Nightsong

Performance, Power, and Practice in South Africa

Author: Veit Erlmann
ISBN: 9780226217215

First popularized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Paul Simon, the a cappella music known as isicathamiya has become internationally celebrated as one of South Africa's most vibrant and distinct performance traditions. But Ladysmith Black Mambazo is only one of hundreds of choirs that perform "nightsongs" during weekly all-night competitions in South Africa's cities. Veit Erlmann provides the first comprehensive interpretation of isicathamiya performance practice and its relation to the culture and consciousness of the Zulu migrant laborers who largely compose its choirs. In songs and dances, the performers oppose the class and racial oppression that reduces them to "labor units." At the same time, Erlmann argues, the performers rework dominant images to symbolically reconstruct their "home," an imagined world of Zulu rural tradition and identity. By contrasting the live performance of isicathamiya to its reproduction in mass media, recordings, and international concerts, Erlmann addre

Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publish Date: 1996-03-01

Subjects: Music / Ethnomusicology, Social Science / General, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies, Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural, Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Cross-Cultural Center (Location: U.S History and Identity USHI)