David Rycroft South Africa Collection

Metre in South African praise poetry: Rycroft and Hodza interview about clapping.

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  • Type

    sound

  • Duration

    00:12:32

  • Cultures

    Shona

  • Shelf mark

    C811/104

  • Subjects

    Shona folksongs and dance , praise poetry-Africa (Shona) , nhetembo

  • Recording date

    1976

  • Recording locations

    Salisbury (former name for Harare), Zimbabwe

  • Recordist

    Rycroft, David, 1924-1997

  • Speakers

    Hodza, Aaron C, 1924-1983 (male)

  • Description

    Rycroft asks Mr Hodza to explain the contexts in which the two different styles of men's clapping are used. Mr. Hodza describes how a man sits when clapping with the praises. The way he sits, and where he sits is dependent on the nature of his relationship with the person whom he is addressing with the nhetembo praises. For example certain positions show more respect than others. The most respectful position is used when greeting the ancestors. This recording was dubbed by Rycroft in use as an example in his paper on South African praise poetry (Rycroft, D.,1980, 'The question of metre in South African praise poetry', Wentzel, J. P (Ed.) Third African Languages Congress of UNISA, Pretoria: University of South Africa, pp 289-312).

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