Of Gospel Hymns, Minstrel Shows, and Jubilee Singers: Toward Some Black South African Musics

Abstract

Given Great Britain's political hegemony in nineteenth-century urban South Africa, one might expect American impact on musical life there to be insignificant. British culture was clearly the dominant foreign force, and music followed form. Yet one should not underestimate the presence and contribution of Americans, who moved into some areas even before the British.' That there must have been important musical influence flowing from nineteenth-century America can still be heard today, for the music associated with that time and country is very much in evidence, particularly among the country's black majority. Within the last decade, for example, one could have heard a South African jazz pianist, Dollar Brand, improvise in concert on Just as I Am, a Protestant hymn tune composed by the nineteenth-century American musician William B. Bradbury.2 In Cape Town one might have attended the Coon Carnival, with its black people sporting blackface makeup, playing banjos, and cracking corny jokes-a whole range of characteristics associated generally with the American minstrel show. In other major South African cities, particularly Durban, one might have arranged to witness (or judge) a sicathamiya,3 a type of Zulu choir competition that also suggests the minstrel show, especially in the costumes worn, the white gloves, and the manner of dancing. The music itself often includes pieces drawn from nineteenth-century Americana, including Trust and Obey and Amazing Grace.4 And all Zulu schoolchildren seem to know a range of Afro-American spirituals and sing them often with traditional spirit and enthusiasm.5 In assessing the pervasiveness of American musical influence in nine-