Jaiva
Encyclopedia
Jaiva or Township Jive is a sub-genre
of South African township
music and African dance
form which has influenced Western break dance and emerged from the shebeen
culture of the apartheid era townships
Jaiva obtained international prominence with the 1986 release of Paul Simon
's "Graceland
" album which featured the track Township Jive with Miriam Makeba
and Ladysmith Black Mambazo
.
allegedly plagiarized their song "Puleng" and released it as the hit "Double Dutch
," capitalizing on the emergence of breakdance and hip-hop.
Additional momentum for world beat attention to South African music developed as a result of international attention to the demise of apartheid and Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday concert in Wembley Stadium, London in 1988
Township Jive is closely associated with the development of baquanga, umbaquanga or m'baquanga but is distinguished in that it is more closely associated with emergent international trends and not as insular and rooted in tradition as umbaquanga. Christopher Ballantine traces the “shift from imitating American jazz to localizing the sound with African features. This he connects to the emergence of the ideology of New Africanism…” While the international market was absorbing “Township Jive” under the swirl of commercial activity culminating in the McLaren copyright infringement lawsuit and the subsequent release of triumphant BBoy’s new album was preferred amongst a more elite listening audience closely associated with the black diasphora consciousness movements.
, is viewed by African artists as a threat to the preservation of their local tradition and credibility. Thus, artist focus on maintaining an emotional link between customer and brand. This explains why Transnational corporations are much less interested in homogenizing or Americanizing Kwaito music because true Kwaito represents and dictates South African experience. Americanizing Kwaito, as is many artists' opinion, can potentially dilute the substance Kwaito was originally based on.
On the upside, critical awareness of TJ has enhanced appreciation of fusion artists and others influenced by its style. For instance, Vibration Bookings bills its artist Nomfusi as a proponent of "a new style where South African Township Jive ("Jaiva") meets Motown".
And the Boyoyo Boys have, subsequent to the copyright scandal, signed by Rounder Records
which released "T. J.[i.e., Township Jive] Today" in 1998.
"Township Jive" clips on web radio
"Jaiva" clip of Dance competition in English and Zulu; note "kwaito" context
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
of South African township
Township
The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...
music and African dance
African dance
African dance refers mainly to the dance of Sub-Saharan Africa, and more appropriately African dances because of the many cultural differences in musical and movement styles...
form which has influenced Western break dance and emerged from the shebeen
Shebeen
A shebeen was originally an illicit bar or club where excisable alcoholic beverages were sold without a licence.The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, to Scotland, Canada, the United States, England,...
culture of the apartheid era townships
Township (South Africa)
In South Africa, the term township and location usually refers to the urban living areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites . Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities...
Jaiva obtained international prominence with the 1986 release of Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
's "Graceland
Graceland
Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as...
" album which featured the track Township Jive with Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba , nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award winning South African singer and civil rights activist....
and Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland and have won multiple awards, including three Grammy Awards...
.
Influences and particularity
While closely associated with umbaquanga, Township Jive more broadly incorporates some influences from mariba and kwaito rather than umbaquanga, neither of which is it synonymous. To the extent mariba influences TJ, it may be somewhat sanitized as TJ broke into the international commercial arena.Emergence in world music circles
Also featured on the Graceland album were The Boyoyo Boys, who received additional press coverage when Malcolm McLarenMalcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
allegedly plagiarized their song "Puleng" and released it as the hit "Double Dutch
Double Dutch
Double Dutch may refer to:* Double Dutch , a children's game* Double Dutch, a language game primarily used in English:**Tutnese**Ubbi dubbi**Izzle* Double Dutch , a writing style used by John O'Mill...
," capitalizing on the emergence of breakdance and hip-hop.
