Singing South African-ness

Waka Waka - Golden Sounds Feat Shakira

2011-10-15T11:22:00.001-05:00

Waka Waka - Golden Sounds Feat Shakira by Dj CoumarèneStill working on the Vuvuzela article, but I came across this mash-up that brings together the Golden Sounds original with Shakira's more recent version of Zangalewa, now knows as Waka Waka.

Vuvuzela Harmonics

2011-09-07T13:13:00.000-05:00

I'm busy finishing up the follow-up article to my Soccer and Society World Cup article, and came across this gem on Wikipedia. Yes, it is possible to produce overtones on a vuvuzela, apparently.

25 years since Graceland

2011-08-24T15:25:00.000-05:00

This Google News article reminded me how when I first came to New York Paul Simon's Graceland album gave me a sort of sonic anchor to South Africa. Ironically I hadn't listened to it that much in South Africa, but I had grown up with Paul Simon's music in my ears, and this album, at least in part because of its significance in my field, helped me feel grounded when I was getting to know this huge new city. It really worked for me to listen to music that was simultaneously from New York and South Africa. I listen to the album less often now, not least because of all the Karen Zoid I continually have in my ears, but when I do hear a little Graceland it gives me a particular somatic memory of travel, newness, learning, and the earlier days of this blog.

Marching to Pretoria and some afrikaans song archives

2011-08-11T13:07:00.000-05:00

I was just searching for some information on the South African song "Marching to Pretoria", and found this database of Afrikaans folk songs with really excellent midi files. I haven't yet checked, but I think they're all from the FAK Sangbundel.
Also, I found it through this discussion board, with a fascinating conversation on "Marching to Pretoria". Thanks to "Q" for the link.
Another poster, "Flatint" posted a transposition of the lyrics of a song that sounds different but has a similar title, "Marching on Pretoria", and searching for that lead me to this poster's database of rare South African recordings. This is quite an amazing archive, and represents an incredible collection.

Why Fifa's ban of the Iranian soccer team is anti-feminist

2011-06-11T18:51:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged in ages, because I had a bit of a computer crash in March, and have been struggling to catch up ever since. But I finally seem to be back on track.
So first post now that I'm back is this analysis on Fifa's decision to ban the Iranian women's national soccer team from competing because their uniforms include hijabs and full-body tracksuits. As the author pointed out, Sep Blatter, who enacted this ban, recently suggested that the solution to promoting women's soccer would be having the players wear tight hot pants rather than the conventional shorts. Not giving them more air-time, better promotions deals and increased visibility. Hot pants. I think the solution would be replacing the idiot president of Fifa, but what do I know.
I believe fervently that modesty legislation or even just recommendations construct women as victims and men as perpetrators, and thus perpetuate sexual violence and discrimination. But when I was in high school, having to wear a skirt that left a good amount of my leg exposed, and was capable of blowing or flipping up an inopportune moment was a real source of anxiety to me, and a hindrance to free movement. Under some circumstances, choosing to cover up our bodies is as much a matter of comfort and practicality as choosing to uncover them at other times, and attempting to legislate uncovering when their really is no justifiable practical reason, like this, is sexual harassment.

Karen Zoid

2011-02-16T13:50:00.000-05:00

I'm a member of a wonderful yarn craft online community, Ravelry, and recently someone on one of the boards I read was looking for suggestions for girl-power songs. I posted Karen's "Do What You Do" from her most recent album, and it was quite a hit! And in the process I discovered that Terms and Conditions is finally available on iTunes and Amazon.com.
Also, there are a couple of new articles about Karen that I wanted to link to here. I think I may soon also start a separate "regularly updated" post to put everything about her in one place.
Article from the Saturday Star
Karen is on the Front Page of The Big Issue

The Disharmonious Honking of the Vuvuzelas: Homogenization and Difference in the Production and Promotion of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa

2011-02-09T13:26:00.000-05:00

My Soccer and Society article is finally out! I'm not certain exactly when it came out, which is a bit unusual, but It's out, and can be purchased (or accessed through a university library with a Taylor and Francis subscription) from this website. Or you can see the whole issue here. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the issue!

Publishing online

2011-02-08T15:06:00.000-05:00

There was a fairly active discussion recently on the Society for Ethnomusicology List-serv about online publication, specifically of dissertations and theses. I wrote a lot when I first started this blog about why I think online publishing and open access are a good idea, and I still feel quite strongly that that is preferable for most of the work we as academics do (I think there are exceptions to that). I'm also reviving some of that for an article I'm working on about online research.
In this post, though, I wanted to link to Victor Grauer's new book, Sounding the Depths: Tradition and the Voices of History which he is publishing as a blog. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this unfolds, and in particular what interactions he gets.

Lady Gaga not quite covers

2011-02-02T17:56:00.000-05:00

I taught a class on the music of New York over the summer, and had so many requests for a class on Lady Gaga that I just had to oblige. It was a very funny class. But these spoof videos are funnier. I'm posting the original before each of the spoofs, just in case you haven't seen it before.

Zapiro

2011-01-31T21:45:00.000-05:00

I missed this several weeks ago when it came out, but it's so funny I just had to post it. I love Zapiro.

A bull in winter

2011-01-28T15:47:00.000-05:00

Everyone needs a sweater in this cold weather

OLEK AND THE CHARGING BULL ON WALL STREET from olek on Vimeo.

I love creative yarn-crafters! Good job Olek.

Waka Waka

2011-01-27T13:53:00.000-05:00

Before I left for South Africa I posted a few youtube videos from music I had referred to in my Society for Ethnomusicology world cup paper. Here are some additional related links.
The story of Waka Waka as told by Scribbles from the Den.
Zangalewa, the song Waka Waka is based on

WFMU Beware of the Blog has a great post about searching for the origins of this song, including numerous links to versions from all over the world.

I got all these links through the IASPM email list. Thanks to everyone who posted. I'm speaking on this topic at the IASPM conference in Grahamstown in June/July.

World Cup music

2010-11-19T22:38:00.000-05:00

I gave a paper on the 2010 World Cup music at the Society for Ethnomusicology conference in LA last week. A version of it written before the world cup is due to come out in the Journal of Soccer and Society soon (if they get back to me with an alternative to signing away my copyright) and I'm working on a version based on the conference talk as a follow-up to the first, so I won't publish the whole paper here, but I did want to link to all the music I discussed, not least so that potential future readers can easily find it all in one place.
Vuvuzelas
Diski Dancing

What Makes Us South African?

2010-10-31T12:26:00.000-05:00

Wow, I'm posting a lot these days.
I wanted to link to this article by Mark Gevisser, not just because I generally enjoy reading what he has to say, but also because I recently saw a David Goldblatt exhibit at the Jewish Museum here in New York, and while I really enjoyed it, my thoughts were similar to Mark's on the topic of South Africanness and these images. They felt really familiar, and yet also really distant to me. Not really what I would use to represent the South Africa I know to someone who doesn't know it. And similarly the World Cup (which I'm thinking about a whole lot again because I'm speaking about it in Los Angeles in a couple of weeks) made me feel very ambivalent about the way we generally represent our country to ourselves and others.

Karen's Video Blog

2010-10-30T10:28:00.000-05:00

Karen just released her first video blog. It's just a plug for the new album, but I hope it means there will be more in future.

Do What You Do

2010-10-28T13:06:00.000-05:00

Anne Hirsch of comedy group The Cracks has a blog, and posted on their appearance in Karen Zoid's video "Do What You Do".

Lots happening with Karen Zoid

2010-10-25T19:25:00.000-05:00

Litnet have an interview with her about Susanna van Biljon and her new album (Thank you, Sean Jacobs at Africa is a Country for sending this to me). They also have a review of the film.
Radio Sonder Grense also reviewed the film (I'll post a translation if anyone really wants it), and also did an interview with Karen that can be downloaded as an mp3 or podcast here. She and the interviewer agree that the story bares comparison to the Susan Boyle story, and also suggest that the character Karen plays is not unlike Min Shaw, a South African singer who is most well-known for the song "Jy's My Liefling", which was the theme song for a Franz Marx film in 1968. The comparison may seem obvious, but I think it's also pretty spurious. But you'll have to wait for my dissertation to read why! (Some hints in my upcoming Yearbook of Traditional Music article on Karen. forgive the shameless plug.)
Pasella also did a segment on the film, and have a write-up, and some behind the scenes pictures here.
What I'm most excited about, though, is the upcoming release of her new album on the 1st of November. It's called Terms and Conditions, and while I know I'll have to wait for my copy (it's being released in SA only for now) her two new music videos are a little taste of what's to come.
The intro to this first one reminds me so much of the intro to "Homo sapien" from her third album, Media

So far I like "Bly By My" better than "Do What You Do", but it may still grow on me.

Finally, it looks like there is a new website on the way. Karen's old one has been mostly out of date for a while, so it will be interesting to see what the new one is like.

Die Storie van Susanna Van Biljon

2010-08-19T09:48:00.000-05:00

Two film trailers in one month. One more and this might become a habit :-)
I am especially excited about this film because it stars Karen Zoid. I'm also quite fascinated to see how many films about and made in South Africa there have been recently. I haven't seen this yet, of course, but it looks like it may be an Afrikaans reworking of the Susan Boyle story. Or am I imagining things?

12 September 2010: The teasers just get better and better

Spud trailer

2010-08-13T10:41:00.000-05:00

I can't wait!

zef slang woordeboek

2010-07-29T10:21:00.000-05:00

I'm rather embarrassed to post this to my blog, but since Die Antwoord made a huge splash in New York the other day, I'm suddenly getting a bunch of questions.
To answer a couple of them up front:

No, they are not the topic of my dissertation. Karen Zoid is.
No, Karen Zoid does not sound like this.
No, they are not meant to be taken seriously. It's a spoof, and an extremely profane one at that.
Yes I speak Afrikaans. but no, I don't speak it like they do.
Yes, I have listened to their music. I find them as a popular phenomenon fascinating, but I don't listen to their music for pleasure. I may write about them at some stage, but for now, I'm focused on the dissertation.

Feel free to post any additional questions in the comments here.

Dusty's Hair!

