The hidden transcripts of sacred song in a South African coloured community
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v8i2.1781Abstract
One of my earliest memories of coloured farm workers is the sound of their hymn singing at Sunday morning church services. In my mind, these sounds became intimately connected with my visits to the Karoo, the name for the semi-desert landscape that surrounds the farming town of Graaff-Reinet. These childhood associations resurfaced when, early one Sunday morning in August 2004, I travelled into Kroonvale (the residential area for coloured people on the edge of Graaff-Reinet) to attend the morning service of the Uniting Reformed Church. Brown-red dust, typical of the Karoo, hung in the air as I drove. When I stepped over the church threshold, it seemed as if I collided with a powerful wall of sound. While the congregation sang "Juig Aarde Juig" ("Rejoice Earth Rejoice") at full volume, I reflected on the anomaly of the utter silence about this music in the Graaff-Reinet Museum archive where I had spent the last month searching for historical evidence.References
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Barnard, Marius and A. Johnson 1975 Karoo, Cape Town: Don Nelson
Blacking, John 1995 "The Music of Politics", in Byron, R. (ed) Music, Culture and Experience, 198-222. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press
Bourdieu, Pierre 1985 "The Social Space and the Genesis of Groups", Social Science Information 42/2:195-220
Bruinders, Sylvia 2005 "Performance of Place: How Musical Practices in Cape Town Recreate a Displaced Community", in Tracey, Andrew (ed.) Papers Presented at the Symposium on Ethnomusicology Number 18, 17-20. Grahamstown: International Library of African Music
2006 "Christmas Band Competitions in the Western Cape", paper presented at the Southern African Music Research Conference, North-West University, 14-16 September
2006/7 "This is our Sport!": Christmas Band Competitions and the Enactment of an Ideal Community", SAMUS 26/27:109-126
Burchell, William J. 1822 [1953] Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, 2 vols, London: Batchworth Press; reprint, London: University Press Glasgow
Burden, Matilda 1991 "Die Afrikaanse Volkslied onder die Bruinmense", Ph.D. Dissertation, Stellenbosch University
Cillié, Gawie 1964 "Die Musiek van ons Afrikaanse Gesangboek- 1944", in Die Gereformeerde Kerklied deur die Eeue: Referate Gelewer by die Kongres oor die Kerkmusiek Gehou in Kaapstad op 9 en 10 Oktober 1962, pp. 65-71. Cape Town: Tafelberg-Uitgewers
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Coetzer, Boudina 2005a "Coysan - the Langarm Experience: An Analysis of a Langarm Exhibition at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival 2005", paper presented at the annual congress of the Musicological Society of Southern Africa, University of Cape Town, 25-27 August
2005b "Langarm in and around Grahamstown: The Dance, the Social History and the Music", Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa 2:70-83
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Coplan, David B. 1985 In Township Tonight!: South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre, London and New York: Longman
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Denis, Phillipe 2003 "Oral History in a Wounded Country", in Draper, J. (ed.), Orality, Literacy and Colonialism in Southern Africa, pp. 205-216. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature
Dooling, Wayne 1989 "Slaves, Slaveowners and Amelioration in Graaff-Reinet, 1823-1830", BA thesis, University of Cape Town
Drury, Jonathan D. 1985 "Coloured South African Folk Songs?", Ars Nova 17:39-50
Du Plessis, I.D. 1935 Die Bydrae van die Kaapse Maleier tot die Afrikaanse Volkslied, Cape Town: Nasionale Pers
1972 The Cape Malays: History, Religion, Traditions, Folk Tales, the Malay Quarter, Cape Town: A.A. Balkema
Dutch Reformed Mission Church 1930-1942 "Notuleboeke ", Volume 4, Graaff-Reinet, South Africa
Elbourne, Elizabeth 2002 Blood Ground: Colonialism, Missions and the Contest for Christianity in the Cape Colony and Britain, 1799-1853, Montreal, Kingston, et al.: McGill-Queen's University Press
