Epistles, Giants, Rascals, Makers & Ambassadors: contemporary South African jazz music from 1960 to the present day - MUS00170I
Module summary
This project will consider jazz music in South Africa from 1960 to the present day.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
Jazz music has a long history in South Africa, arriving at the bottommost tip of the African continent early on in the music’s diasporic travels. Initially localized forms such as marabi, township jazz, and pennywhistle jive held sway, but this project will consider the fertile contemporary history of the music, dating from The Jazz Epistles seminal Verse One recording in 1960. This was, as Gwen Ansell notes in Soweto Blues ‘the first all-black modern jazz album in South Africa’ and its members – Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim (formerly Dollar Brand), Jonas Gwangwa, Kippie Moeketsi, Johnny Gertze and Makaya Ntshoko – all went on to make significant contributions to contemporary South African jazz.
Writing in 2003 Kofi Agawu noted that:
African popular music is finally music, not social text or history. Unless we give due attention to the musical elements – the notes played or sung at specific moments, by means of specific articulations, and at specific levels of intensity – we cannot hope to develop a nuanced understanding of this most vibrant of African art forms.
Following on from Agawu, this project will consider the musical styles that have been developed by South African jazz artists since 1960. From the hard bop idiom practiced by The Jazz Epistles to twenty-first century expressions being pioneered by artists such as Nduduzo Makhathini, Kyle Shepherd, Thandi Ntuli and Siya Makuzeni, we will consider artists both in South Africa and in exile who have shaped the harmonic language, grooves, and melodies of South African jazz.
This project will assume a basic familiarity with jazz music theory, although a brief introduction to the analytical methods used will be provided at the start.
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the taught part of the project all students should:
- have an understanding of how contemporary jazz music practice interfaces with culture in South Africa
- have a detailed understanding of the musical language developed by selected jazz artists from South Africa
- have an understanding of chord scale theory as an analytical tool, and its shortcomings
- have an understanding of the lineage of contemporary jazz culture in South Africa, and the effects of political exile on musicians, the musical public, and musical language
- have an understanding of the academic literature surrounding jazz music in South Africa
- have an understanding of the wider artistic discourse surrounding jazz music in South Africa
- be able to formulate a research question pertaining to contemporary jazz music in South Africa
- have a basic understanding of musical transcription as a means of analysing recorded jazz music
On completion of the module, in their independent work, students should demonstrate learning outcomes B1-6 https://www.york.ac.uk/music/undergraduate/modules/learning-outcomes/
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Assessment by coursework consisting of EITHER:
- a 3000 word essay on an agreed topic (100%) OR
- a transcription (50%) and a 1500 piece of writing (50%)
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Report form with marks to student within the standard feedback turnaround time.
Indicative reading
TBC