2010-07-22T11:53:00.000-05:00

When I got back to New York a couple of days ago, I had a birthday present waiting for me. I'm super excited, because not only is is a fun read, it is also really inspiring for my dissertation-writing, because Annie Randall models what I'm hoping to do. Rumour has it that she will be teaching a class at NYU in the fall. I know I'm supposed to be done with coursework (and mostly I very definitely am DONE!) but this may be something I need to audit.

the sound of South Africa (for now anyway)

2010-06-16T21:55:00.000-05:00

Soccer World Cup 2010

2010-06-14T13:16:00.000-05:00

I think I mentioned a few posts back that I wrote an article on music and the promotion of the 2010 Soccer World Cup for an upcoming special issue of the journal Soccer and Society. The issue is currently in press.
I am not yet sure where I'll send it, but I really want to write a follow-up article after the tournament linking some of the initial speculations and forecasts with what eventually happened (is happening), and so this post is an opportunity for me to bring the relevant links together in one place. I'll update it as I go over the next month.

Blogs:
Africa is a Country. Always an excellent read, but especially relevant in this instance because Sean Jacobs, on of the bloggers here, is currently blogging from South Africa where he is attending several matches.
Football is coming home
Just Fila: Prophetic Dreams, False Fans, and Faith, Faith like Rugby Balls
Mhambi: Hier Kom Bafana
Soccer can induce labour?

Newspaper articles:
Historical:
General:
The Guardian: World Cup Opening Ceremony as it happened
Opinion:
About the Music:
The Guardian's Neil Spencer on the kick-off concert line-up
Mail and Guardian: Africa's Musical Boots
BBC News: Rapper K'Naan's Wavin' Flag in World Cup Triumph

On Vuvuzelas:
BBC Sport: World Cup Organizers will not ban Vuvuzelas
Football is coming home on the origins of the vuvuzela
Blatant on vuvuzelas at the confederations cup
The Guardian: BBC May Offer Vuvuzela-free Matches
Business Day: Vuvuzelas sell out at Sainsbury's
BBC.co.uk: BBC Receives 545 Vuvuzela Complaints
Vanity Fair: All Hail the Mighty Vuvuzela
Telegraph: Pope Must Not Be Subject to Vuvuzelas
The Onion: Vuvuzela Philharmonic Angered by Soccer Games Breaking Out During Concerts
The Observers: Sound of the Vuvuzela can be Music to the ears
Vuvuzelas in the concert hall
Vuvuzela concerto (the comments are more interesting than the post itself), and a Guardian article on the Vuvuzela Concerto
The Guardian: Play Vuvuzela Like a Pro (Samora was a few years behind me at Wits, and we sang together in the Wits choir)

Das Vuvuzela in Geschichte und Gegenwart
Vuvuzelas in Seoul

On Shakira's "Waka Waka" song:
Video of Shakira performing Waka Waka at the kick-off concert

On the opening concert:
Rivmix: On South African music not in the Kick-off concert

World Cup Advertising:
Mhambi posted this very funny Pepsi advert: Moving the Goal Posts

General music:
Jack Parow's spoof World Cup anthem: Blaas Jou Vuvuzela
R. Kelly's performance of "Sign of a Victory" at the opening ceremony.
R. Kelly arrives in South Africa, talks briefly about his song
Shakira on the world cup for the 1Goal project.
Sean Jacobs at Africa is a Country on a potential unofficial world cup anthem, Make the Circle Bigger
2K10 IN SOUTH AFRICA. Haven't heard it yet, but can't wait to!

Soccer, gender and queer issues:
The Onion: Soccer announces it is gay

Spud

2010-05-12T16:11:00.000-05:00

If you haven't yet read the three books in what will eventually be a 4-book series by John Van De Ruit - Spud, The Madness Continues and Learning to Fly - I strongly recommend you do. And while there is a whole lot in them that is emphatically and uniquely South African, I think even my US friends and colleagues will find them as fascinating and engaging as I have. They are hillariously funny books, and my delight in them was dramatically increased today when I read on the author's blog that in an upcoming film based on the first book, the gov, one of my favourite characters, is played by John Cleese. The only other person I could have imagined for the role was Peter O'Toole, and it would have had to have been filmed a couple of decades ago for that to really work. I think John is perfect for it.
So if you haven't read the books, do so, and then read the author's blog. I've thoroughly enjoyed the diversion, and even get to call it research, as I will be quoting Spud in my dissertation. I'm eagerly awaiting the film and the final book.

A lesson for my teacher self

2010-04-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

I just finished a piece of writing that for a while I thought might derail me. In the big scheme of things, it really doesn't matter. Only one person other than me will ever read it, and in the end it was written only because it had to be to sustain an important professional relationship. But for a while there, every time I opened the document, or read anything related to it, or attempted to work on it, I felt utterly paralyzed, inadequate and incapable. I don't really understand why it made me feel that way. But I wanted to put it out there because I want to be able to return to this in the future when I encounter students who seem to me to be unaccountably stuck. It was important for me to push through and do this, even if the results are rather meaningless, because it proved to me that I am capable of doing these types of things. It will be important for me to push my students to do what they may feel paralyzed by. But I also hope I manage to maintain at least some empathy.

random update

2010-03-11T11:50:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who still checks back here occasionally in the hope that I might update. I appreciate hearing from you, and I'm glad that even though I update rather infrequently these days, you still consider me worth reading.
At least part of the reason for my infrequent updates is that I now keep up with most of the friends I used to update via this blog on facebook, and just because of the type of network that is I'm finding it more of a satisfyingly two-way street. But that doesn't completely invalidate this blog, as I originally started it as a site for keeping track of my online research, and it's still really useful for that purpose. I often keep research posts private these days, just because they're kind of quickly dashed-off rather than carefully written, thoughtful posts, and the knowledge that people actually read what I write makes me a little more careful about what I put out there. I want to make reading worth your efforts after all.
Another reason this is a little slow these days is because I'm spending so much time writing that when I want to relax, I often want to do it away from my computer. So knitting, sewing and crochet, cooking, walking around New York City and eating my way through the city have taken preference over blogging.
Nonetheless, writing is still my job, and one that I really love, and I have been doing lots of it recently. My dissertation adviser challenged me to turn out a dissertation chapter for lent, and so I'm frantically working on my "Karen Zoid as national icon" chapter. Right now that involves a lot of reading Afrikaans history (lots of it in non-standard late 19th century Afrikaans), and trying very hard to write like someone you might actually want to read, and not like a late 19th century Afrikaans historian, or worse, a critical theorist!!!!
Also, since late last year I have been working on two articles, one of which has been accepted for a special issue of the journal of Soccer and Society that will be coming out later this year. Unfortunately it does read much more like a piece of critical theory than I had originally hoped, but as it's about music at the upcoming soccer world cup, you may find it interesting nonetheless. Check back for updates.

Who sings the nation state?

2009-11-16T15:19:00.000-05:00

If you haven't already heard the rendition of the South African National Anthem currently getting a lot of online attention, listen to the video below. But be warned: your ears may bleed.
I am currently working on a paper on the musical marketing of the upcoming soccer world cup in South Africa, and while this incident isn't directly related, I think I may try to find some way to work it in there. Funny and scary all at once.

Here is the Mail and Guardian report on current responses

Ultimate Zoid

2009-11-05T12:03:00.000-05:00

Karen Zoid launched her latest CD, a compilation of hits and new songs, on Tuesday night. Here is a new music video

and another

and a link to a brief article and a fabulous interview video
I wonder who the new song is directed at? I could make a few guesses. And isn't that still from the video stunning!?!

UPDATE 11 November 2009
This is an interesting commentary. I don't agree that Fokofpolisiekar were more revolutionary. Their music simply isn't as good, and their politics, while blatant, is not nearly as astutely directed. The revolution happened, I think, when people more willing to listen to Engel than Danville Diva began singing along with Aeroplane Jane. But the clips on this review are great!

UPDATE 15 November 2009
And here is another great review that includes one new and one old music video

UPDATE 24 November 2009
Listen to these interviews with Karen from SA TV programs Kwela, DKNT and All Access. She mentions my dissertation plans right at the end of the second! If any of my non-South African readers really want a translation, I'll write one, but it will take a while. Let me know in the comments. The final video is in English (though of course most of the music isn't).

links for a guest lecture on my work

2009-10-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

Did I mention before that I put together and taught a course this past summer called "The Music of New York"? If not, I should blog about that sometime.
Right now, though, that is long over, but I've been asked to do a guest-lecture for my friend Rachel's Art of Listening class on Thursday, and so this post is just to gather in one place some of the videos and etc that I plan to use.
World Map
Drakensberg Boys' Choir

Lebo M Rainmaker

Lebo M Power of One

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Paul Simon

Paul Simon Father and Daughter (from the Wild Thornberries movie soundtrack)

Johnny Clegg and Juluka Impi

The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Tokens)

Solomon Linda's Evening Birds Mbube

Pete Seeger and the Weavers

Freshly Ground I'd Like

Karen Zoid Kaapstad

Karen Zoid Small Room

The Parlotones Colourful

Bok Van Blerk De La Rey

Klopjag Nie Langer (for the students who asked about this, this is an angry post apartheid song. I couldn't find the angry apartheid-era song I played in class today online, but I'll keep looking and post it, or something similar, when I find it.)

Judge Satchwell

2009-09-22T08:52:00.000-05:00

I'm busy preparing a post collecting media commentary and other related material on the ongoing Caster Semenye issue, but in the mean time, I just wanted to blog this news article because it outrages me that this is even a question. Seriously! The constitution of South Africa protects people from discrimination on the basis of sexuality, and yet at every turn someone is having to answer for their sexuality. Best of luck, Judge Satchwell. I'm proud that you're in our high-court.