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Field, Sean 2001 "Fragile Identities: Memory, Emotion and Coloured Residents of Windermere", in Erasmus, Z. (ed.), Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: new Perspectives on Coloured Identities in Cape Town, pp. 97-113. Colorado Springs: International Academic Publishers
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Jorritsma, Marie R. 2006 "Sonic Spaces: Inscribing 'Coloured' Voices in the Karoo, South Africa", Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania
Kiernan, J.P. 1990 "The Canticles of Zion: Song as Word and Action in Zulu Zionist Discourse", Journal of Religion in Africa XX/2: 188-204
Kirby, Percival R. 1934 [1953] The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa, London: Oxford University Press, reprint, London: Oxford University Press
Kubik, Gerhard 1988 "Nsenga/Shona Harmonic Patterns and the San Heritage in Southern Africa", Ethnomusicology 32/2:39-76
Layne, Valmont 1995 "A History of Dance and Jazz Band Performance in the Western Cape in the Post-1945 Era", MA Thesis, University of Cape Town
Levine, Laurie 2005 The Drumcafé's Traditional Music of South Africa, Johannesburg: Jacana
Liebenberg, Herbert Daniel c. 1981 "Pastoriestraat Hoogtepunte 1801-1981", unpublished manuscript, PSCC records, Graaff-Reinet, South Africa
Lucia, Christine 2005 The world of South African Music: A Reader, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press
Marais, J.S. 1957 The Cape Coloured People 1652-1937, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press
Martin, Denis-Constant 1999 Coon Carnival: New Year in Cape Town Past and Present, Cape Town: David Philip
Muller, Carol A. 1999 Rituals of Fertility and the Sacrifice of Desire: Nazarite Women's Perform- ance in South Africa, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press
2001 "Capturing the 'Spirit of Africa' in the Jazz Singing of South African-born Sathima Bea Benjamin", Research in African Literatures 32/2:133-152
2002 "Archiving Africanness in Sacred Song", Ethnomusicology 46/3:409-431
2004 South African Music: A Century of Traditions in Transformation, World Music Series, Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO
Newton-King, Susan 1999 Masters and Servants on the Cape Eastern Frontier 1760-1803, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Olivier, E., and S. Fürniss 1997 "Pygmy Music/Bushman Music: New Elements of Comparison" in Biesbrouck, K., S. Elders, and G. Rossel, Central African Hunter-Gatherers in a Multidisciplinary Perspective: Challenging Elusiveness, pp. 105-120. Leiden: CNWS
Olwage, Grant 2002 "Scriptions of the Choral: The Historiography of Black South African Choralism", SAMUS 22:29-45
Parsonage Street Congregational Church 1953-1960, 1980-1992 and 1999-2000 "Notuleboeke" Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, unpublished record books
Patterson, Sheila 1953 Colour and Culture in South Africa, London: Routledge and Paul
Routley, Erik 1983 Christian Hymns Observed, London and Oxford: Mowbray
Scott, James C. 1990 Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, New Haven and London: Yale University Press
Statistics South Africa 2001 "Census 2001", accessed 14 November 2007,
Statues of the Union of South Africa 1950 Statues of the Union of South Africa, Parow: Government Printer
Strydom, Frederik Jacobus 1983 "Die Musiek van die Rehoboth Basters van Suidwes-Afrika", Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Stellenbosch
Turino, Thomas 1992 "The Music of Sub-Saharan Africa", in Nettl, B., C. Capwell, P. Bohlman, et al., Excursions in World Music, pp. 161-190. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2nd ed.
United Congregational Church of Southern Africa 1988 Sing Hosanna! Johannesburg: UCCSA
Van Warmelo, Willem 1958 Liederwysies van Vanslewe, Amsterdam and Cape Town: Balkema
Villa-Vicencio, Charles 1996 The Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press
Wicomb, Zoë 1998 "Shame and Identity: The case of the Coloured in South Africa", in Attridge, D. and R. Jolly (eds), Writing South Africa: Literature, Apartheid, and Democracy, 1970-1995, pp. 91-107. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Kayster, Willem 2004 Interview by author, 18 August. Graaff-Reinet.
