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

274 The Sectionalised Repertoire ofAtnakwaya
"Dlo Tixo Mkulu" took pride of place in some of the concerts as an opening item. Today Ntsikana
Gaba (c. 1780-1821) is regarded as the first and most important of the early amakwqya composers,
as we will discuss in more detail in Chapter 12.2.1 (page 307). The compositions of N tsikana and
those of the first generation of mission-trained composers like Tiyo Soga S , John Knox Bokwe 6 ,
John L. Dube (1871-1946)7, Enoch Mankayi Sontonga (1873-1905t and A. A. Kumalo (1879­
1966)9, were being performed by amakwqya groups at least from the late nineteenth century and
deserve to be included as a distinct category. Apart from suggesting a revision of Coplan's categories,
I want to mention another detail in relation to contemporary performance practice.
I have suggested that contemporary amakwqya groups structure their repertoire according to
three distinct sections, with neo-traditional songs, Western art music, and African eclectic compositions.
Though Coplan's categories reflect the situation at the beginning or the twentieth century, it is
clear that amagam 'Jizulu and amagama eRagtime have later merged in the new category of neotraditional
songs. The fact that amakwqya performers today refer to the dance style of neotraditional
songs, which are in slow tempo, as ukurega, is an indication of this process.
This short account of the genesis of the sectionalised repertoire is intended to facilitate understanding
of why today amakwqya groups have a very specific performance practice where, as Zakhele
Fakazi, Secretary of Imvunge Choral Society, puts it, "you do Western pieces and then you do
African pieces, and then you start dancing. That is standard... When they have movements, then it's
wedding songs".lO The point that I want to emphasise is that it is on the sectionalised repertoire that
almost all performances of amakwqya groups are based, and that, with the distinct function and
meaning of its various parts, this distinguishes them from other choral practices. The choice of
repertoire, ranging from simple borrowing in the case of neo-traditional wedding songs to the
wholesale imitation of Western aesthetic and performance practice, reveals to what extent amakwqya
groups mediate foreign influences. The attempt to integrate the traditional and the modern in their
performance practice is not only linked to the concept of Mark Radebe's African national culture
but can also be regarded as a manifestation of the negotiation process characteristic of the black
middle class throughout its history. In the first part of this thesis, I have argued that imitation of
Western models by black middle class communities was a sign of their commitment to progress and
achievement. Thus Sam Shabalala, an important theorist of contemporary amakwqya, can say that
people do not "regard you as a proper musician if you don't sing Western music".l1
The strict adherence to a sectionalised repertoire is a sign of the cultural isolation and alienation
experienced by the members of amakwqya since the late nineteenth century (Chapter 3.3, page 85
and Chapter 4, page 93). This condition affected every sphere of the daily life of the black middle
class to which amakwqya members today still largely belong, and their choral practice, to say it again,
is a compromise or negotiation among their various identities, none of which is by itself
5 Soga began composing around 1849 after he had returned from Scotland. At that time, he began working in church
ministry, evangelising and teaching catechism, in Chumie, in the Eastern Cape. For further information about Soga see
D. Williams, Umfundisi: A Biography of Tryo Soga 1829-1871 (Lovedale: Lovedale Press, 1978).
6 J. K. Bokwe" 1922.
7 J. L. Dube, Amagama Abantu awe Mishado, Imiququmbeol, Utando, nawe Mikelelo no Kudhlala [Bantu songs for weddings,
dances, love, side-stepping and recreation], (OWange Institute, 1911 ?).
8 Sontonga's most important contribution as a composer was without doubt "Nkosi Siklel' iAfrika", a hymn-like tune
that today forms the first part of the official National Anthem of South Africa accepted by the Cabinet on May 17,
1995. For a detailed discussion of this composition, which has played a major role in the history of South African cho-
ral music, see Chapter 12.2.2.2.
9 A. A. Kumalo, I:;jngoma :;jkaKumalo ["Songs of Kumalo"], (pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter, 1967).
10 Personal communication with Zakhele Fakazi, Marianhill, November 05,1999.
11 Personal communication with Sam Shabalala, Durban, SABC, March 07, 2000.