OppiKoppi

2009-08-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

Once again it's been too long since I last blogged. I sort of think I have an excuse this time, though. Since my last post, I successfully defended my dissertation proposal, taught a 6 week summer course on the "music of New York City" (that was such fun, and I really hope I have an opportunity to revise and reteach it), presented a paper at a conference in North Caroline, and another at a conference in Durban, visited my parents for several weeks, renewed my visa and began my fieldwork. I also, sadly, played the piano at my grandmother's funeral. It was really sad saying goodbye to her.
But this blog post is to be about happier things. Or funnier things, or something. As part of my fieldwork, I attended OppiKoppi from the 7 to 10 August. For those of you who don't know what OppiKoppi is, think hot, dusty farm, colonized by 15000 campers, and 4 stages hosting almost non-stop South African music for three days straight. OppiKoppi means "on the hill", or, with a little creative mishearing, "on the head". I got home very dirty, and sick with flu, but having heard more terrible, mediocre, and superb live music than I normally hear in a year, even here in NY. The highlights for me were Karen Zoid's superb show (the main reason I went in the first place), the Parlotones, who I'm now a serious fan of, after having listened with half an ear to the little bits they have on myspace up until now, a woman called Andra from Namibia, who has the most enigmatic and fascinating voice, and an intriguing group called the Arrows, who have a really cool female drummer. The festival would like to present itself as more diverse than it actually is (it's primarily white and Afrikaans), and the unavoidable clouds of cigarette smoke and drunk, high and crazy revelers who really couldn't care less about the music will probably discourage me from going again, but I'm very glad I did it at least once. The music was completely worth it, and I doubt I'll ever see so much representative South African rock in such a short space of time, again. There really are some great SA bands out there, and even if I'm way out on the periphery of the "scene", I'm falling more and more in love with the music the more of it I hear. Thank goodness for the internet, and the opportunity to hear so much of it here in steamy, summery New York.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that OppiKoppi was declared a national monument, and, more relevant to this blog, and I think more interesting overall, the plaques that make the declaration include Karen Zoid's lyrics "Ons Soek Rock n Roll Om Aan Vas Te Hou" (we want rock 'n roll to hold on to).

So here are a bunch of reviews of OppiKoppi
And some comments from revelers the day after.
Also some free mp3s (not, imo, the best, but fairly representative nonetheless).
And the festival's official website.

Funny business

2009-04-23T08:07:00.002-05:00

The publicity which the Nandos ad featuring a puppet named Julius is receiving seems to have eclipsed the attention which this, much funnier ad deserves. I really love Evita Bezuidenhout. Perhaps when I finish my dissertation (and the subsequent book) on Karen Zoid, I should write a book on Evita.

#Amazonfail

2009-04-13T20:31:00.000-05:00

This is the most thoughtful commentary on the recent Amazon debacle I have yet seen.

Afrikaners and South Africanness

2009-04-07T11:59:00.003-05:00

Elections are such rich times for research. I just wish the official transcrips of Zuma's meeting last week actually included all the juicy bits. The document up on the ANC website leaves the best bits out (though no one thought to edit for grammar when they were cleaning the rest up).

Real South Africans

2009-04-04T14:28:00.001-05:00

Jacob Zuma is doing some serious sucking up ahead of the elections this month.

some research resources

2009-04-02T08:57:00.004-05:00

My dissertation proposal is still in development, and I'm not really ready to share too many details in this public forum, but as this remains a collection of resources for my proposal (despite its numerous other functions over its several years life-span), I decided today to link to some of what I'm currently reading.
First: The South African Gay and Lesbian Archives (GALA) at my undergraduate university's most beautiful library, the William Cullen Library, is absolutely going to be one of my archival sites over this summer, along with the South African Broadcasting Corporation Sound Archives (the website is very clunky and slow, mainly because it is huge, which is shocking considering the bandwidth issues in SA, but there you have it).
Second: This horrendous report on homophobic attacks on South African lesbians was released last month by Action Aid. Read it, sign the petition, and then spend some time, with me, exploring some of the organizations that are working with survivors: POWA, the Triangle Project, Behind the Mask, the Human Rights Commission, the Treatment Action Campaign, GEMSA, the Gender Equality Project.
Third: two books. Defiant Desire edited by Edward Cameron and Mark Gevisser, and Gender and Sexuality in South African Music edited by Stephanus Muller and Chris Walton.

So what does all of this have to do with South African music? I'm not quite ready to publicly join the dots yet, but come and hear me speak at the International Council for Traditional Music conference in Durban in July, or if you won't be in SA, at the 10th Feminist Theory and Music Conference in North Carolina in May, you'll get a glimpse at my project in development.

FAK Sangbundel

2009-03-09T07:36:00.003-05:00

I am currently writing about the FAK Sangbundel in the lit review of my dissertation proposal. I consider myself something of a collector, and have a first edition of the book (a little worse for wear, but all the pages are intact), but not even that can exceed the novelty value of the entire current edition in Midi format. Click on the title for the words, or the music icon to the left of each title for the midi. Also, here is a list of editions and related books that is a great bibliographic resource.

Live Blogging

2009-02-20T22:00:00.003-05:00

I just discovered live blogging. It is such fun to follow a news event as it unfolds. Just a pity I was following a complete embarrassment caused by some daft undergrads here at NYU, but at least it's over.

Excuse me, madam. Did you forget something?

2009-01-11T12:21:00.005-05:00

So after that last vaguely apologetic post, blog topics (and time) are falling into my lap. let's see how long this lasts....
Last night, NYChoirgirl and I went to the Lincoln Center for a New York Philharmonic concert. We have a subscription, and didn't want to waste the tickets, but the snow that was still falling was making us waver. We decided to toss a coin. I like to think of coin tosses as an opportunity for the universe to weigh in. Last night, the universe told us to go. So we went.
The concert was up and down. I was baffled by the decision to program a Mozart Piano Concerto between the premier of a (1980) work by Tristan Murail and Messiaen's Exotic Bird Song composition, and the pianist's making a complete hash of the Mozart didn't help (his tempos and phrasings were eratic and his finger work was downright inaccurate!). But the Debussy, as ever, was sublime!
But it was on the way home, I'm convinced, that the universes motivation for sending us out into the snow was revealed. On the N train from Times Square, we encountered five people participating in the annual pantsless subway ride. At 10:30 at night. On the way to Queens. In the snow. It was utterly surreal.

Hiatus

2009-01-09T17:09:00.002-05:00

This blog has been in a kind of a hiatus for the last few months, mainly because the semester, and all that goes with it, has gotten a bit on top of me. I don't know whether it will improve in the coming semester, but for now I don't really feel much like writing. Perhaps I'm a little burned out. Anyway, soon enough I'll be in serious writing mode (the proposal really must be finished by the end of this semester, and then it's on to the dissertation) and perhaps I'll begin posting again then. In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my holiday, and the casual reading and copious crocheting and knitting that goes with it.

2008-11-10T12:51:00.001-05:00

RIP Miriam Makeba.

Wits Choir

2008-09-03T19:40:00.000-05:00

I just got a new link from the Wits Choir for their website. It looks great! I sang with them between 2002 and 2004, and it was a super experience. Our tour to Argentina in 2003 was a real highlight.

Orientalish

2008-08-14T07:18:00.000-05:00

My bellydance teacher has started a blog. She's also really a great writer, and well worth a read. Did I mention I took bellydance classes this past year? I'm looking forward to picking that up again in the new year.

Making contacts

2008-08-05T18:56:00.000-05:00

Today has been a really exciting research day. I got in touch with someone offering a course I am interested in taking, and he put me in touch with some really exciting contacts in the South African music industry. And these contacts opened up others, and suddenly I have a whole world of resources I wasn't expecting. How happy am I.
So here are a few of the highlights:
Rhythm Records Online is a resource I have been using for a while to purchase South African music I have difficulty acquiring here in the US. This is also a great source for news on the SA music industry, and my source for a few tracks that are otherwise only available on vinyl.
A promotional trailer for a recently aired TV documentary called Johnny en die Maaiers. I am attempting to procure a copy of the documentary itself. I also came across this review.
A trailer for a forthcoming documentary on Fokofpolisiekar. This looks like it will be super! I'm afraid you have to have a facebook account, and have videos installed to view this. I'm looking for another link, though.
Masizakhe. I can't remember whether I blogged this when I saw it last year, but it is a super documentary, and worth seeing, if you can. There are some good clips here.
MK. Afrikaans television channel that features a lot of music.

family

2008-07-30T19:26:00.000-05:00

Today I got one of those emails I have been dreading. My great aunt has died. I know that sounds like a distant relative, but in many ways she took on the role of grandmother to me. I'm incredibly grateful that the last time I spoke to her she was telling me that she was proud of me for doing well, and for coming here and studying, and experiencing things she could only dream of. And I am really grateful to be doing this, and so I can't really justify wishing I was closer to home right now, even though I do.
So in addition to that special little legacy, I thought I'd just record a few of the things I will always associate with my great aunt are my memories of her beautiful garden, which was a wonderland to me as a child: labyrinthine, filled with the biggest nasturtiums, robust agapanthus (offspring of which now reside in my garden in Johannesburg, and my parent's garden in the Drakensberg), a huge gingko tree, a sweet-scented Jacaranda, the flowers of which she would allow to stay on the driveway as they fell, because she loved the colour, violets with leaves that covered my two hands together, and a statue of Wendy; the beautiful wedding cakes she used to decorate, with brightly coloured icing flowers she once showed me how to make; enourmous, rich, desperately unhealthy, and completely irresistible meals that we always left loaded with take-home leftovers. I think in her home I experienced the style of hospitality and family-centered sociality that I most strongly associate with Afrikaner culture.

Maria von Trapp goes home

2008-07-26T10:23:00.000-05:00

No, it isn't the Maria played by Julie Andrews, but one of her step-children. Still, it's a lovely story.

