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Paul Simon and Zulu A Cappella
| Article
# : |
13213 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1987 |
2,524 Words |
| Author
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William J. Ruhlmann
William J. Ruhlmann is a music writer based in New York. |
The recent upsurge of Western attention to the music of South Africa, a music that has never before attracted widespread, sustained popularity outside the borders of its native country, raises many questions about the ways that an artistic form can be perceived and understood. Does a foreign style require a catalyst to introduce it? How is it understood outside its native context? Can interest be sustained after the initial introduction?
Though currently gaining in popularity, South African music was long ignored partly due to a mistaken impression about the nature of the music. Isolated songs and musicians from South Africa had been heard in previous years, but the Western public still confused its impression of South African music with the percussive nature of other African musics, notably that of Nigeria.
"People say," lamented Johnny Clegg, "'You're African. So where are your drums?' But the Zulu tradition is a vocal tradition." It was the fall of 1983, and Clegg, the coleader of Juluka, a South African sextet, was sitting in the offices of his American record company, Warner Bros., trying to explain how his music differed from the music American audiences were accustomed to hearing from Africa.
Mbaqanga , or township jive, the Zulu music of South Africa, differs greatly from the polyrhythmic music popularly associated with Africa. Lacking the traditional instruments found elsewhere on the continent (perhaps because of the lack of materials needed to make them), the Zulus evolved a simple rhythmic backing for elaborate harmonies sung by large choirs. To see the potential appeal to the Western ear, one need only recall the adaptation of
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