Lee and Meaghan are Here!

At the University of the Free State, I prep for classes and study field notes in an office in a round building known as the Odieon.  We are quite busy there, as this is the end of the year, and the last term brings the dreaded exams in a couple of weeks.  So there is music in the practice rooms, and rehearsals for concerts and recitals and seminars and final lectures at all levels. 

UFS Graduate Music Seminar

In addition to those responsibilities I have for guest lecturing, I have developed some new skills since I came to South Africa.


I can read Facebook messages that are written 21st century text –lingo mixed with Zulu abbreviations.  I can dance the Sokkie, as long as the students keep paying my dance partner.  I can drive in the city on the left side of the road as long as the GPS is properly programmed.  I can speak English with Afrikaans and Xhosa and Sotho words sprinkled in well enough to greet most of my students and musician friends, though one wonders if it is intelligible.

I can walk into the music library and appreciate my celebrity status on the bulletin board.  The librarian Annette Bester has welcomed me in yet another way, with a display, showing my photo and resume and some photos of ASU and our Belk Library in Boone.  I can sing the Anchor Yeast song backwards and forwards.  This is because the Dinakangwedi choir at St. Mark’s church in Bloemanda was one of four finalist choirs for a commercial song context, and the voting takes place on Saturday afternoons after the commercials air on television channel SABC 1. They rehearsed daily during the week leading up to the taping, and then again several times on the day of the video shoot.  This small room of the church was transformed into television set and the singers stoically stood in place for hours being moved up and down on benches for best framing under hot lighting as they waited for instructions.   If you are reading this and want to cast a vote for St. Mark’s, both the men and women wear white with black slacks, against a purple backdrop.

Dinakangwedi Choir - Meaghan left front, Suzi and Mr. Bonisile Gcisa on far right

The most interesting component to the Anchor Yeast music was the accompaniment instrument, which was a 10 gallon metal paint container with hardware welded on the side that allowed a wire to be strung with slugs (washers).  The player used large, ribbed metal sticks and a piece of rubber stretched over the container made a great bass drum sound, then the wire with washers gave an interesting higher timbre when struck by the big sticks. 

Percussion Instrument used for accompanying choir

The movement of the choir and the rhythm of the drum was predictably impossible to predict.  When you first listen to a choir sing, you think you know where to clap and sway, but then you realize how off you are when they begin their rhythmic accompaniment.  Dr. Tracey, (the South African ethnomusicologist) told me to watch out for that, and he was right. 

Another choir at St. Rose Catholic Church was rehearsing in Bochabela Township, only a few minutes away from the excitement of the video taping.  These singers, though smaller in number, were hospitable in sharing some folkloric tunes and information about the songs in seSotho and seTswana with my students and myself.  Bonisile served as the cultural informant and translator, a role he plays quite well and seems to enjoy.  Coming from a family of language educators, he says he is obligated to express himself articulately and accurately, so lucky me, since I require clarity above all else for our discussions and his translations. 

Bonisile and Lee working in the Odieon

Having Lee and Meaghan here from Appalachian State University has been a real treat, a great relief and a fun time.  Lee is a historian who knows her way around archival resources, such as library databases and shevis completing a dual Master’s in Public History and African Studies from ASU.  Meaghan has just begun her Master’s studies in General Music and she brings the experience of teaching elementary children, as well as an organized mind and a lovely soprano voice.  Both of them have the sense of humor one would need to work with me, and both of them are inquisitive and sensitive to their unfamiliar surroundings.  This means that I can add to my list of things I can do – I can relax and enjoy my work, since they are taking notes, photos and artifacts while I talk and sing with people.  God bless them both!