The Great American Passtime

2008-07-24T14:17:00.001-05:00

I have seen a lot of baseball in the last few weeks. Three games in ten days to be exact. And for someone raised on cricket and rugby (though I'm hardly a sports fanatic), I must admit to really liking baseball. It's simpler than cricket, and while less exciting than rugby, I certainly wasn't lacking for entertainment. The first live game I saw was with the whole of NYChoirgirl's family, at Yankee stadium. It was probably the only time I will go to this stadium, before the new one replaces it, but for NYChoirgirl's family, it's a yearly tradition. We had great seats, high up, but right behind home base, and it was a great place from which to learn how the game works. NYChoirgirl filled out a score card, and watching her, and receiving periodic explanations from her and her mother really made more sense of it to me. And I was delighted by all the music. A live organist played little snatches of familiar pieces of music throughout the game, and people respond with near military precision. I was quite proud as I learned the responses well enough to sing (and clap) along. We sang the Star Spangled Banner before the game, God Bless America after the 7th inning, followed by Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and YMCA when the sand on the diamond was smoothed over. It was all very entertaining.
The following Friday we went to a Mets game at Shea Stadium, and while the seats were just about as high up, this time they were closer to first base. The Mets game was even more laid back and entertaining than the Yankees game, with all the between innings activities, though because the Mets aren't my team (I'm a Yankees fan by default) the Yankees game was more exciting. Once again, though, the music thoroughly entertained me.
Then, a week later, we went to a minor league game on Staten island. This time the stadium was much smaller, and so were right near to the field, between home and first base. While these players clearly weren't on quite the same level as the major league players we had seen previously, the game was absolutely riveting, with the Staten Island Yankees scoring, the Batavian Muckdogs (yes, that really is their name) leveling up, and then overtaking them, and right near the end, the Yankees again leveling, and then winning. The game was also followed by fireworks, first in the distance on Manhattan (which we could see through the mist across the bay) and then right at the stadium.
We're planning on going to another game at the Cyclones stadium at Coney Island, but perhaps in a couple of weeks time....
So a few little to end this post:
Clearly the link between sports and music has historic precedents. Here is an article from the Mail and Guardian on music at the Olympic Games.
Anything you ever wanted to know about baseball history.
The Baseball Music Project.

royalties

2008-07-11T08:23:00.000-05:00

Girl Scouts in America are being required to pay royalties for campfire songs.

work gym and fireflies

2008-06-24T16:30:00.000-05:00

I'm officially working at the NYU library for the rest of the summer. Yesterday and this morning were spent mainly running around sorting out paperwork to make this happen, but today I got to actually do some work, and it was great! I'm going to be behind the desk sometimes, and at other times I'm helping the music director check that the library's music books collection is up to date. And in two week's time, there will be some money coming in again.
I tried to go to the gym after work, and discovered that my student status only entitles me to use it at no cost during the academic year, and that officially ended at the start of this month. So no swimming for a few weeks. But I think I'll survive that. I'll just have to find excuses to walk a little further each day.
Oh, and on Friday and Saturday night I saw fireflies for the first time. NYChoirgirl calls them "lightning bugs". They're delightful little creatures that look utterly unremarkable until their butts light up, which they do at seemingly random intervals. I was utterly entranced by them.

New Neighbourhood

2008-06-19T07:41:00.000-05:00

I now live in Astoria. It's wonderful to be living in a place in the city, comfortably close to all the things in Manhattan I need ready access to, but far enough out to be quiet, and to have a real neighbourhood feel. I'm learning which of the green grocers are more consistently reliable, where to get the best fresh fish or home-made feta cheese, and where to get the more unusual products that local stores don't normally stock, at non-specialty store prices. There's a wonderful store near here that stocks every kind of regional specialty food you could ever want! And there's a health food store, a bakery, and a Japanese convenience store on the way to the subway stop. There are also a good selection of restaurants in walking distance of our apartment. We'll not be short of options.
And in looking for information about our local community gardens, I found this great local blog. Thanks for the updates, Joey!

summer

2008-06-17T07:10:00.000-05:00

Well, a lot has happened over the last while. I completed my comprehensive exams (not without some difficulty), hosted my parents for three weeks, attended my brother's wedding, and moved in with NYChoirgirl. And now I'm on summer break. Mostly, I'm working on my thesis proposal, and appreciating the delights of the season here in a hot, humid New York.
I've also been fighting an infestation of fungus midges on my herbs. I think they came in the soil in which I purchased the herbs, and for my first week or so here, there were hundreds of them! lots of spraying and soil drenching, all with non-toxic products, and long strips of sticky fly paper hanging from the curtain rail, and little dishes of apple cider vinegar seem to have them under control, but any other suggestions anyone has would be much appreciated. The plants are looking distinctly worse for wear, mostly, I think, from the spray, and I'd love to find a method of control that does them less harm.

Umshini Wami

2008-05-24T07:26:00.000-05:00

It's perhaps too easy to simply blame the outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa last week on people's being riled up, and finally provoked to action by war-songs. It just sounds too much like the contact-era fantasies of European explorers encountering "fierce Zulu warriors" gaining strength from "savage songs and dances" to be really something one can take at face value (Christine Lucia's book The World of South African Music: A Reader reproduces some of these early writings on first contacts between Africans and Europeans in South Africa). And of course, the history of the song in question is much more complicated than the title alone, or it's connection to Jacob Zuma makes clear. But my interest was peaked when the Mail and Guardian yesterday drew the apparently obvious connection between xenophobic attackers singing Zuma's signature tune, and the ANC president's comments about dealing with the influx of foreigners. And no one even mentions the sexual suggestiveness of a song in which the "machine" in question is overtly phallic, and representative of the type of masculine aggression and power that got Zuma into trouble not too long ago.

long time - still hanging in there

2008-05-02T12:13:00.000-05:00

It has been a long time since I've updated. And while I don't like blog posts that are excuses for why one hasn't posted in ages, I kind of think I have a good excuse: Comprehensive Exams!!!!
I wrote them last weekend (Friday to Monday), and am waiting to hear my results. But they are done, and out of the way, and now I have three pieces of writing to complete in lieu of finals, and then my parents arrive on Saturday next week for a three week visit. It has been so long since I last saw them, and I'm really looking forward to having them here. I'll try to keep this blog regularly updated then with our doings.
In the mean time, though, here is a nice little documentary on the Stonewall Chorale, that gives you a taste of one of the things I've been up to this year.
I cannot believe the academic year is practically over! One more year of course work left. That's a scary thought.

Something sounds a little fishy

2008-04-15T12:26:00.001-05:00

When I was in high school, my music teacher kept me in stitches with his "mishearings" of song lyrics. My favourite was the "elephant ear song", though God's invitation for a cuppa ("come for tea, my people") is also pretty funny. I didn't ever think it could go this far, though! Thanks, Lou, for passing this link on.

It might as well be spring

2008-04-10T22:32:00.000-05:00

Spring is here! It has been pending for a while, but today New York seemed to blossom with it. We hit temperatures of 23 degrees centigrade, and I had a wonderful time sitting on my balcony feeling the sun on my arms and legs. The daffodils are in full bloom, as are the magnolias, and I'm skipping around and singing like a character in a 1940s musical.

Reasons to be happy!

2008-04-02T01:21:00.000-05:00

Julie Andrews is going to be at the Union Square Barnes&Noble tomorrow!

And I just received word that a book I wrote a chapter for has finally been published. It's on page 18 of the publisher's catalog, with the rather generic title Music and Identity: Transformation and Negotiation.

Comps reading

2008-03-20T00:10:00.000-05:00

I'm reading at the moment. Reading nearly every second. And when I'm not reading, I'm listening to every piece of South African music I own. But mostly to Karen Zoid. I finally own Chasing the Sun (courtesy of iTunes), and I keep discovering new things that fascinate me.
Have you ever heard "Danville Diva"? I can't find it in preview anywhere online, so my suggestion is that you listen to it on iTunes. There is a wonderful moment in that where Karen imitates an Afrikaans Diva accent (I think I prefer "princess" to "diva", because of the connection between "diva" and camp sensibility, but they mean roughly the same thing). I spent several hours listening to that today, thinking about how I might describe that sound, specifically to a non-South African. And then when I was searching for the song on YouTube for the purposes of this blog, I came across the wonderful recently added video from Karen's February performance in London.

The accent imitation is fascinating, but I'm also delighted by the moments of what Gary Tomlinson would call (if I remember the article I studied years ago correctly) "signifyin(g)", where she sings a fragment of a Malaika number (the final moments of "Destiny"), and Mary Mary's "Shackles". I have heard both songs often enough (if you have watched South African television station SABC 1 after about 23:00, you have probably heard them too), but don't know much about these groups. Whenever I hear the name Malaika I'm reminded of the Kenyan song by the same name, though I would hesitate to suggest that the group are deliberately referencing that. It is, however, interesting to me to hear Karen Zoid singing a gospel number about slavery in an RnB style within a "Kwaito style" (as she says at the beginning of the video clip) song. There's so much going on there!

My most recent intellectual obsession has been with describing vocal timbre, and in a recent writing exercise for Suzanne Cusick's 'Feminist and Queer Musicology' class, I discovered that language and accent are particularly good areas from which to approach this task. So that delightful litttle Karen moment got me very excited.

Then earlier I read an article by Cornelia Fales that Jason Stanyek recommended to me (if you have access to JSTOR, the link above will work, if not, you won't be able to access this particular article, and will just have to take my word on it). It's on timbre alright, and is a concerted effort to write (ethno)musicologically about timbre. But while I think the author's attempt to focus strongly on timbre rather than other aspects of music analysis is interesting, I was a bit disappointed by what I read as a collapse into references to the strongly visual. She uses spectographs to represent much of what she describes, and in the end doesn't really achieve much. I agree that the lack of vocabulary makes it impossible to talk directly on the topic, but I think that a more productive strategy, and one that I think Louise Meintjes exercises particularly effectively in Sound of Africa involves listening to how musicians (in her instance, studio technicians) talk about the sounds they're working with. It works, I think, because the writing focuses on a purpose beyond itself. She isn't writing about timbre for its own sake. She is writing about it to explain how a particular set of South African identities are constituted musically, and it works. I'm not entirely uncritical of her broader project (I think the collapsing of Zuluness, South Africanness and Africanness is the most troubling fault) but I do think she is doing the most exciting work of this nature I have encountered yet. Other related projects include Gage Averill's Four Parts, No Waiting and Aaron Fox's Real Country.

I love having an excuse to do all this good reading and listening!

What not to wear

2008-03-06T21:35:00.000-05:00

There's too much troubling news coming out of South Africa at the moment. Last month, a young woman was stripped of her clothing and assaulted at a Taxi rank near Johannesburg. The reason: she was wearing a miniskirt. Because apparently wearing miniskirts is unAfrican.

