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Two contesting voices: Western and Manyika music culture
Jangwa music started after the introduction of Christianity in Zimbabwe and therefore, the SATB harmony of Western music was adopted. The Manyika people contest that jangwa music is their original creation. According to the focus groups and individuals interviewed during the fieldwork for this study, the origin of jangwa music is attributed to the forefathers of the Manyika people. Asked where jangwa music started, participants from Marange confidently said: “from here in Bocha, right here in Marange.” Those from Zimunya said: “from here in Jindwi, Zimunya”, and similarly, all the participants from the various regions were adamant that jangwa music originated in their own chiefdoms. One of the Marange interviewees, John T. Marange, added that people from Maungwe (Makoni) and Bhuhera (another region across the Save River, under chief Nyashanu) came to learn jangwa music from the people of Marange. According to this participant, the people of Marange were the specialists or gurus in jangwa music and musical performance.
Due to the Land Tenure Act of 1931, people were relocated from fertile lands with plenty of rainfall to the less fertile, sandy, dry lands including the low veldt of Marange (Kurewa, 2011:59). Some headmen were relocated together with their followers. Taylor Katsadzura, son of one such a headman, inherited the headman-ship from his father. He narrated to me how his father was relocated from a fertile area in Makoni to chief Marange’s area where he and his followers were given land in the low veldt with little rainfall, near the Save River. They relocated, bringing along the school teachers. The school was named after the original headman, Katsadzura, but the school was was later on seized by Chief Marange and given to one of his sons, Mafararikwa. To date, the school is still there, named Mafararikwa. The respondent, Katsadzura, narrated that in the same way, headman Nyangani was relocated from an area in Mutasa to Marange where he was given land right by the banks of Save River. He brought along the school teachers and formed a school Nyangani, using the same name as the original school in the former area. He was fortunate to retain the name of the school and to date it is still called Nyangani School. The Katsadzura people, as well as people under other headmen such as Nyangani, brought their culture, traditional values and education with them. Due to the merging of cultures and intermarriages with people of the Marange and Zimunya, these communities ended up having similar cultures, hence today they are all under the umbrella of the Manyika people. Jangwa music is part of the musical cultures that were merged.
Jangwa form and structural analysis
While this section highly depends on transcription of the jangwa songs, it also depends to a discernible degree, on the theory of the Manyika people’s indigenous music and the general African principles and perspectives. A number of African scholars paved way to analysis of African music and their methods and guidelines are used in this section. I utilised an eclectic approach in the analysis of the music in question. I considered Ekwueme’s (1980:91) principles on shape, range, interval width, phrases, rests, as well as highest and lowest notes generally used. Nzewi’s (1991:102) concept of “index for composition” was considered specifically in the analysis of the transcribed songs. Instead of marking the different indices, I deliberately decided to number the bars in order to refer to bar numbers in the analysis of the different songs. The notion that, “variations on a theme are limitless” (Nzewi, 1991:102), also pointed out by Turino (2000:55) regarding the Shona music of Zimbabwe, entails transcription of any African song may go on and on as part of an infinite process. For the given reasons, I transcribed the basic structure of selected songs as they were presented to me by the participants. Although I did not transcribe in detail all the different improvisations brought in by the performers, especially by the lead or soloist, all of these improvisations are analysed and discussed. Nzewi and Nzewi (2007:32) pose that “[n]o two entities in nature are exactly the same. No two objects naturally produced by humans are exactly the same.” Corresponding with this contention, I observed that some of the sections of the songs were sung in different ways, even if the lead part was performed by the same person. Utilising the mentioned methods of analysis, the different forms of creativity and improvisation are presented, analysed and discussed in this section. Supported by Nzewi’s (1991:102), Turino’s (2000:55), and Nzewi and Nzewi’s (2007:32) contentions, I deliberately transcribed all the songs in G major scale because in most cases the performers started singing in key G varying the keys as they went on. The lead or soloist could change the key of the song at any time, either deliberately or subconsciously. The songs do not have specific keys in which they should be performed. To a greater extent, the key depends on the entrance of the lead, yet the other parts – especially the tenor and bass – would also determine the key depending on their voice ranges.
Most of the songs performed were wedding songs; as a result, I therefore transcribed more wedding songs as compared to songs for games and songs to praise teachers, chiefs as well as the Manyika environment. Asked what made a good jangwa song, the participants from all the focus groups as well as individual interviewees raised the aspect of SATB. While the aspect of aesthetics will be dealt with in more detail in the next chapters, in this section SATB is analysed in the songs transcribed. From analysis of the jangwa performances, it was clear that all the songs were in SATB.
Chapter 1: General introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Background to the study
1.3 Statement of the research problem
1.4 Research questions
1.5 Research methodology precursor
1.6 Purpose and value of the study
1.7 Chapter overview
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The development of and structural principles governing makwaya music
2.3 Sociological and social psychological effects of makwaya music
2.4 Aesthetic values expressed through African music and musical performance
2.5 Reviving indigenous folk and traditional music
2.6 Conclusion
Chapter 3: Research methodology
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Research approach
3.3 Research design
3.4 Sampling strategy
3.5 Data collection techniques
3.6 Procedures and experiences during data collection and fieldwork
3.7 Data analysis technique
3.8 Theoretical framework
3.9 Trusworthiness
3.10 Ethical considerations
3.11 Delimitations
3.12 Conclusion
Chapter 4: The origin and structure of jangwa music
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Two contesting voices: Western and Manyika music culture
4.3 The origins of the name ‘jangwa’
4.4 Jangwa form and structural analysis
4.5 Description of the form of Jangwa songs
4.6 Visual representations of the cyclic form in jangwa songs
4.7 Melodic and harmonic movement in Jangwa music
4.8 The rhythmic structure and dance movements of jangwa music
4.9 Conclusion
Chapter 5: Social psychological and sociological effects of jangwa music and musical performance among the Manyika People
5.1 Introduction
5.2 General performance practice of jangwa music
5.3 The contexts of jangwa music performance
5.4 Conclusion
Chapter 6: Aesthetic values expressed through jangwa music
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Characteristics of jangwa music through song structure and performance
6.3 Functions of jangwa songs as a form of aesthetics
6.4 Possible ways of sustaining jangwa music
6.5 Conclusion
Chapter 7: Summary, conclusions and recommendations
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Summary of the research findings
7.3 Limitations
7.4 Recommendations from the study
7.5 Suggestions for Further Research
7.6 Conclusion
Bibliography