Additional momentum for world beat attention to South African music developed as a result of international attention to the demise of apartheid and Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday concert in Wembley Stadium, London in 1988
History
According to Ambrose Ehirim, a US based Nigeria specialist, township music traces to the fifties when it was proscribed by South African police. This is contradicted by the assertion of "white Zulu" anti-apartheid activist Johnny Clegg, that "by the 1960's, the development of umbaqanga hadn't even really started". Umbaquanga or Mbaqanga has been characterized as urban pop music "with high-pitched, choppy guitar and a powerful bass line" influenced by "funk, reggae, American R&B, soul and drawing on South African Marabi, gospel music". It draws on both kweli and maribi.Township Jive is closely associated with the development of baquanga, umbaquanga or m'baquanga but is distinguished in that it is more closely associated with emergent international trends and not as insular and rooted in tradition as umbaquanga. Christopher Ballantine traces the “shift from imitating American jazz to localizing the sound with African features. This he connects to the emergence of the ideology of New Africanism…” While the international market was absorbing “Township Jive” under the swirl of commercial activity culminating in the McLaren copyright infringement lawsuit and the subsequent release of triumphant BBoy’s new album was preferred amongst a more elite listening audience closely associated with the black diasphora consciousness movements.
TJ and and globalization
The homogenization of Township Jive with US and UK culture, due to GlobalizationGlobalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, is viewed by African artists as a threat to the preservation of their local tradition and credibility. Thus, artist focus on maintaining an emotional link between customer and brand. This explains why Transnational corporations are much less interested in homogenizing or Americanizing Kwaito music because true Kwaito represents and dictates South African experience. Americanizing Kwaito, as is many artists' opinion, can potentially dilute the substance Kwaito was originally based on.
On the upside, critical awareness of TJ has enhanced appreciation of fusion artists and others influenced by its style. For instance, Vibration Bookings bills its artist Nomfusi as a proponent of "a new style where South African Township Jive ("Jaiva") meets Motown".
And the Boyoyo Boys have, subsequent to the copyright scandal, signed by Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
which released "T. J.[i.e., Township Jive] Today" in 1998.
See also
- Noise Khanyile
- MahlathiniMahlathiniSimon 'Mahlathini' Nkabinde was a South African mbaqanga singer. Known as the "Lion of Soweto" Nkabinde is the acknowledged exponent of the deep-voiced, basso profundo "groaning" style that came to symbolize mbaqanga music in the 1960s...
- Mahotella QueensMahotella QueensThe Mahotella Queens are a South African singing group formed in 1964 comprising Hilda Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Mbadu and Mildred Mangxola...
- Ladysmith Black MambazoLadysmith Black MambazoLadysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland and have won multiple awards, including three Grammy Awards...
- Sweet Honey in the RockSweet Honey in the RockSweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an American Grammy Award-winning troupe who express their history as women of color through song, while entertaining their audience. They have together worked from four women to the difficult five-part harmony...
External links
Audio track Soweto Jive Zambia Association of Musicians website"Township Jive" clips on web radio
"Jaiva" clip of Dance competition in English and Zulu; note "kwaito" context
Additional scholarly references
- Charles Hamm (1987). Review of David B. Coplan 'In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre' Popular Music, 6, pp 352–355 doi:10.1017/S0261143000002427
- THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF CAPE TOWN Cape Town: The Making of a City: An Illustrated Social History. Edited by NIGEL WORDEN, ELIZABETH VAN HEYNINGEN and VIVIAN BICKFORD-SMITH. Cape Town: David Philip, 1998. Pp. 283. Rand 250 (ISBN 0-86486-435-3). Cape Town in the Twentieth Century: An Illustrated Social History. Edited by NIGEL WORDEN, ELIZABETH VAN HEYNINGEN and VIVIAN BICKFORD-SMITH. Cape Town: David Philip, 1999. Pp. 255. Rand 225 (ISBN 0-86486-384-5).
- David Copeland| Cape Town| 1994: operation and impact of Musical Action for People's Progress in disadvantaged communities in the Cape Flats
- David Copeland| 1985 In township tonight! South Africa's black city music and theater. London ; New York: Longman ; Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1985. (French edition, published in 1990 by Karthala)
- Barbara Browning (1998) Infectious Rhythm: Metaphors of Contagion and the Spread of African Culture [Paperback] Routledge
- Louise Meintjes’ Sound of Africa (2003)
- Gwen Ansell’s Soweto Blues (2004).