And the only reason this has come to public attention, it appears, is because a group of women wearing miniskirts marched to the taxi rank where the incident occurred. Police claim that this is the only incident to have been reported, despite the fact that women are regularly harassed in these locations. Of course, if the police would actually take down reports made by people, there might be more record of them.
It seems women can't win, either. I remember women being stripped not too long ago for wearing pants. Seriously, we are not living in the Victorian era, and men behaving like animals unable to control themselves at the sight of female flesh just doesn't fly. Or perhaps these really are men who belong behind bars, like animals at a zoo.

Image copyright South African Tourism. Originally found at http://www.zocotravel.com/surfing_holidays/south_africa/kwazulu_natal/durban/durban_surfguide.html

deleted post

2008-03-05T23:24:00.001-05:00

I've taken my last post down after a conversation with NYChoirgirl. Perhaps it isn't always wise to vent online. But I really am unhappy with my teaching assignment, and I'll consider discussing the whole situation in more detail at the end of the semester.

disbanding

2008-02-26T11:45:00.000-05:00

Of more interest than the scathing review of two new South African albums in today's Mail and Guardian is the news that fokofpolisiekar have amicably split up. Perhaps that is a good move for a band who formed as distinctly subcultural, but are now becoming pretty mainstream, before their momentum fades.

total eclipse of tne moon

2008-02-20T21:36:00.000-05:00

I just spent about 10 minutes (all I could bear in the cold) out on my balcony watching the full moon be swallowed up by the earth's shadow, and then renew itself, seemingly brighter than before. Around me were people on many other balconies on my building, and the two buildings opposite, and on the rooftops of buildings on either side of this one. All of us together, braving the cold, watching a total eclipse of the moon in this crazy, busy city. It's a strange way to connect with people, but it does feel like a sort of a fellowship, in a strange way.

And on a slightly different note, I'm very excited, because one of my dear friends has been offered a fellowship by my department from the fall. I really hope she accepts.

A whole new way to procrastinate

2008-02-12T05:29:00.000-05:00

Overheard in New York

Accented

2008-02-09T10:51:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was the super bowl (American football, for my South African readers), and while the very exciting win by the New York Giants made for pretty good viewing anyway, NYChoirgirl explained that she usually only watches this for the ads. Seems the super bowl is the big night for ad agencies here. I only saw the second half of the game, and must admit that I found the game (which I only partially understand) more entertaining than the ads. I was, however, fascinated to read in today's New York Times that one ad featuring pandas talking in Asian accents and broken English, was withdrawn.

I remembered seeing this ad, and not paying much attention to it at the time. It is long, and rather boring. The flood of objections on the New York Times site, however, are much more interesting. Notice, in particular,
no. 8 "Once one puts an "ethnic" accent on an animated character, one raises the spectre of stereotyping and beyond. Ever watched "Finding Nemo"? I got the same queasy feeling - why does this fish talk like, in my opinion, an inner city "African American"?"
no. 13 "I was offended by the ad using Cavemen. I have many Cavemen friends myself, and I find them very intelligent, well-spoken people. Hey, they invented the wheel. Sure they can be a little bit on the hairy side, and they don't take advantage of the dental plan offered at work, but media's constant protrayal of these men as perpetual abusive grunters goes way over the line. I'm surprised Neanderthal-Americans have not spoken up on this issue."
no. 14 "I thought sales genie made a nod to acknowledging the real world when they made a fellow named Chakrabarty the successful salesman in the ad. He did have a south Asian accent, but a real one rather than a caricature."
no. 15 "Had they given the Pandas accents that were non-stereotypical, say British, or California Valley Girl dialects, the commercial would have been more memorable, funnier, and offended far fewer people."

So it's good to represent diversity in ads, so long as everyone sounds alike? British or California Valley Girl accents are less offensive than Chinese or African American? Nemo sounds African American?

I admit I can see how these things could be offensive. The broken English is not good. But sometimes I miss South African senses of humour.

on the other hand, SA banned this priceless gem

Oops!

2008-02-07T11:24:00.000-05:00

What a crazy mistake to make! The posters for Bafana Bafana (South Africa's Soccer team) at the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana show a player who was not selected for the squad, and the old South African Flag! Thanks mom and dad for forwarding the News 24 article to me.

Resources

2008-01-30T09:19:00.000-05:00

It's kind of disconcerting to look out the window at the vividly lit empire state building, to see the glow from Times Square, and the sprinkling of sparkling lights all over this city, after reading in the Mail and Guardian and the New York Times about the power shortages, and very regular (in some places, two hours twice daily) power failures in South Africa. I just don't know what to say....

Reasons to be happy

2008-01-24T03:01:00.000-05:00

The flowers are from NYChoirgirl! :-)

new semester

2008-01-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

The new semester has started, and we hit the ground running. My teaching this semester is very different, as I'm TAing for a course on Bach, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Wagner's Ring Des Niebelungen. It's been ages since I've done any reading in any of these areas, but one of the set books is Edward Said's Orientalism, which I have read several times, and I know all of the set music really well. I wrote a huge project at the end of Matric on the Ring, and while I didn't really expect to use it again, I guess you never can tell what's going to happen.
I'm also taking superstar Suzanne Cusick's music and gender course this semester. It's a course this department is most famous for, and I'm really excited about it. The workload is pretty intense, but I have a reduced course load this semester to assist me with exam prep, so I think this is probably the best time of all to be doing this.
I'm also in the middle of submitting a whole series of applications for summer funding and summer work. It is a bit of a challenge, as there aren't many options open to international students, but I'm stretching my options a bit, and putting a lot of emphasis on my choral experience. One of the possibilities I'm most excited about will involve training childrens' choir all summer. I would so love to do that! The summer is a challenge for all students, and a lot of people warned me about the particular challenges of international grad student summers. But I'm sure I'll be able to make something work. Worst case scenario, I spend the summer waiting tables in Johannesburg, and saving money for the new year. Let's hope it doesn't come to that!

Comps lists

2008-01-16T00:56:00.000-05:00

My comprehensive exams are on the weekend of the 11th of April. Of course I'm feeling a little nervous, but I'm also relishing the opportunity to do some of the reading I usually do for myself, as part of my work. Over the next little while, I plan to post my reading lists and some of my notes to this blog (it was intended for work, originally, after all).
So here is list 1:
The topic is "Afrikaans Music", and I am adding items as I access them (NYU interlibrary loan is working overtime, but wonderfully efficiently). But here, for now, is the start. Any other suggestions are much appreciated.

Bezuidenhout, Andries. 2007. “From Voëlvry to De La Rey: Popular music, Afrikaner Nationalism and lost irony” on LitNet http://www.litnet.co.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&news_id=11123&cause_id=1270 28 February 2007. Accessed 14 January 2008.

Bosman, Martjie. 2004. “Die FAK Fenomeen: Populêre Afrikaanse Musiek en Volksliedjies” in Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Vol. 41, No. 2. (2004), pp. 21-46.

Byerly, Ingrid Bianca. 1996. The Music Indaba: Music as Mirror, Mediator and Prophet in the South African Transition From Apartheid to Democracy. PhD Dissertation, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University.

Currin, Brian and Stephen Segerman (eds). 1996-2007. South African Rock Encyclopedia. http://www.rock.co.za/. Accessed 14 January 2008.

Grobbelaar, Pieter W. 1999. Kommandeer! Kommandeer!: Volksang uit die Anglo-Boereoorlog. Pretoria: J. P. van der Walt.

Grundlingh, Albert. 2004. “"Rocking the Boat" in South Africa? Voëlvry Music and Afrikaans Anti-Apartheid Social Protest in the 1980s” in The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3. (2004), pp. 483-514.

Hamm, Charles. 1985. “Rock 'n' Roll in a Very Strange Society” in Popular Music, Vol. 5, Continuity and Change, pp. 159-174.

Hopkins, Pat. 2006. Voelvry: The Movement That Rocked South Africa.

Jury, Brendan. 1996. “Boys to Men: Afrikaans Alternative Popular Music 1986-1990” in African Languages and Cultures, Vol. 9, No. 2, Gender and Popular Culture, pp. 99-109.

Ludemann, Winfried. 2003. “Uit Die Diepte Van Ons See: An Archetypal Interpretation of Selected Examples of Afrikaans Popular Music” in South African Journal of Musicology/Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Musiekwetenskap, Vol. 23, pp. 13-41

Another great weekend

2008-01-07T02:25:00.000-05:00

I'm sounding a bit like a stuck record, but it's because my weekends really are delightful. This past Saturday, NYChoirgirl and I went to the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players' production of the Pirates of Penzance at the NY City Center, courtesy of Theater Extras, and NYU's Ticket Central. The production was very funny, hammed up to the hilt, but definately great entertainment. And I was delighted to see this production now, as I'm due to teach some Gilbert and Sullivan (probably the Mikado) this coming semester. NYChoirgirl also acted in a production of this work when she was in school, and more recently sang one of the numbers in a Stonewall Chorale choir concert, and so she knew most of the music. I knew less of it, but still left the venue with several ear worms firmly in place. Particular highlights included the major general appearing in his pajamas, including puppy slippers, and an ammusing reference to Pinafore inserted into the dialogue ("'Never!' 'what, never' 'well, hardly ever'"). I also witnessed a most amusing phenomenon right at the start of the performance, when the audience rearranged itself as if on cue when the house lights dimmed, moving to empty seats nearer the stage.
Prior to the performance, we had dinner at Xai Xai, a recently opened South African Wine Bar in the hell's kitchen neighbourhood. In the interests of an authentic South African experience, we ordered Cathedral Cellars (KWV) Shiraz, pap, wors and tomato and onion chow, curried fish, Malva pudding and pumpkin fritters with cinnamon sugar. It was a fabulous meal, not cheap, but more "authentic" (yes, I know that's a very unacademic word, but it works, here) than what I had at that other South African restaurant that shall not be named. I definitely plan to visit again.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T07:01:00.000-05:00

