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

1.2 Communicating Identity and Difference
1.2.2 Manifestations in Dress
The poster (Figure 1.8) describes the African Native Choir as "the only Kaffir Choir of its kind in
the World, representing Seven Distinct Tribes... who appeared before Her Most Gracious Majesty
Queen Victoria, Empress of India", and announces a concert of the choir to be held at South
Shields on November 5 and 6, 1891. Furthermore, the poster promises that "the choir will appear
in Native Costume as above". From an official meeting of the promoters of the tour, the Choir and
the Mayor of Kimberley, E. H. Jones, we know that already at the onset of the tour questions of
dress were considered and that Mr Howell, manager of the venture, intended to "give the audience
value for their money in the concerts given, as the Natives will appear in sundry African costumes".73
In fact, the strategy was to have the choir perform the first half of the programme
dressed in "sundry African costumes singing in the Kaffir tongue", and in the second half to
change to "European dress, and give selections in the English tongue".74 A review of the first concert
published in The London Times confirms that "all the members of the party wore native dress of
various descriptions, from the ornate attire of a warrior bearing his ox-hide shield to the simple
blanket covering the entire person".75 Presenting the songs in traditional attire seems to have met
the expectations and imagination of the English public, as the review concludes: "the Natives are
more picturesque but less proficient as singers than the excellent choir which came from the Fisk
University a good many years ago".76
73 The Christian Express (May 1, 1891).
74 Ibid.
Figure 1.8: Posterfor a concert r!f The African Native Choir in South Shields, Library Hall,
November 5/6, 1891 (South Shields Public Library, in Erlmann, 1999.)
75 The London Times Guly 3, 1891); see also The Christian Express (September 1, 1891).
76 Ibid.
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