MGS102 Weeks 1, 2 and 3: Part 2

MGS102 Contents
MGS102 Weeks 1, 2 and 3: Part 1 | MGS102 Weeks 1, 2 and 3: Part 3
MGS102 Weeks 1, 2 and 3: Part 4

Introduction: defining marabi
Coplan, D. 1985. In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. ITT, p. 94, line 22 - line 38.
Coplan, D. 1985. In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. ITT, p. 106, last full paragragph.
Coplan, D. 1985. In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. ITT, p. 107, last paragraph to p. 108, line 3.
Marabi as music
A fusion of earlier "syncretic forms", into a "common denominator":
  • earlier syncretic forms: styles of music performed by black urban musicians that combined (fused) aspects of particular ethnic traditions of African music and Western music;
  • a common denominator: a fusion that nevertheless still "continued to encompass variants based on particular ethnic traditions".
Audio Data Track 13 (Jazz Revellers Band, "Sponono", Johannesburg, 1933) from the Marabi Nights cassette recording accompanying MN; [I,3]
Coplan, D. 1985. In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. ITT, p. 95.
An early marabi musician: Ntebejana in Prospect Town; but did he really compose "Ntebejana ufana nemfene" as Coplan says?
Coplan, D. 1985. In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. ITT, p. 77.
Ballantine, C. 1987. "From Marabi to exile: a Brief History of Black Jazz in South Africa." In Papers Presented at the Sixth Symposium on Ethnomusicology. Grahamstown: International Library of African Music. FMtE, p. 3.
Audio Data Track 14 (W.P. Zikali with the Jazz Revellers, "Ntebejana ufana nemfene", Johannesburg, 1933) from the Marabi Nights cassette recording accompanying MN. [I,4]
Other musicians: Boet Gashe and Thomas Mabiletsa.
Audio Data Track 23 (Thomas Mabiletsa, "Zulu Piano Medley, No. 2: Part 1", Johannesburg, ca. 1944) from the Marabi Nights cassette recording accompanying MN. [I,5]
Coplan, D. 1985. In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. ITT, p. 96 and 97.
Ballantine, C. 1987. "From Marabi to exile: a Brief History of Black Jazz in South Africa." In Papers Presented at the Sixth Symposium on Ethnomusicology. Grahamstown: International Library of African Music. FMtE, p. 97, 99-100.
The Cape Coloured, Afrikaner and American contribution (tikkiedraai, vastrap and Dixieland).
Coplan, D. 1985. In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. ITT, p. 95-96.
Audio Data Track 19 (Willie Gumede's Swing Band, "Mabuza", Johannesburg, 1945) from the Marabi Nights cassette recording accompanying MN. [I,6]
Some stylistic jargon: "a four-bar cycle, with one bar for each of the chords: I, IV, I 6/4, V".
Ballantine, C. 1987. "From Marabi to exile: a Brief History of Black Jazz in South Africa." In Papers Presented at the Sixth Symposium on Ethnomusicology. Grahamstown: International Library of African Music. FMtE, p. 2, last paragraph.
For learners with "some knowledge of transcription": Aaron Lebona's "High Breaks".
Coplan, D. 1985. In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. ITT, Appendix C (see also p. 106).

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MGS102 Weeks 1, 2 and 3: Part 1 | MGS102 Weeks 1, 2 and 3: Part 3
MGS102 Weeks 1, 2 and 3: Part 4