The holiday season is over, but school doesn't start for a few weeks yet. I'm going to be making maximum use of this time to do preparatory reading for my comprehensive exams, now that I'm feeling so much more relaxed after a wonderful break.
The weekend before Christmas, NYChoirgirl's parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary (Congratulations, Mr and Mrs NYChoirgirl!) with a wonderful party that has taken NYChoirgirl and her sister nearly a year to plan and organize, and went off without a hitch.
And Christmas the next week was super. NYChoirgirl and I had a quiet Christmas dinner together, followed by midnight mass on Christmas eve. On Christmas day we overdosed on sugar, with home baked Greek shortbread, home-made marzipan, Christmas pies and Quality Street chocolates (purchased at Myer's of Keswick), and wonderful, and very boozy, fruit cake, made by a friend of NYChoirgirl's in Vermont. It arrived by post, wrapped in bourbon-soaked cheese cloth, moist and crumbly, and wonderful.
And then the next day, we left for a four day holiday in Philadelphia. We had a wonderful time, visiting Independence hall, and the liberty bell, the national constitution center, Penn's landing, society hill, the Jewish American museum, the Reading Terminal Market, the Italian market, and the museum of Art. We had wonderful dinners at several fabulous restaurants, incredible ice cream, and super tea, on one evening, over a game of scrabble. We played pool in the basement of a cute women's bar, tasted shoo fly pie bought at an amish stall, and admired a series of tapestries based on sketches by South African artist William Kentridge. We had such a wonderful time, I was sad to see it end.
But with New Year's eve the day after we returned, there wasn't much time to feel sorry for myself. We skipped between two parties on New Year's eve, watched the ball drop, and then tried to sleep while the partying continued next door into the early hours of the morning. And then we started the year by watching the Rose Parade on television, followed by a nice long walk to a New Year's day brunch, and bowling at a Jackson Height's bowling alley.
And now I'm home, huddled against the cold weather, doing bibliography searches, and getting excited, once again, about the reading I will be doing this semester. I really needed this break.
So, happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2008 is wonderful.

Christmas holidays!

2007-12-19T05:45:00.000-05:00

I am on holiday! Yay. I'm so glad work is over. I submitted my last final on Tuesday, and spent a little time today calculating final grades for my students, and now I'm home, and finished, and SO ready for a break! I'm not going to do anything school-related until after New Years.

This isn't a great picture, but at least you can get a general sense of what my Christmas decorations look like, with the view of the Empire State Building in the background.

It isn't over till it's over.

2007-12-18T08:29:00.000-05:00

Hey, it's the Christmas season after all, and miracles can happen. But in the mean time, I'll let Zapiro, eloquent as ever, comment on all that is wrong with this....

talent on all sides

2007-12-12T01:56:00.000-05:00

In amongst the marking and scrambling to finish finals, there is a whole lot to celebrate at the moment.
Yesterday was the last lecture of the undergraduate course I have had such fun TAing this semester, and we used the time, delightfully, to hold an open mic session for students and faculty alike. It was really wonderful to have some super talented students show us what they really can do with their voices, and I was particularly moved by A's wonderful song-writing and performing abilities, D's incredible producing skills, and M's very creative combination of beat-boxing and throat singing. You are all so awesome, and it has been wonderful getting to know you this semester. I wish you everything of the best for your future careers, and really hope I'll get to see more of you in future.
And now, in the spirit of the season, I'm posting the YouTube video originally sent to me by NYChoirgirl, that I contributed to our class festivities yesterday. Enjoy!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-10T09:02:00.000-05:00

And feel like it, too. On Saturday night, NYChoirgirl and I performed our end of year concert with the Stonewall Chorale. It was a super success, with the big Church of the Ascension nearly full, and lots of great feedback from the various audience members I got to talk to afterwards. Thank you so much to everyone who supported us. It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces in the audience, to get such super applause, and to hear your very generous comments afterwards. I'm so glad you were all there, and that you had a good time.
I also put up my Christmas decorations this past week, and now have a string of steady white lights, a string of flashing blue lights, great loops of blue tinsel, and a dozen or so blue and white snowflakes adorning my living room. They blend very well with the blue and white Empire State Building I can see through the window. I haven't got a Christmas tree yet, because live ones make me sad (I hate the idea of cutting a tree down, just to throw it out, dry and sorry-looking, in January), and artificial ones are surprisingly difficult to find in this city. At least, artificial ones under $50. Online shopping has come to my rescue (as it so often does), though, and my little 3 foot pre-lit artificial Christmas tree is on its way. I love putting Christmas decorations up. And now, in the Northern hemisphere, where the sky is dark by the time I get out of class, the lights really brighten things up.
Speaking about getting out of class, I taught my last seminar of the semester today, and now have a large pile of marking waiting for me. It's actually less daunting than I thought it might be, because the student's assignments are so interesting to read. I really like these students, and am going to miss them next semester.
Finally, this is my last evening at home for a while. Tomorrow, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights I'm attending various Christmas parties, and on Wednesday night, I participate in the NYU tradition of midnight breakfast for dinner. On Wednesday, I also attend my last class of the semester, and a week later, submit my last final. And then, I'm on holiday for just under a month.

What sweeter music....

2007-12-03T07:13:00.000-05:00

NYChoirgirl gave a wonderful performance on Saturday evening, with the Dessoff choir. It was her second performance with this really super choir, and while I found their last performance, at Carnegie Hall really thrilling, I especially enjoyed this performance because the focus was so much more on the choir than the last one was.
The venue was St. Bartholomew's Church, and it set the perfect atmosphere with its gold dome and spectacular stained glass. The accoustics were wonderful, and the choir made full use of that, exhibiting all the subtelty, strength and clarity of their sound with Gerald Finzi's In Terra Pax (Op. 39, 1954) and Benjamin Britten's St. Nicolas (Op. 42, 1948). I must admit to being a particlar fan of the Finzi, where the composer's wonderful familiarity with the type of harmonic movement that is particularly beautiful with a full choral sound resulted in moments of absolutely sublime music in the hands of this skillful choir. The very last line: "And on earth peace, good will toward men" gave me goosebumps.
The Britten is perhaps more of a virtuosic work, requiring both stamina and clear articulation from the choir, who were in good form. I still have the rapid ascending meoldy of the second movement, in particular the clear, fresh womens' sound, interwoven with the deliberate incantation sung by a very sweet boy soloist, and the tenor soloist, running through my head. The moment when this incantation is taken over by the adult St. Nicolas from his child self is very moving, as is Nicolas' prayer in the fourth movement that God "Teach us to ask for less and offer more in gratitude to Thee."
All in all, it was a wonderful start to the Christmas season, with unusual, and very appropriate music that makes a nice change from the usual Christmas fare. I was so proud of NYChoirgirl. Her face was shining, and she looked so delighted to be singing. As one of her fellow chorister's pointed out, she looks especially angelic when she's singing.

So now we are less than a week away from our first performance together with the Stonewall Chorale, next Saturday, the 8th of December, at the Church of the Ascention. Do come and support us. I predict a good performance!

Dinner with the President

2007-11-29T10:01:00.000-05:00

I have been feeling a little down about the project of the research university for a while, partly because I've seen, through teaching, what a raw deal so many students (particularly, or specifically, undergrads) get when they enter a high-profile research university like NYU, and partly because I've realized that my commitment to education, and my understanding of the goals of the academic project more broadly, are not commensurate with the goals of a large number of my peers and seniors. Before I expand on that, though, let me say that my experiences tonight, to my surprise, have given me fresh hope and new energy.

So here is the full story: About a week ago, I received an invitation to have dinner with the President of NYU, John Sexton. The opportunity was intriguing. I have become disillusioned with the conflicts between the NYU mission to be a university of New York in New York, and what, from the inside, at least, looks like a quest to gain status and rank at the expense of an engagement with the lived reality of this city, which is cosmopolitan in the best and worst ways. NYU, it seemed, was riding the elitist ivory tower image right up there with the most iconoclastic of the ivy league, attracting well-resourced undergrads in order to finance the graduate students who would teach them, while the big-name tenured faculty got on with the business of research. It isn't a terrible model, particularly if you are among the big-name tenured faculty, but for the students, particularly undergrads, who expect to have life-changing, though-altering experiences through their interaction with the best thinkers in the world, finding out that your intellectual heroes have little or no interest in teaching, or worse, great interest, but no time, due to the demands of the tenure track, can be somewhat disappointing. No wonder the academy and its discourse has such a bad reputation in the world out there. You need to be taught academic speak in order to understand the work being produced, but the people most qualified to teach you that would rather be talking to each other than to you, even if you are paying huge amounts of money for the privilege of their attention.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a critique of the faculty themselves. I have benefited immensely from a large number of outstanding intellectuals who have gone above and beyond to help me get to where I am. And I'm also benefiting greatly from the financial management of a university that can afford to fund my education for five years, in exchange for a few semesters of teaching. Heck, I'm one of the biggest beneficiaries of the system. But I'm also critical of that system because it encourages a view of education, the practice of teaching, that labels it the unfortunate baggage of an academic career. Teaching is the despised responsibility. Research and publication are the goal.

Quite frankly, as far as I can tell, there is no point in doing research and publishing work if one has no intention of teaching it. Knowledge is only as good as the use it is put to, and there are only two ways that the knowledge we produce can be put to good use: through our own application of it (i.e. "advocacy" or "public sphere work", both second-class considerations in the academy, and non-entities in the tenure process), or through our teaching of it to others, who will apply it. And we should be publishing so that our insights are available to those who we cannot teach directly.

One clarification here. I don't mean teaching according to the classical model of students sitting at the feet of the master. I mean teaching in the way that it works in a graduate seminar, or in the undergraduate sections I've been lucky enough to work with this semester. Teaching becomes about providing a set of materials and interpretive tools, and then letting the magic that is learning happen. Sometimes, that means that students make use of those tools right there with you, and all of you come away with something from the classroom encounter, and sometimes it means you demonstrate a few ways of using them, and let the students take that away and work their magic, either in private, or, if you're lucky, in the work you get to grade. Either way, no one is the end point of knowledge. It's all a great set of endless possibilities. How exciting!

