South African Choral Music (Amakwaya): Song, Contest and the ...

5.3 To Sing Like a Westerner: the Practice of Singing Hymns and Psalms
The following responses, taken entirely from well known Psalms, should be committed to memory. They
will be frequently used in chapel services:
V· 0 come, let us sing unto the Lord
R: Let us make ajqyful noise to the rock ofour salvation (Psalm 95)
V 0 Lord open my lips,
R: Andmy mouth shall showforth tlypraise (psalm 51)
V I willpraise the Lord as long as I live
R: I will singpraises to my God while I have a'!Y being (psalm 146)63
I agree with Reverend Myaka that the antiphonal nature of the psahns must have been very attractive
to the early black Christians because of their similarity with the call-response structure predominandy
used in African music. There is, however, another interesting aspect that I would like to
add to Myaka's observation. Praise poetry (izibongo) was an important art form in Nguni society,
used to praise the deeds of an important person, a chief or a successful warrior. 64 Literally translated,
the term ukubonga means to praise loudly by songs or orations. The imbongi who acted as the
poet in the community was a herald, announcing the arrival of the chief on important occasions by
singing or reciting his praises and those of his ancestors. The psalms of David work in a very similar
way to igibongo and may be regarded as the "praise poems" of Christianity.
o Lord, how excellent is tly name in all the earth! Who hast set tlyglory above the heavens.
Out ofthe mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength,
because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
o Lord our Lord, how excellent is tly name in all the earth! (psalm 8)
Like the traditional praise-poem, the psalms repeat phrases, and the repetitions create a specific
rhythmic effect, which has an affinity with the repetitive nature of traditional African song material.
These songs often consist only of short melodic patterns with words restricted to one single stanza
instead of a long text. 65 This circumstance seems to have contributed to the ready adoption of the
hymns 'and psalms by the black Christians. Some hymns based on psahns became enormously successful·in
amakwqya community. "The Lord is my shepherd", for instance, adapted from the twentythird
psalm, became a central item in the repertoire performed by practically any amakwqya group.
In traditional African music, there is no idea of having specialised choirs. There might be a
group of singers that start and lead a performance, but generally everyone is involved in the rites
and ceremonies of life. An amahubo clan song, for example, involves all the members of the family,
while the elders take the position of leading the performance. A similar performance practice can
be observed during a wedding ceremony, where wedding choirs competing against each other represent
the families of the groom and the bride. Dances and songs specially composed for the occasion
are performed in the context of a social activity in which all the wedding guests can take part. 66
63 Note titled "Responses" (Adams College Manuscript Collection, File 12, Durban Killie Campbell Librar, no date).
64 An interesting ceremony that takes place during the wedding celebrations is the thethelela ceremony. Here the fathers
of the bride and the groom, or their representatives, informally compete for status, and have the opportunity to show
off their oratory and or poetic skills. The bride's father, the visitor, would be the first to take to the stage. He would call
the family of the groom by their praise names, introduce his daughter and her ancestry, and finally go on to enumerate
the lineage of his clan by name in the proper sequence and sing their praises.
65 See 11.2.2 for a discussion of the philosophical relevance of repetition in sub-Saharan African music.
66 For a detailed discussion of the traditional wedding ceremony see 11.1.
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