Barnard, Marius and A. Johnson 1975 Karoo, Cape Town: Don Nelson
Blacking, John 1995 "The Music of Politics", in Byron, R. (ed) Music, Culture and Experience, 198-222. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press
Bourdieu, Pierre 1985 "The Social Space and the Genesis of Groups", Social Science Information 42/2:195-220
Bruinders, Sylvia 2005 "Performance of Place: How Musical Practices in Cape Town Recreate a Displaced Community", in Tracey, Andrew (ed.) Papers Presented at the Symposium on Ethnomusicology Number 18, 17-20. Grahamstown: International Library of African Music
2006 "Christmas Band Competitions in the Western Cape", paper presented at the Southern African Music Research Conference, North-West University, 14-16 September
2006/7 "This is our Sport!": Christmas Band Competitions and the Enactment of an Ideal Community", SAMUS 26/27:109-126
Burchell, William J. 1822 [1953] Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, 2 vols, London: Batchworth Press; reprint, London: University Press Glasgow
Burden, Matilda 1991 "Die Afrikaanse Volkslied onder die Bruinmense", Ph.D. Dissertation, Stellenbosch University
Cillié, Gawie 1964 "Die Musiek van ons Afrikaanse Gesangboek- 1944", in Die Gereformeerde Kerklied deur die Eeue: Referate Gelewer by die Kongres oor die Kerkmusiek Gehou in Kaapstad op 9 en 10 Oktober 1962, pp. 65-71. Cape Town: Tafelberg-Uitgewers
1983 "Die Kerklied in Suid-Afrika, 1652-1800", in Du Toit, J.H.H. (ed), 'n Geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse Protestante Kerklied: Inleidende Bydraes, pp. 1-10. Pretoria: NG Kerkboekhandel
Coetzer, Boudina 2005a "Coysan - the Langarm Experience: An Analysis of a Langarm Exhibition at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival 2005", paper presented at the annual congress of the Musicological Society of Southern Africa, University of Cape Town, 25-27 August
2005b "Langarm in and around Grahamstown: The Dance, the Social History and the Music", Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa 2:70-83
Comaroff, Jean 1985 Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance: the Culture and History of a South African People, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press
Coplan, David B. 1985 In Township Tonight!: South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre, London and New York: Longman
Dargie, David 1997 "South African Christian Music: B. Christian Music among Africans", in Elphick, R. and R. Davenport (eds), Christianity in South Africa: A Political, Social and Cultural History, pp. 319-326. Oxford: James Currey and Cape Town: David Philip
Denis, Phillipe 2003 "Oral History in a Wounded Country", in Draper, J. (ed.), Orality, Literacy and Colonialism in Southern Africa, pp. 205-216. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature
Dooling, Wayne 1989 "Slaves, Slaveowners and Amelioration in Graaff-Reinet, 1823-1830", BA thesis, University of Cape Town
Drury, Jonathan D. 1985 "Coloured South African Folk Songs?", Ars Nova 17:39-50
Du Plessis, I.D. 1935 Die Bydrae van die Kaapse Maleier tot die Afrikaanse Volkslied, Cape Town: Nasionale Pers
1972 The Cape Malays: History, Religion, Traditions, Folk Tales, the Malay Quarter, Cape Town: A.A. Balkema
Dutch Reformed Mission Church 1930-1942 "Notuleboeke ", Volume 4, Graaff-Reinet, South Africa
Elbourne, Elizabeth 2002 Blood Ground: Colonialism, Missions and the Contest for Christianity in the Cape Colony and Britain, 1799-1853, Montreal, Kingston, et al.: McGill-Queen's University Press
Elbourne, Elizabeth, and Robert Ross 1997 "Combating Spiritual and Social Bondage: Early Missions in the Cape Colony", in Elphick, R. and R. Davenport (eds), Christianity in South Africa: A Political, Social and Cultural History, pp. 31-50. Oxford: James Currey; Cape Town: David Philip
Erasmus, Zimitri (ed.) 2001 Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: New Perspectives on Coloured Identi- ties in Cape Town, Colorado Springs: International Academic Publishers
Erlmann, Veit 1991 African Stars: Studies in Black South African Performance, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press
February, V.A. 1981 Mind your Colour: The "Coloured" Stereotype in South African Literature, London and Boston: Kegan Paul
Field, Sean 2001 "Fragile Identities: Memory, Emotion and Coloured Residents of Windermere", in Erasmus, Z. (ed.), Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: new Perspectives on Coloured Identities in Cape Town, pp. 97-113. Colorado Springs: International Academic Publishers
Goldin, I. 1987 Making Race: The Politics and Economics of Coloured Identity in South Africa, London: Maskew Miller Longman
Hollandsche Gereformeerde Kerk 1895 De Evangelische Gezangen, Cape Town: Jacques Dusseau & Co