A while ago, I read this document, published my John Sexton on the university website, in which he proposes a role for "university teachers", as distinct from research faculty. I agree with a lot of what he says, but I find myself opposing the document as a whole on the basis of his caveat that

[the university teacher] will be capable of appreciating and of participating in
the research enterprise. But he or she will have chosen to tilt the
personal mix of research and teaching more dramatically in the direction of
teaching than would be appropriate for one seeking tenure. The university
teacher will dedicate a full professional life to the university as an active
participant in the institution and a premier participant in the education of
students. The university teacher will not be given the lifetime position we
associate with tenure, but the possibility of remaining with the institution for
a whole professional career will be very real

So my big question is: why is it not appropriate for a faculty member who "tilts the mix" of research and teaching more strongly toward the side of teaching, not to get tenure? Why is teaching valued less strongly? What is the mission of the thinking individual if not to disseminate their thoughts? And how, other than through teaching, do we do that?

I didn't get to ask that question tonight, though I'm going to ask it via email once this crazy semester is at an end, in a few weeks time. But I did hear a whole lot from our university president that suggested to me that his goals for the production and dissemination of knowledge line up more strongly with my own than I had previously thought. At the very least, I encountered an openness to conversation about these matters that I had not expected, and that gives me some hope. I still think teaching is undervalued, but I no longer think that the university is all about money and prestige. And that is a big relief.

Why students drop out

2007-11-21T11:55:00.000-05:00

The Mail and Guardian published an article reporting the findings of a recent study on the reasons behind the high university drop-out rate in South Africa. Top of the list is lack of funds, but more worrying to me is that on that list is: “My lecturers were so inaccessible that I did not think I could approach them for help”.
I think it's wonderful that the MAP program at NYU ensures that students have weekly sections with TAs in small groups, where they can get some individualized attention, but it does concern me that really the only individual attention they get is from graduate students. The classes are just too big, and the faculty under too much pressure (especially if they are on the tenure track) to be able to get to know their students, and without that students really are going to find it difficult to get into graduate programs, and in certain instances, even to find jobs. References are such an important part of the application process, and before that, the mentorship of a faculty member who cares about and believes in the academic project is so important to the process of entering higher education. If it is also, as the survey suggests, important that lecturers be available to students, just to ensure that they finish their degrees, then I'm not sure how effective this system is. I guess I'm just questioning, once again, the state of the academy that deprioritizes teaching, when it is that, in the end, that funds (and should motivate) all other aspects of the University program.

Reading and work

2007-11-19T03:21:00.000-05:00

I just spent three weeks essentially wasting my time, reading a huge, difficult and incredibly dense book that in the end doesn't seem to go anywhere. I get the academic project of theorizing for the sake of challenging assumptions. That is the only way that we stand any chance of making our thinking more effective. But some ways of "doing theory" involve little more than mixing and matching the theoretical (and hence, unproven/unprovable) observations of other theorists, and rapidly moving further and further away from the real world. I'm here to talk about music and what people do with it, for goodness sake, and not what is left if all history is memory, and all memory is (theoretically) unethical.
I guess I'm just frustrated with my coursework, at the moment, which feels like a hinderance to my learning process, rather than the support I think it should be. It will get better, though, if for no other reason than that next semester I get to be more specific about my project, and spend my time doing a whole lot of reading that I've selected for myself. I guess I'm just beginning to judge my reading time as more precious the more other things I have to do, and so I'm resentful of things that don't make productive use of this time.
Alright. Rant over. I'm going to listen to a talk by a scholar who did her research in South Africa, this evening, and then I'm going to go home and read Jeannette Winterson, just because I want to. And then on Wednesday, the Thanksgiving holiday starts! I can't wait.

Afrikaner Feminism, De La Rey's girlfriend, and soft porn as social commentary

2007-11-13T10:55:00.000-05:00

T requested a translation for the song I linked to in my last post. I was hoping to find the lyrics or a recording of the whole thing, but failing that, I thought I'd give you a transcription and translation of the lyrics from the fragment on the singer's website.

De La Rey ons wag op jou De La Rey we’re waiting for you
Hier onder die hemel blou Here under the blue sky
Hulle sê jy moet ons ly They say you must lead us
Maar dan moet jy ‘n meisie kry But then you must get a girlfriend

Generaal De La Rey General De La Rey
‘n Boere meisie moet jy kry You must get an Afrikaans (farm) girl
[inaudible] moet sy wees […] she must be
‘n Boere meisie met geen vrees an Afrikaans girl with no fear

For anyone familiar with South African history, the discourse around the fearless boer women who followed their men into the interior of South Africa, worked the land alongside them, and in some instances fought alongside them, is standard revisionist/early feminist fare. It's of course all deeply problematic, not least because the obvious connection between Son-Isha's song and Bok's De La Rey means that Son-Isha's image of a fearless woman is juxtaposed with Bok's helpless woman and child starving in a consentration camp. And of course, De La Rey's imagined girlfriend sits rather strangely alongside Bok's Girls in Bikinis (the second to last track on the De La Rey album), and the various other feminine figures that drift through his album. As always, the women are defined in relation to the men. But to avoid rehearsing that rather simplistic argument, let me make another, I think more provocative connection, with the aid of Wayne Barker and Annie Coombes. The former draws largely on the latter, though in shorter form.

De La Rey's Girlfriend

2007-11-08T09:25:00.001-05:00

Dare I call this a feminist take on the De La Rey debate? (do keep your volume up when you click the link.) A little girl by the name of Son-Isha has recorded a song called "De La Rey Moet 'n Meisie Kry" (De La Rey must get a girlfriend).

Choir concert

2007-11-07T07:44:00.000-05:00

On the 8th of December, SAChoirgirl and NYChoirgirl will be performing in the Stonewall Chorale French Holiday Concert at the Church of the Ascension on the corner of 5th Avenue and 10th Street. The program, in addition to some light holiday numbers, includes Poulanc's Gloria, Debussy's Trois Chansons, Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine (one of my favourite choral works ever) and Messiaen's O Sacrum Convivium. If you like French music, or holiday music, or choral music in general, this is the concert for you! Tickets can be obtained directly from me (if you will be seeing me in the interim) or from the choir website (Please put Nicol Hammond into the "who referred you" box), and are $20 each until the day before the performance, or $25 on the day. You can also obtain a season ticket that covers three concerts, for $50. I hope to see you there!

birds, bees and butterflies

2007-11-06T10:09:00.000-05:00

It sounds like someone in the South African government finally got smart on the issue of name changes. In Johannesburg, at least, all subsequent name changes will focus on South African fauna and flora, and the Mail and Guardian reports on a broad-based public consultation process to begin next year. Lets home the animosity and money-wasting is at an end.

InaDWriMo

2007-10-31T10:08:00.000-05:00

I just pledged 10 000 words on InaDWriMo. Of course, I'm not at dissertation writing point yet, but that conference paper I just finished needs to be turned into a publishable piece, and I have a few other bits of writing to pull together by December. I wonder whether I'll be able to stick to it?

P.S. I was asleep about an hour ago, but the Halloween partying is in full swing on the street below, and so I won't be getting much more sleep for a while, at least. There are some disadvantages to living in the village. Not enough to make me want to move, but they're there, nonetheless.

Back from SEM

2007-10-31T04:41:00.000-05:00

Another SEM is over, and I'm back in New York, and back in the middle of things. Despite the travel hassles, things were really pretty great. NYU made a very good showing, with lots of really effective papers from students and faculty, and a party that, in the tradition of NYU music department parties at SEM, got shut down. And I was especially happy to get to spend some time with Brett, who is doing wonderful things. T has a great post on the conference, and in particular, what we ate, that is really worth reading, and Gabriel Solis over at People Listen to it, has a post on the keynote lecture which generated some interesting discussion.

SEM so far

2007-10-25T02:26:00.000-05:00

I rushed through my morning yesterday in order to make my flight out of JFK in comfortable time. I needn't have bothered. The flight was canceled, and we were re-routed to LaGuardia. Frantic that we would get caught up in traffic on the rather expensive shuttle ride between the airports, we dashed downstairs to the baggage claim, and waited. And Waited. AND WAITED. Finally, two of us went upstairs to the luggage claim desk to investigate further, only to be told that our bags had been put on a plane that evening to Columbus. Why we were not on that plane with our bags, we could not understand. And why that flight was able to leave, and ours was canceled due to "bad weather", we could not understand. And why we had been told to collect our bags downstairs, when they had been automatically re-routed, we could not understand.
So we rushed outside and on to a shuttle. And waited. And finally offered to pay the driver more to leave with all six of us plus one non-NYU student, and one empty seat, rather than wait for an eighth passenger, so that we would make our new flight.
So off to LaGuardia we rushed, and got through customs just in time to hear that our flight had been delayed. Not a complete tragedy. It was about dinner time, and we were all pretty hungry. Several of us in the group are vegitarians, and several people have food allergies, and so our choices were rather limited. But we ate and talked, and waited together. Finally it got to the time when we should be making our way over to the terminal. We did that little thing just in time to discover that our flight had been canceled! We were booked on a new one in the morning that basically guaranteed that we would miss the first few papers we had all wanted to attend. But at that point, what choice did we have?
Brett, who had begun his journey on Monday evening (he was traveling from South Africa) was about ready to pass out, and so rather than drive all the way out to Manhattan and then back in the early hours of the next morning, we crashed at Allen's place in Brooklyn. Many thanks, Allen and Nicki. Your fold-out couch was very comfortable!
Part the next: On Thursday morning, we all woke up bright and early to get to LaGuardia. This time we actually got onto the plane before the waiting happened. But at long last, we got into the air, and on to Columbus. The airport taxis were unable to carry all six of us at once, so we went in two taxis. And three of us landed up at the wrong Hyatt. Who would have thought Columbus had two Hyatts?
But we finally got there, and got registered, and are now (relatively) comfortably settled at the conference hotel. The hotel, thankfully, did not charge us for the first night that we missed, but they did give away our double room, and so three women and one (tall) man are sleeping in one king-size bed and one cot. Last night the arrangement was less than successful. Tonight, we will have to try something different. Most of the NYU department gave their papers yesterday (and there were some very good ones among them), but Jenny, Brett and Allen all speak today, and I have my paper tomorrow morning.

This I had to blog

2007-10-23T09:54:00.000-05:00

I just received an email from one of my students informing me that I missed the point of his recent paper when I was marking it, and requesting a meeting so that he can set me straight! Um, sorry buddy, but if you didn't make the point in the paper, there is a good chance I would have not gotten it. Of course, if you had made an appointment and met with me before the paper was due, as I suggested you should, you may not have been in this situation in the first place....

