Ndhavuko wa Vatsonga (An Analysis of the Role of Thomas Hasani Chauke’s Songs in the Development and Promotion of Xitsonga and Vatsonga Culture). Xikongomelonkulu xa ndzavisiso lowu i ku xopaxopa vuyimbeleri bya Thomas Hasani Chauke byi wu tirheke hakona ku ku tlakusa na ku hluvukisa Xitsonga na ndhavuko wa Vatsonga hakona. Hi lembe ra 1996 Vumbiwa bya tiko lebyi byi hlohlotelaka leswaku tindzimi hinkwato ta khumen’we ta ximfumo ti fanele ku khomiwa ku ringana byi pasisiwile. Kambe loko hi xiya hi kuma leswaku tindzimi ta Vantima ta ha ri eka xiyimo xa le hansi swinene. Huvo ya Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) leyi simekiweke ku ringeta ku tlakusa na ku vona leswaku tindzimi hinkwato ta ximfumo ta hluvuka yi kuma swisolo eka vanhu lava pumbaka leswaku ntirho wa vona wu famba hi rivilo ra rimpfana. Leswi swi endle leswaku van’watindzimi va sungula njhekanjhekisano wo lava tindlela to vona leswaku tindzimi ta Vantima ta hluvukisiwa. Eka Xitsonga, muyimbeleri wo fana na Thomas Hasani Chauke u le ku tlangeni ka xiave xikulu eka ku hluvukisa na ku tirhisa Xitsonga na ku tlakusa ndhavuko wa Vatsonga hi vuyimbeleri byakwe. Ndzavisiso ku ya hi nkoka hi wona wu nga ta tirhisiwa eka xitsalwana lexi. Tinsimu to hambanahambana leti eka nandzelelo wa yena wa Shimatsatsa leti kandziyisiweke ku suka hi 1980 ku fika hi 2014 ti ta xopaxopiwa hi ku tirhisa thiyori yo xopaxopa. Ndzavisiso lowu wu kumile leswaku Thomas Hasani Chauke u tlanga xiave xikulu swinene eka ku tlakusa na ku hluvukisa Xitsonga na ndhavuko wa Vatsonga. Matirhiselo ya yena ya ririmi na mikongomelo leyi a yimbelelaka hi yona hi swona swi nga ta kombisa mhaka leyi.

Text in Afrikaans
In hierdie studie word Mimi Coertse se bydrae tot die uitvoering van die Afrikaanse kunslied in diepte ondersoek. Die kunslied word omskryf en die ontwikkeling van die kunslied in Westerse kunsmusiekgeskiedenis en in Suid- Afrika word ontleed. Die belangrikste komponiste word gevalle uitgelig. 'n Oorsig van Mimi Coertse se lewe en loopbaan volg hierna. 'n Volledige tabel van algemene opmerkings oor Coertse se uitvoering van die Afrikaanse kunslied deur resensente, kollegas en vriende word bespreek. Dit word gevolg deur opmerkings oor Coertse se uitvoering van spesifieke Afrikaanse kunsliedere deur resensente. Die Afrikaanse kunsliedere wat deur komponiste aan Coertse opgedra is, sowel as die lys van Afrikaanse kunsliedere wat deur Coertse opgeneem is, word geboekstaaf. Coertse se sangloopbaan as kunsliedsangeres val saam met 'n tydperk waarin Afrikaans as taal en die Afrikaanse kultuur gedy het. Sy het in Afrikaans 'n uitdrukkingsmedium gevind wat haar die naaste aan die hart gele het.
This study involves an in-depth investigation into Mimi Coertse's contribution to the execution of the Afrikaans art song. The art song is defined and its development in the history of Western music and in South Africa analysed. The principal composers are highlighted in both instances. An overview is then provided of the life and career of Mimi Coertse. A comprehensive table of general comments on Coertse's execution of the Afrikaans art song by critics, colleagues and friends is discussed. This is followed by critics' comments on Coertse's performance of specific Afrikaans art songs. The Afrikaans art songs that composers dedicated to Coertse as well as the list of Afrikaans art songs recorded by Coertse are chronicled. Coertse's career as a performer of the art song coincided with a period in which Afrikaans as a language and Afrikaans culture blossomed. She found a medium of expression in Afrikaans that was closest to her heart.
Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology
M. Mus.

This chapter provides an overview of the participation of black people in opera in the United States and South Africa. Themes include the practice and legacy of minstrelsy in both countries. For the United States, the focus explores the creation of an American operatic tradition outside Europe and one that features black composers and singers. For South Africa, the focus explores the experiences of Angelo Gobbato who worked in opera through the last decades of apartheid and into the new millennium with integrated casts and Neo Muyanga (Soweto-born composer) who was educated in Europe during the last decades of apartheid and has become a leading voice in the post-apartheid black opera scene. This chapter also discusses black opera singers and the Isango Ensemble.