James, Deborah 1999 Songs of the Women Migrants: Performance and Identity in South Africa, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute
James, Wilmot, Daria Caliguire and K. Cullinan (eds) 1996 Now that we are Free: Coloured Communities in a Democratic South Africa, Boulder, Colorado and London: Lynne Rienner
Jeppie, Shamil M. 1990 "Aspects of Popular Culture and Class Expression in Inner Cape Town, circa 1939-1959", MA Thesis, University of Cape Town
Jorritsma, Marie R. 2006 "Sonic Spaces: Inscribing 'Coloured' Voices in the Karoo, South Africa", Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania
Kiernan, J.P. 1990 "The Canticles of Zion: Song as Word and Action in Zulu Zionist Discourse", Journal of Religion in Africa XX/2: 188-204
Kirby, Percival R. 1934 [1953] The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa, London: Oxford University Press, reprint, London: Oxford University Press
Kubik, Gerhard 1988 "Nsenga/Shona Harmonic Patterns and the San Heritage in Southern Africa", Ethnomusicology 32/2:39-76
Layne, Valmont 1995 "A History of Dance and Jazz Band Performance in the Western Cape in the Post-1945 Era", MA Thesis, University of Cape Town
Levine, Laurie 2005 The Drumcafé's Traditional Music of South Africa, Johannesburg: Jacana
Liebenberg, Herbert Daniel c. 1981 "Pastoriestraat Hoogtepunte 1801-1981", unpublished manuscript, PSCC records, Graaff-Reinet, South Africa
Lucia, Christine 2005 The world of South African Music: A Reader, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press
Marais, J.S. 1957 The Cape Coloured People 1652-1937, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press
Martin, Denis-Constant 1999 Coon Carnival: New Year in Cape Town Past and Present, Cape Town: David Philip
Muller, Carol A. 1999 Rituals of Fertility and the Sacrifice of Desire: Nazarite Women's Perform- ance in South Africa, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press
2001 "Capturing the 'Spirit of Africa' in the Jazz Singing of South African-born Sathima Bea Benjamin", Research in African Literatures 32/2:133-152
2002 "Archiving Africanness in Sacred Song", Ethnomusicology 46/3:409-431
2004 South African Music: A Century of Traditions in Transformation, World Music Series, Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO
Newton-King, Susan 1999 Masters and Servants on the Cape Eastern Frontier 1760-1803, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Olivier, E., and S. Fürniss 1997 "Pygmy Music/Bushman Music: New Elements of Comparison" in Biesbrouck, K., S. Elders, and G. Rossel, Central African Hunter-Gatherers in a Multidisciplinary Perspective: Challenging Elusiveness, pp. 105-120. Leiden: CNWS
Olwage, Grant 2002 "Scriptions of the Choral: The Historiography of Black South African Choralism", SAMUS 22:29-45
Parsonage Street Congregational Church 1953-1960, 1980-1992 and 1999-2000 "Notuleboeke" Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, unpublished record books
Patterson, Sheila 1953 Colour and Culture in South Africa, London: Routledge and Paul
Routley, Erik 1983 Christian Hymns Observed, London and Oxford: Mowbray
Scott, James C. 1990 Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, New Haven and London: Yale University Press
Statistics South Africa 2001 "Census 2001", accessed 14 November 2007,
Statues of the Union of South Africa 1950 Statues of the Union of South Africa, Parow: Government Printer
Strydom, Frederik Jacobus 1983 "Die Musiek van die Rehoboth Basters van Suidwes-Afrika", Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Stellenbosch
Turino, Thomas 1992 "The Music of Sub-Saharan Africa", in Nettl, B., C. Capwell, P. Bohlman, et al., Excursions in World Music, pp. 161-190. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2nd ed.
United Congregational Church of Southern Africa 1988 Sing Hosanna! Johannesburg: UCCSA
Van Warmelo, Willem 1958 Liederwysies van Vanslewe, Amsterdam and Cape Town: Balkema
Villa-Vicencio, Charles 1996 The Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press
Wicomb, Zoë 1998 "Shame and Identity: The case of the Coloured in South Africa", in Attridge, D. and R. Jolly (eds), Writing South Africa: Literature, Apartheid, and Democracy, 1970-1995, pp. 91-107. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Kayster, Willem 2004 Interview by author, 18 August. Graaff-Reinet.
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Published
2008-11-30
How to Cite
Jorritsma, Marie. 2008. “The Hidden Transcripts of Sacred Song in a South African Coloured Community”. African Music : Journal of the International Library of African Music 8 (2):56-75. https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v8i2.1781.
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