Columbus, here I come.

2007-10-23T09:46:00.000-05:00

I am headed for Columbus, Ohio, tomorrow, for SEM. I can't believe Hawaii was nearly a year ago! I'm excited, and a little nervous, but mostly just looking forward to seeing friends and colleagues again. I always enjoy conferences, even without the beaches and warm weather. My paper is on Saturday morning, fairly early, but hopefully there will be a few die-hard attendees who aren't completely wiped out by then, and who will have some useful feedback. I don't know what internet access I'll have, but as we are in the conference hotel, I'm sure there will be something, so I'll blog as I have the opportunity.

Happy days

2007-10-22T02:03:00.000-05:00

I had yet another amazing weekend. Is one person really allowed so much happiness? Saturday was full of particular high points, as NYChoirgirl and I hiked from Walhalla (!) to Pleasantville (!!) via an incredibly beautiful reservoir. The leaves have turned just enough that everything looked beautifully autumnal, and yet the weather was comfortably warm, with only the slightest hint of rain that never quite caught up with us. It was the perfect way to spend a beautiful day. And the day ended on a particularly high note with South Africa winning the Rugby World Cup!!!! Well done Bokke. You make us proud.

Lucky Dube was shot and killed by hijackers yesterday

2007-10-19T08:31:00.000-05:00

This is such a tragedy. South Africa has lost yet another music legend. Thank you, dad, for passing the article on.

Mostly Mozart at the Lincoln Center

2007-10-18T09:14:00.000-05:00

Last night, NYChoirgirl took me to the Lincoln Center to hear the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis perform Mozart's Requiem. It was a completely wonderful evening from beginning to end, and not just because of the music. But the music is what I'm going to write about here.
The program began with Mozart's piano concerto no. 27, with Imogen Cooper as the soloist. The orchestra was sparkling, and made up for some rather disappointing shortcomings on the part of the soloist. Mozart hardly requires the muscular strength of a Beethoven or Rachmaninoff, but I found myself wishing she would put a little more muscle behind the potentially really dramatic music, particularly during the final movement. In general, her take on the whole work was surprisingly romantic, slow and rubato, and while I think that this concerto in particular is often rushed, and lacking the emotional depth the music suggests to me, this rendition became a little tiresome. Her lack of clarity in her left hand also tended to mask her more virtuosic right hand articulation, and the lack of movement in the whole work drew attention to this imbalance.
The second half, however, more than made up for the shortcomings of the first. We had come mainly to hear the Requiem, which NYChoirgirl sang recently, and I hope to sing one day.
It was absolutely spectacular. The choir, which was pretty substantial, sounded like it consisted of twice the voices it did, and yet not one ounce of clarity was lost. The sound was clean, full, and periodically amazingly, expressively, soft yet penetrating. I was overwhelmed. The balance between choir and orchestra was amazing, and the conductor was a treat to watch.
Can you tell I had a good time?
It is still periodically amazing to me to find myself in this city, surrounded by so much .... so much of everything. And so wonderfully happy.

UPDATE: The New York Times review of Wednesday's performance is much more thorough than mine. Thank you, NYChoirgirl, for forwarding this to me.

Singing politics

2007-10-16T08:54:00.000-05:00

The Mail and Guardian reported on the ANC Youth League's comments on Mosiuoa Lekota's suggestion that the singing of struggle songs outside parliment and court is a bad idea. While I have a huge problem with the vindictive and immature way that the ANCYL comments were made, I must admit to agreeing with their stance. People have a right to be heard, and singing is a wonderful way of getting a message out, as I keep telling my students. There is something very visceral and positive about expressing political will through singing. I may disagree fundamentally with the message of the song in question "uMshini Wami", and with the cause that it is in support of, but sensorship is not an option in a democracy, and especially not in South Africa, where singing has played such a critical role in our long-term social and political engagement. Singing politics is what South Africa is known for!

Former classmates going places

2007-10-15T07:25:00.000-05:00

My former classmate, Dillon Davie, has had a review published on ZA@Play, an online source linked to the Mail and Guardian. Well done Dillon! His writing is really good, and the performance he is reviewing sounds really special. I hope it comes to New York eventually.

Fall, and the bokke

2007-10-14T08:47:00.000-05:00

Fall is finally here. The temperature has dropped into the chilly range, and while it isn't quite winter coat time, it was time for me to put a duvet on the bed, and get my warm jerseys out. I really love this time of year, partly because the trees are so breathtakingly beautiful (or will become so, now that the weather has cooled), and partly just because it feels good. It isn't so cold as to be umpleasant yet, but it is distinctly different from a balmy South African fall, and I am still enjoying the novelty.

Oh, and just because I'm excited about this..... GO BOKKE! South Africa is playing England in the Rugby World Cup Final next Sunday.

A long day

2007-10-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

If I wasn't teaching, I never would have realized how much time students who leave seeking necessary information about assignments to the last minute take up. I have spent a huge amound of time today meeting with students and answering emails relating to the assignments that are due tomorrow. I really do love meeting with students, and so in general this is a pleasure, but the occasional meetings that consist almost entirely of the student telling me why they have absolutely no interest in the course topic, and don't want to write the essay, get a little tiring. I am so ready for bed right now.
UPDATE:
When the first email in my inbox in the morning is a thank you note from one of the students I helped out yesterday, that makes it all better. And the fact that she has an interesting project is even better.

Free Mp3s for Heritage Day

2007-09-26T08:31:00.000-05:00

My parents sent me this link to a News 24 site featuring free downloadable mp3s. Not all of them are of South African music, but all are African, and there are some really super ones there. The links are up as part of the newsgroup's Heritage Day celebrations, because South Africa's heritage day was on Monday.
Thanks, mom and dad!

South African Music Day

2007-09-25T09:14:00.000-05:00

In the midst of a crazy busy new term, I spent a little time in South African space on Sunday. Kathy Tagg put together a wonderful day's activities revolving around South African music at the Manhattan School of Music, and while I didn't get to attend everything, or even as much as I would have liked to, the two concerts I saw were fabulous! Around lunch time, there was a program of South African vocal music, with two soloists performing song cycles (one in English and one in Afrikaans) a third soloist singing an arrangement of a Xhosa bow song (The cello made an amazing substitute for a gourd-resonated bow), and an ensemble singing traditional choral music. You can guess what my favourite was! I was really impressed with the vocal sound this group, in particular achieved, even with a very thin bass section. The soprano sound was wonderfully full.
The evening concert was of chamber music, and as a fan of, in particular, Peter Klatzow, and more tentatively, Kevin Volans, I really enjoyed this. The performers were not universally capable during this concert, and one of the string ensembles reminded of how critical it is that the instruments are properly in tune when the music is not conventionally tonal (!), but the absolute highlight of the evening, Kevin Volans' percussion composition Chakra, performed with great flair by three percussionists (one of whom was not listed in the program) from the MSM, swept away any lingering doubts some of the earlier pieces may have raised about my devotion to this type of music.
Well done on a resoundingly successful event, Kathy, and thank you for googling this blog!

Street performance, and the Drakensberg Boys' Choir

2007-09-19T08:51:00.000-05:00

I had the craziest day today, running around town from one end to the other (literally: Brooklyn, Harlem, NYU, Harlem, Union Square, NYU, and finally, Harlem again), but quite abruptly earlier this evening I was stopped in my tracks by one of the best street performances I have yet seen in NYC. Three guys were playing drums using a combination of two upturned buckets, a barrel lid, and two of the plastic containers that hold newspapers on street corners around NYC. They were doing some pretty elaborate stuff, and it was really nice to have an excuse to stand still and just listen for a bit.

Also, one quick note. I noticed through my blog stats this week that someone has been searching repeatedly for "Drakensberg Boys' Choir lyrics "I wish I were"". This is one of my absolute favourite of their recently programed pieces, and can be heard at their website or via this link (the recording quality isn't great, and doesn't do them justice, but it should at least give you an idea of what they and the piece sound like. The full title of the song is "I Wish I Were a Punkrocker", and the lyrics are available here.

New York South African Music Day

2007-09-16T03:10:00.000-05:00

Kathy Tagg commented on my blog yesterday to point out a fabulous event happening at the Manhattan School of Music next Sunday, the 23rd of September. It is called the New York South African music day, and is a whole day of conversations about and performances of South African music, held on the day before South Africa's Heritage Day public holiday next Monday. I am very excited about what is planned, and about the people scheduled to participate, so if you are around, come on down.

Ubuntu, individualism and crime in South Africa

2007-09-13T08:18:00.000-05:00

I have yet to read the full text of Mbeki's speech yesterday on Steve Biko, as the transcript is not yet up on the ANC website, but I must admit an ambivalence to the current reports on it. The Mail and Guardian headlines "Mbeki: Crime a symptom of 'rapacious individualism'", a sentiment that I agree with in spirit if not letter, but the calls it thereafter reports for "moral regeneration" trouble me. Morality is such a slippery space, bounded as it is by essentially individualist religious constructs and conceptions of the "normal". A clash of moral sensibilities led to several acts of voilence against women during the time I was back in South Africa, and debates about morality are heavily implicated in almost all terrorist and geanocidal actions. Even the current war in Iraq is justified on a moral premise, despite the various ecomonic issues implicated.
And I don't want to get into word games about the difference between morality and ethics, either. I do think that is a useful way of framing this, but really it's just too abstract for the current circumstances.
Crime is, I believe, more about an inability or unwillingness to see the humanity in others than about a lack of moral compass, because when you can't see how your actions hurt someone else, you can't see the immorality in them. I always have believed that everyone wants to be good, or at least to feel good about themselves, and that knowing that you are hurting someone else doesn't feel very good. That is why child molesters tell themselves that the children they interact with actually want, or enjoy, what is done to them. And the idea of "for the good of the community" becomes an excuse to ignore individuals who are hurting. The apartheid government believed that it was acting for the good of the country, but it had to ignore the humanity of black people to do that.
I'll read the speech fully before I comment more on this, but I just wanted to put that out there, as my initial response to the reports I've been reading.