School of Music

Music in History and Society 102 (MGS102)
Black Jazz and Politics in South Africa

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Contents

1 Admission requirements
2 Credit values
3 Examination
4 MGS102 content, syllabus, etc.
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Prescribed material
4.3 Attendance of classes		 4.4 Weekly schedule
4.4.1 Weeks 1, 2 and 3
4.4 2 Weeks 4, 5 and 6
4.5 Outline
4.5.1 Black S.A. working-class music, ca. 1920- ca. 1945
4.5.2 Black S.A. jazz, ca. 1945- ca. 1964

1. Admission requirements

A recognized school-leaving certitficate.

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2. Credit values

MGS102 = 1 module of 6 credits at UPE level 1.

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3. Examination

Learners write a 1˝-hour examination: pass = 50%; distinction = 75%. See Attendance of Lectures below.

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4. MGS102: Black Jazz and Politics in South Africa

4.1 Objectives

To expose learners to:

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4.2 Prescribed material

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4.3 Attendance of lectures (discussion and listening sessions)

Learners should attend 100% of the discussion and listening sessions. A doctor's certificate or a note with a reasonable excuse should follow the non-attendance of a session.

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4.4 Weekly schedule

Note: The scheduling may be revised during the course of 1999. Avoid missing any of the discussion and listening sessions for up-to-date information concerning changes to the content of the weekly schedule given below.

Discussion and listening sessions: Tuesdays, 9:05 - 10:20 and Thursdays, 11:45 - 13:00.

Venue: 10-01-16 (School of Music Building, first floor, room 116, lecture room 4).

Note: learners should prepare the prescribed material for each week before attending discussion and listening sessions.

Go to Weeks 1, 2 and 3

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4.5 Outline

4.5.1 Black South African working-class urban music: ca. 1920 - ca. 1945
4.5.1.1 Historical introduction
4.5.1.1.1 Marabi and Jazz?
4.5.1.1.2 An historical introduction to the events surrounding black urbanisation: Johannesburg, 1886 - ca. 1930
4.5.1.2 Marabi culture: the urban working-class culture of the slums
4.5.1.2.1 Marabi as music
4.5.1.2.2 Marabi as dance and social occasion
4.5.1.2.3 Marabi as a signifier for a class of people
4.5.1.3 Music and repression: the demise of marabi culture and the growth of black dance bands in the 1930s
4.5.1.3.1 The 1923 Urban Areas Act and its consequences in more detail
4.5.1.3.2 The repression of black musicians
4.5.1.3.3 American influences, black bands and the recording industry
   
4.5.2 Black South African jazz: ca. 1945 - ca. 1964
4.5.2.1 Historical introduction
4.5.2.1.1 Blacks in the city
4.5.2.1.2 Black resistance
4.5.2.1.3 The rise of Afrikaner nationalism
4.5.2.2 Sophiatown
4.5.2.2.1 A sense of community
4.5.2.2.2 A new synthesis of African culture
4.5.2.3 The music of the period
4.5.2.3.1 Black vocal music (soloists and close-harmony ensembles)
4.5.2.3.2 Kwela
4.5.2.3.3 Township jazz
4.5.2.3.4 African Jazz and Variety music
4.5.2.3.5 Modern South African black jazz in the late 50s and early 60s

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