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

Introduction XVII
mainly concerned with a specific part of the repertoire becomes clear when he argues that the black
middle class was "drawing on black American performance culture and modernising traditional
indigenous elements, [to create] a typically middle class syncretic style called makwqya which eventually
became synonymous with African music as such".23 Sibongile Khumalo and P. J. Nhlapho in
their booklet "Choral Music: The Voice of African Song", refer to the African eclectic composi­
tions as "makwqya - from amaChoir'. Makwqya, they argue, "is based on Western hymnody and has a
simple triadic texture. Today makwqya has replaced traditional music at social gatherings such as
weddings".24 When they say that the "marriage between hymnody based on Western [four-part]
harmonic principles... and indigenous and folk music... gave birth to makwqya which became the
form of expression for mission-educated Africans and converts", they are accepting Erlmann's
view. 25 David Coplan, on the other hand, notes the fact that
for the fttst quarter of the century, makwqya ('choir') music other than hymns (amaculo) was ... divided
into three distinct categories by Zulu participants: Amagama iMusic (British and African popular choral
and light classical songs), Amagama 'siif'lu (traditional songs arranged for choir), and Amagama lRagtime
(American popular songs and local pieces in ragtime style).26
I will later discuss in some detail the various sections making up the typical amakwqya repertoire
(see Chapter 10.1, page 273). By quoting definitions given by different scholars, I want to emphasise
the unsetded state of current terminology. The degree of vagueness that surrounds this term becomes
especially apparent in the defInition given by Elliot Pewa, who argues that makwqya "gener­
ally, refers to any group of people performing part-singing together. In the present use 27 the word
refers to SATB choral music sung by Africans, as against other forms of Black music, like maskanda
music, isicathamrya etc".28
The ambiguity connected to makwqya necessitates a revision of the terminology used so far.
When I directed the question about a suitable terminology to Mzilikazi Khumalo, one of the central
figures of this choral tradition today, he explained that
[t]oday some people say amakwqya, some makwqya. And you see it actually is a word that comes from
English, because it comes from choirs. And I think it's important, because if you look at communal singing
in the traditional setting, it's not in sort of choir formation... When people saw this [choir] formation,
particularly fIrst with the churches, and then with the schools, then these were called choirs: They
say, ok, this is amakwqya. And the type of music that they sing became umculo amakwqya [the songs of
choirs], serious choir music that is different from the ordinary traditional music.29
Guided by Mzilikazi Khumalo's explanations I suggest the following terminology for this study:
the term amakwqya will refer to mixed black choirs that emerged from the mission stations in the
nineteenth century, and to their specifIc tradition and performance practice. The compositions created
by members of the amakwqya community, which amalgamate Western and traditional African
influences in a distinctive form of South African choral composition, will be referred to as ''African
eclectic compositions".
23 Ibid.: 140.
24 P. J. Nhlapho, and Sibongile Khumalo, Choral Music: The Voice of African Song (Braamfontein: Skotaville Publishers;
Johannesburg: Thorold's Africana Books, 1993?), (no page numbers): Section 2, "The Hymn and Christianity."
25 Ibid.
26 D. Coplan, In Township T011ight! South Africa} Black CitY Music and Theatre Gohannesburg: Ravan Press, 1985): 72.
27 as used by V Erlmann, 1991
28 E. Pewa, Zulu Music Competitions: The Continuity of Zulu TraditionalAesthetics, Thesis submitted for the Degree of Master
of Music, University of Natal Durban: School of Music, 1995: 155.
29 Personal communication with Mzilikazi Khumalo,Johannesburg, SAMRO,July 18, 2000.