<i>Kwaito</i>versus Crossed-over: Music and Identity during South Africa's Rainbow Years, 1994–99

Allen, Lara

doi:10.1080/02533950408628686

Cited by 29 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…In Hall's formulation, formerly marginalised communities find ways to 'speak for themselves ' (1997:37). With the advent of a democratic South Africa, and as the ideal of unity in diversity was encouraged (Allen 2004:83), Tsonga musicians like Shirimani saw the need to assert their ethnic identity within a broader national context. Song texts such as the ones discussed here function as a mechanism to claim not only their ethnic identity, but also their national identities as South Africans.…”

Section: Constructing Tsonga Identity Through Reference To Tsonga-nessmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Tsonga popular music: negotiating ethnic identity in ‘global’ music practices

Madalane¹

2014

Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa

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Studies on black South African popular music have often invoked the idea of 'identity performance'. Although ethnic identity continues to be performed in contemporary black South African popular music, this article argues for the existence of a performance of, and discourse on, identities that go beyond ethnicity. Here the focus is on the relationship between ethnic identity and other identities that elide the national South African identity as manifested in the stories and music of the following Tsonga musicians from different generations: General MD Shirinda, Joe Shirimani, Penny Penny and Jeff Maluleke. Based on several in-depth interviews with these musicians, an analysis is provided of their use of language and their modes of self-representation as apparent in their music and in their discourse on their music during apartheid and post-apartheid times. The findings demonstrate how the musicians' thoughts about, and practising of, identity move between different levels of ethnic affiliation at different historical moments.

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Section: Constructing Tsonga Identity Through Reference To Tsonga-nessmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…One of the ways in which 'identity restructuring' took place after South Africa's first democratic election was through popular music. For example, kwaito 1 became an embodiment and expression of the identity of urban youth culture (Allen 2004:82) as a way to portray patriotic alignment with the new rainbow nation of a democratic country.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tsonga popular music: negotiating ethnic identity in ‘global’ music practices

Madalane¹

2014

Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa

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“…Kwaito, is a highly influential South African genre and form of postapartheid youth cultural expression linked to the (re)making of black, urban youth identities, primarily in Gauteng (Allen 2004;Nuttall 2004a). Kwaito's initial hedonism is viewed as a political act of reclamation (Swartz 2008) that carved a non-political space of transformative identities and new freedoms (Steingo 2005), although recent shifts towards 'a more thoughtful and self-reflexive mode of selfmaking' are apparent (Allen 2004: 101;Swartz 2008).…”

Section: Hip-hop In Cape Townmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reworking and resisting globalising influences: Cape Town hip-hop

Hammett

2010

GeoJournal

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Global cultural flows have emerged as key influences in driving changes in local consumer behaviour, identities and social relations. These flows are negotiated and contested in the local context. This article considers how local hip-hop artists in Cape Town, South Africa, challenge and disrupt the dominant images of success linked to consumerism and individualism in popular American music imports. Drawing on Katz's (Signs 26(4):1213-1234, 2001a, Antipode 33(4):709-728, 2001b) thinking around topographies and counter-topographies, this article suggests that local political hip-hop can be used to develop powerful critiques of the outcomes of globalisation.

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“…Musician Thami Thekwane explained that the double entendre in Arthur's hit 'Vuvuzela', for example, was a reference to the artist's sexual prowess, and to the fact that he had a reputation for being extremely rough in bed (Allen and Mus, 2004). Sex was often described from a particularly aggressive male point of view, and in some cases artists were openly misogynist, employing violent sex and physical abuse: a key feature inspired by 'gangsta' rap in the United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Pornographic objectification of women through Kwaito lyrics

Blose¹

2012

Agenda

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This Profile discusses the portrayal of women through Kwaito music and their frequent pornographic objectification in the popular township music genre. It considers the apparent shift away of Kwaito from its roots in the moment of popular expectation of the liberated South Africa and its desire to be an expression of the voices of the townships, both democratic, indigenous and controversial. The Profile draws on research to enquire into opinions of fans on the representation of women and asks whether the musicians have strayed from the track which has brought them into the limelight, popular support and success. While not representative of the whole genre, the Profile reviews a sample of lyrics and asks if there is another direction where popular music might go, particularly, whether gender equality and women's sexual exploitation will continue to exist in tension and contradiction. It is argued that popular music as an example of township music culture that embraces the ideas of post-apartheid freedom and that speaks to the democracy, and of non-racism and gender equality, may have been overtaken by a more compelling commercial pull: that as long as it sells on the streets, anything goes. It is argued that gendered cultural values hold importance both in how women are represented by men and women in a male-dominated music industry and in a culture that must increasingly be aware of the crisis posed to women of uncritical acceptance of cultural messages that accept gender violence and abuse as a necessary ingredient for success. keywords Kwaito, women musicians, sexism, pornographic objectification, popular culture

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Kwaitoversus Crossed-over: Music and Identity during South Africa's Rainbow Years, 1994–99

Cited by 29 publications

References 14 publications

Tsonga popular music: negotiating ethnic identity in ‘global’ music practices

Tsonga popular music: negotiating ethnic identity in ‘global’ music practices

Reworking and resisting globalising influences: Cape Town hip-hop

Pornographic objectification of women through Kwaito lyrics

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