Singing Politics: Freedom Songs and Collective Protest in Post-Apartheid South Africa

This article examines the continued salience of sung protests in South Africa by investigating the adaptation of anti-apartheid freedom songs along with the emergence of new expressive forms in ongoing community mobilizations. Based on sixteen months of ethnographic research in Johannesburg, this article argues that freedom songs constitute a distinct register that is politically efficacious due to singing’s aesthetically embodied effects. Formative elements of antiphony, repetition, and rhythm constitute a musical practice that organizes protest gatherings, allows for democratic leadership, and fosters collective participation. These practices yield a plasticity in the songs that makes them adaptable to changing political circumstances.

Shall We Overcome?

This chapter traces the development of the modern civil rights movement and the eventual displacement of Lift Every Voice and Sing by “freedom songs.” Nevertheless, the anthem continued to resonate, specifically in the most challenging movements in the movement.

Older People in a Community Gospel Choir: Musical Engagement and Social Connection

This research explores the role of community music in the lives of older Australians. This qualitative case study investigated the meanings and understandings ascribed by participants to their musical engagement in the South of the River Community Gospel Choir. This mixed a cappella SATB choir was formed in 2002 in Melbourne. The choir began with a repertoire of African-American Gospel music and South African Freedom Songs. With time their musical choices have transitioned to include more contemporary Australian composed works. The choir sings in diverse community settings such as high security prisons, palliative care, hospitals and the more common range of gigs such as community events, private events and folk festivals. Data were gathered from individual and focus group semi-structured interviews undertaken in 2016 with the members of the choir and with the Musical Director. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and reported under the themes of Musical engagement and Social connection, Performing and Outreach. The findings confirmed the pivotal musical and social importance of the Music Director; the importance of performance opportunities that support both socialising and community outreach; and the role of ensemble membership in fostering and maintaining understandings of self-worth and self-esteem.

THE ʽSINGING FREEDOMʼ EXHIBITION: PAINFUL HISTORIES, COLLECTIVE MEMORIES AND PERCEPTIONS OF FREEDOM

This article discusses the research conducted in order to prepare the ‘Singing Freedom:  Music  and  the  struggle against apartheid’, which was  launched at the Iziko Slave Lodge Museum in Cape Town in March 2014. As part of this research, interviews were conducted with various musicians and other stakeholders involved with 'struggle songs' specifically and freedom songs more generally. The interview questions were informed by the current discourses and scholarship around collective memory and trauma.

THE INFLUENCE OF FREEDOM SONGS ON ESCALATIONS OF WITCH-HUNTING AND BURNING IN THE VENDA HOMELAND, 1989–1995

The study looks at the influence of freedom songs on the role played by women during witchhunting activities in the village of Fefe of Venda between 1989 and 1995. The article focuses on witchcraft-related events that took place at Fefe, in the Mutale municipality, north of Thohoyandou, in the Vhembe district during the said period. It shows that the women of Fefe were conscientised about the events taking place in their village, by the youth, through freedom songs. The result was that the women of Fefe did away with their traditional way of thinking of being condemned to domestic affairs and decided to join the protests against witchcraft-related problems. The women at Fefe, therefore, overcame significant obstacles and prejudices and assumed leadership roles within their community.