David Rycroft South Africa Collection

Stylistic continuity- musical examples for paper: Ngibuzwa nguwe.

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  • Type

    sound

  • Duration

    00:23:09

  • Cultures

    Zulu

  • Shelf mark

    C811/102

  • Subjects

    Zulu folksongs and dance , home-made guitar songs - Africa (Zulu) , igqongwe

  • Recording date

    1964-05-04

  • Recording locations

    Roadside Mt Ayliff, Cape Province, South Africa

  • Performers

    Toyisa, Johannes T (singer, male, igqongwe)

  • Recordist

    Rycroft, David, 1924-1997

  • Description

    This recording is a part of a collection of musical examples which Rycroft has taken from his field recordings to accompany his paper on continuity in Zulu music (Rycroft, D. 1977. 'Stylistic continuity in Zulu Town Music'. In Essays for a Humanist an Offering to Klaus Wachsmann. New York: The Town House Press, pp. 216-260). This is a dubbing of a recording made in 1964. Johannes Toyisa (14 years old), plays the igqongwe, which is a 'home-made guitar which became popular among Zulu teenage boys, who could not afford to buy a commercial guitar. The body of this instrument is made out of an empty tin can such as a one-gallon kerosene or oil can. The body of the instrument is rectangular with a sound hole. The neck is fretless and is long in comparison to the body. Johannes plays the guitar and sings a song. He uses the I-IV-V chord progressions which are very common in South African Township music.

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