Cape Town Harmonies: Memory, Humour and Resilience

Cape Town�s public cultures can only be fully appreciated through recognition of its deep and diverse soundscape. We have to listen to what has made and makes a city. The ear is an integral part of the �research tools� one needs to get a sense of any city. We have to listen to the sounds that made and make the expansive �mother city�. Various of its constituent parts sound different from each other � [T]here is the sound of the singing men and their choirs (�teams� they are called) in preparation for the longstanding annual Malay choral competitions. The lyrics from the various repertoires they perform are hardly ever written down. [�] There are texts of the hallowed �Dutch songs� but these do not circulate easily and widely. Researchers dream of finding lyrics from decades ago, not to mention a few generations ago � back to the early 19th century. This work by Denis Constant Martin and Armelle Gaulier provides us with a very useful selection of these songs. More than that, it is a critical sociological reflection of the place of these songs and their performers in the context that have given rise to them and sustains their relevance. It is a necessary work and is a very important scholarly intervention about a rather neglected aspect of the history and present production of music in the city. � Shamil Jeppie, Associate Professor, Department of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town

• | Author: Gaulier, Armelle, Martin, Denis-Constant
• | Publisher: African Minds
• | Publication Date: Jul 20, 2017
• | Number of Pages: 368 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1928331505
• | ISBN-13: 9781928331506