Departments

Indigenous Music and Oral History

With the institutionalization of racism and apartheid before the advent of the democratic South Africa of 1994, the dominant arts were those of the politically and economically dominant white race. The music of the indigenous black groups was seen as primitive, ungodly and devoid of artistic excellence.  It was therefore not championed in public discourse ( politically and academically ). It was not perceived as a national asset and therefore could not be promoted through either education or formal training.

It is to this end that the University of Venda was mandated to play a leading role in redressing the past imbalances in the arts and culture of the historically marginalised people of Limpopo through affirmation, promotion and development of their intangible cultural heritage.

This heritage includes oral history, culture ( rituals, etc ) indigenous music skills and techniques and performances.

The University of Venda is culturally the most privileged of the sites for the project because it serves four previously marginalised language groups of the province ( Xitsonga, Tshivenda, isiNdebele and Sesotho sa Leboa ) a fertile ground for research taking cognizance of the fact that each language group in itself has a plethora of indigenous ensemble groups with a variety of musical practices. It was also due to the Department's recognition of our particular expertise and interest in the Indigenous Knowledge Systems, including Ethnomusicology, Oral History, African Languages and African History.

It is incumbent upon this research project to trace the history, culture, customs and traditions of the people, so that we could best understand their music. Blacking contends that musical styles and attitudes are anything but cultural acquisitions, and that if we are analyzing the music of a particular culture or society, we have to study the meaning of that music to their culture ( Blacking, 1964: 9 ).  It is therefore crucial for this research project to trace the place of the music of the people of Limpopo within the context of their historical and cultural foundations.  

It was mainly in recognition of this factor, and to this end, that a research team had to be established, hence, a number of academics from across the multi-disciplined spectrum are part of the team, and are participating in this valuable research about our intangible cultural heritage – the history, culture, language and the music of our people. It was also incumbent for this research team to be multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary in its personnel composition, hence we have oral historians, representatives from the departments of African Languages, musicians and anthropologists.

Whilst the main research team comprises academics and scholars of the University of Venda, we have also recognized the indispensable or rather imperative inclusion and contribution of our real experts – the musicians themselves, as part of this research team. Undoubtedly, they will always play a major role in a project of this nature.