Sustaining indigenous African choral music identity: A study on Ndwamaṱo George Mugovhani’s composition

Main Article Content

Sakhiseni Joseph Yende

Abstract

Ndwamaṱo George Mugovhani is a distinguished scholar, emeritus professor, composer, and arranger of Venda choral music in South Africa. The researcher’s study uses the qualitative research method and the interview method grounded in autobiography theory to collect data about Mugovhani. As yet, Mugovhani’s contribution is undocumented. He is a well-recognised academic and NRF-rated professor. Mugovhani is an African music composer who played a significant role in establishing and preserving Venda choral music and African choral music identity in the twenty-first century. This study also provides an autobiography of Mugovhani that discusses his upbringing, schooling, and tertiary education, which shaped his career as a scholar and composer. Mugovhani’s notable compositions are Zwi Do Fhela Ngani, Zwi Do Fhela Ngani and Rendani Mapholisa, among many others. This article established that Mugovhani’s compositions use modality which is commonly used in African indigenous music. The article reveals that Mugovhani’s African compositions were largely influenced by Mzilikazi James Khumalo. The article affirms that Mugovhani’s compositions continue to sustain the South African Venda choral music identity. This article concludes by stating that the South African choral music genre has evolved as a unique genre that is rooted in indigenous African culture and identity.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Yende, S. J. (2023). Sustaining indigenous African choral music identity: A study on Ndwamaṱo George Mugovhani’s composition. Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.58256/rjah.v4i2.963
Section
Articles

How to Cite

Yende, S. J. (2023). Sustaining indigenous African choral music identity: A study on Ndwamaṱo George Mugovhani’s composition. Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.58256/rjah.v4i2.963

References

Dargie, D. (1988). Xhosa music: its techniques and instruments, with a collection of songs. D. Philip.

Deppe, L.M. (2012). South African Music in Transition: A Flutist’s Perspective (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto in Canada).

Detterbeck, M. (2002). South African choral music (Amakwaya): song, contest and the formation of identity (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Natal-Durban in South Africa).

Dickie, J. (2017). Singing the Psalms: applying principles of African music to bible translation. Scriptura: International Journal of Bible, Religion and Theology in Southern Africa, 116(1), 1-16.

Dzorkpey, T.K.A. (2010). Realising the objectives of the South African Schools choral Eisteddfod: A case study.

Haecker, A. A. (2012). Post-Apartheid South African choral music: An analysis of integrated musical styles with specific examples by contemporary South African composers (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Iowa).

Izu, B. O. (2022). Song Texts as a Means of Conveying Cultural Meanings. ADRRI Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 1(7), 80-95

Kanwadkar, M. M. (1995). A critical study of autobiographies in English by Indian women. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, Shivaji University).

Mugovhani, N.G. 1998. The Manifestations of the ‘African Style’ in the works of Mzilikazi Khumalo. MMus Dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand

Mugovhani, N. G. (2010). The role of indigenous African choral music in the search for identity: With special reference to Mzilikazi Khumalo’s music. Muziki, 7(1), 60-75.

Mugovhani, N.G. (2013). Muzika wa Dzikhwairi: An essay on the history of Venda choral music. Muziki, 10(2), 75-89.

Mugovhani, N.G. (2015). Emerging trends from indigenous music and dance practices: a glimpse into contemporary Malende and Tshigombela. Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies, 25(Supplement), 81-96.

Mugovhani, N.G. and Oluranti, A. (2016). Symbiosis or integration: A study of the tonal elements in the choral works of Mzilikazi Khumalo and Phelelani Mnomiya. Muziki, 12(2), 1-21.

Mugovhani, N. G. (2018). Defining South African Musical Arts Practices: A Brief Chronicle of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. In CLARKE, D. (2017). Defining Twentieth- and Twenty-First-CenturyMusic. Edition. Twentieth-Century Music, 14(3), 411-462. Doi: 10.1017/S1478572217000342

Nelani, A. (2021). The prominence of choral music in the search for, and preservation of, an African identity: A study focusing on the role of choral composers in the formation of black nationalism during and after the colonial era in South Africa. (Unpublished Master’s degree, Rhodes University). http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190965.

Ngwenya, T. H. (1996). Ideology and form in South African autobiographical writing: a study of the autobiographies of five South Africa authors (Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of South Africa).

Nketia, J. H. K. (1974). The music of Africa. New York: Norton Inc

Olney, J. 1(973). Tell Me Africa: An Approach to African Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press

Pascal, Roy. (1960). Design and Truth in Autobiography, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., & Elam, G. (2003). Designing and selecting samples. Qualitative research methods, 77-108.

Rycroft, D. (1991). Black South African urban music since the 1890’s: some reminiscences of Alfred Assegai Kumalo (1879-1966). African Music: Journal of the International Library of African Music, 7(1), 5-32.