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

210 From Schools to Communities: The History ofAmakwaya Competition
people, prefer to associate themselves with what succeeds, and abhor failure, and strive to dissociate
themselves most vocally from it. 51
The steadily increasing emphasis on competitive choral events, however, also provoked criticism.
Teachers' Associations became so preoccupied with the organisation of competitions that they were
accused by their critics of doing little else. 52 This claim seems somewhat exaggerated as the Associa­
tions did indeed follow other objectives. 53 It is a fact, however, that the organisation of choral con­
tests was without doubt their most significant and publicly most appealing activity. Today most
stakeholders in the choral community agree that "the most enduring and biggest choral competi­
tions have been those run by the Teachers' Associations".54 Indubitably their dedication contributed
enormously to the present situation where amakwqya has grown into one of the most important
musical traditions in South Africa's black communities. In the early 1940s, teachers' organisations all
over the county started organising school choir competitions in their provinces, and, according to
Percival Kirby, by the late 1940s choral contests had become "an important feature of musical edu­
cationallife":
In the Cape such competitions are official and are held annually at from sixty to seventy centres, choirs
often travelling great distances to compete. The Inspector of Music acts as adjudicator. Suitable songs
are prescribed but, in addition, each choir sings a song of its own choice. The tendency is for them to select
English songs. Trophies are given for the best choirs. In Natal choir competitions are a feature of
many African entertainments, and there is in Durban a flourishing organisation, the Natal Coloured Cultural
Society... For these contests the departmental inspectors generally invite trained European musicians
to act as adjudicators. 55
Although it is not my intention at this point to portray the complex historical development of
the various Teachers' Associations of South Africa, which was marked by many schisms and at least
as many amalgamations, a brief overview of those Associations influential in the development of
. . 56
amak wqya compennons seems necessary.
The complex history of the various black Teachers' Associations, marked by grievances about
the conditions at schools, is interestingly linked to the development of amakwqya competitions. The
formation of Teachers' Associations early in the twentieth century had a number of motives, in
particular the desire for greater economic benefits. Among the oldest Teachers' Associations, and
the most active in organising competitions, are the Transvaal United African Teachers Union
(TUATA)57 and the Natal Teachers' Union (NATU) initiated twelve years later.58 The Cape
51 Ibid.
52 TUATA (December 1965): 3.
53 See for instance M. R. Mamabolo, "T.UA.T.A: What it stands for". TUATA, (December 1966): 5-7.
54 Personal communication with Ludumo Magangane, Springs,]uly 19, 2000.
55 P. Kirby, "Indigenous Music", in Hellmann, 1949: 624; see also H. Weman, 1960: 121.
56 A report on the situation of Teachers' Associations in South Africa published by the South African Institute of Race
Relations in 1992. (M. Bot, "The Politics of Teacher Unity", South African Institute if Race Relations, No. 1/92, April
1992). Further relevant material can be accessed at the Africana Collection of the William Cullen Library at University
of the Witwatersrand/]ohannesburg and at the University of South Africa. The UNISA Documentation Centre for
African Studies, which was established in 1974 with the aim of collecting historical and contemporary documents con­
cerning the Black, Coloured and Indian communities in Southern Africa, holds especially interesting documents and
archives of various African Teachers' Associations in South Africa. For relevant online resources on the internet:
http://www.naptosa.org.za; http://www.sadtu.org.za.
57 TUATA evidently originated from two Teachers' Associations founded in 1906: the Northern and the Southern
Transvaal Native Teachers' Association. In 1919, those two bodies were amalgamated as Transvaal Native Teachers'
Association (TNTA) later renamed into Transvaal African Teachers' Association (TATA). In 1950 TATA split but re-