The importance of music archiving to Ethnomusicology

The first couple of days at SENA were very much based on getting used to archiving. At first glance, some may view archiving as a pretty mundane and redundant task because all you do is collect historical musical data and place it in a computer cataloguing system right? For me, linking archiving with a young discipline such as ethnomusicology is challenging yet necessary. The reason is because ethnomusicologists use a participant-observation research method that is adopted from Anthropology. Archiving, on the other hand, is office work as opposed to the real environment in which one can participate and observe the musicians as they produce their musical works. The importance of archiving is in gathering historical music data. Although one may not be able to participate physically in the act of creating music, having access to our South African music history is so enlightening.

THANK YOU for your comment on my previous post titled “MY FIRST DAY WORKING AT SAMRO” It would be inspiring to hear from great minds such as yourself as to how you go about linking your career with your education qualifications. I would guess that it’s only a matter of doing more research, brain storming, forming strategies, working and praying really hard that your ultimate objectives become reality.

For those that aren’t familiar with the Study of ethnomusicology, it is the study of music as culture. Ethnomusicologists aim to understand, in depth, a particular culture from an insider’s point of view. The aim is to assimilate one with a particular culture. Others would call it colonization but that term has such negative connotations that I would rather refrain from using. From a more personal point of view though, ethnomusicology is a tool that can assist us as South Africans in understanding our diverse, multi-ethnic identity. At home, charity always begins therein and then flourishes abroad. The goal is to then appreciate and invest our energies into our unique identity as South Africa. Music is a way of finding that common ground where our South African culture informs, inspires, and transforms our society into one community as the International Journal of Community Music would suggest. I’m sure you would agree that as South Africans, we have read, experienced, observed and heard of some form of ethnic bias and discrimination. Xenophobic prejudices are the most worrying behavioral temperaments of South Africans that encourage this act nowadays. Is it not interesting that these attacks occur just about two weeks before AFRICA DAY? AFRICA DAY AT SAMRO was fun and interesting. It made me feel like I was part of the organisation and that our floor is not isolated from others. It is a great idea because it encourages nation building within the organisation. If indeed umuntu ungumuntu ngabantu, those that encourage ethnic prejudice are only expressing the inner turmoil and disunity within their identity. Are South Africans suffering from an advanced inferiority complex? If so, when will we heal? When will we seek to understand and manage ourselves? When will we give love to ourselves?

My concern as an ethnomusicologist does not lie in trying to define the meaning of music. I am more concerned about how South Africans can redefine and solidify their identity through an understanding and empathetic spirit.

Archiving is therefore a tool for South Africans to understand their music cultural history. It will arm us with an understanding of what our common values are as a country and then seek a way to a progressive future. I want these thoughts to become well refined as time goes on. They will become immensely richer with your input… http://www.samro.org.za

MY FIRST DAY WORKING AT SAMRO: 15th of May 2008

The time is 22:47 and my energy levels had a real work out today. The explosions in my stomach managed to numb all traces of nervousness. This morning I arrived at SAMRO (Southern African Music Rights Organisation) at 8 am, hoping to help Noel`ene Kotze (my supervisor) with setting up our work spaces. I was so anxious to start working because of being completely annoyed by the fact that I was no longer kept under pressure by Wits University’s academic demands. Having time in abundance is a blessing UP TO A CERTAIN PERIOD whereby it’s just too much time to relax and cook up little research endeavors on the internet that all point to one fact. Information is only consolidated through practical experience.

When I read Vorster Ramanyathi’s blog post on his visit to SAMRO, a part of me thought that he was being overly optimistic about the organization and its people. Well, that was prior to my personal experience of SAMRO as an intern there. It turns out that I was being a bit pessimistic about my experience there. I pictured a dodgy, isolated and quit working space with long corridoors and bad lighting. My reality was that there is not a single person that I met so far at SAMRO that lacked humility in any way. Noel`ene Kotze, Oscar Phophi and the rest of the SENA (SAMRO Endowment for the National Arts) staff made so much effort to make us feel at home. Noel`ene's chocolate cake and qute pink pencil gift just made my day:-) That really stood out for me. It is no wonder Alpha (One of SENA’s staff members) decides to carry on working at SAMRO after 5 years of being employed there. I hear that there are staff members that have been there for 30 years. This makes SAMRO such a unique organization-especially because of the picture painted by some of the World Of Work Internship Program’s guest speakers. The last thing I expected was feeling completely energized after work-especially after losing 3 hours worth of work probably because of my incompetence!! I could have listened to Oscar more carefully as he was training me. It was good that he allowed me to make that mistake. I did learn my lesson though.

Eish…Anyways, I get home and start cooking. As I carry on, I receive an sms from Jean Power (the WOW facilitator) that Judy Nkuna and I have been nominated for The Best Intern Award!! This just made the explosions in my stomach worse because I was already nervous about my performance at the World Of Work Training and Internship Program’s (WOW) graduation ceremony-that is tomorrow by the way! I'll be singing some jazz and one of my compositions. The explosions are coming back again!!! Hawu madoda (Ooh, my goodness!!)!! Ok. I’ll be alright… Ja… That reminds me- I should paste this article on my blog tomorrow morning. I don’t have internet access at home. It’s just a matter of time before I do though:-)

Rag Naran: PREPARING THE C.V

At the age of 15 I was in grade 10 and was very confident about the career path I wanted to assume. Nothing was going to change my mind-not even my father who insisted that I should take my academic work more seriously! I wanted to become a performing musician and I believed that all my high school subjects were irrelevant to what I wanted to become. I, stubbornly, continued to spend most of my time on musical endeavors and watching television. I still wonder how I managed to get an exemption to study at Wits University. Going to university was a complete waist of time, I thought. When I was younger, I was afraid of dreaming and challenging myself. I just wanted to live an ordinary life. The value of life was not an issue I thought intensely about until university drove me to think critically whether I liked to or not.

Here I am now, having completed my degree and not regretting even one second of it. The last thing I would have pictured doing is preparing a C.V. Now I realize the importance in having a diverse qualification. Apart from word of mouth and media creditability, a C.V allows ‘unknown’ artists the opportunity to show their career objectives, intellectual ability, communication abilities, teamwork and emotional intelligence to those it may concern. I believe that the more people are aware of your skills, sense of responsibility and interests, the better understanding they have of your intended contribution to their lives and the world.

VISIT TO THE JSE

Before this day, I was completely frustrated by all those acronyms and jargon used in the JSE reports that I could not understand!! Every time I looked at the finance section of the newspaper, I felt alienated and completely unintelligent. I really appreciated this visit because it simplified the world of business and resolved some emotional inadequacies I felt about the entire subject. I now understand that the successful companies listed on the JSE choose to use this kind of investment for their companies because they want their business to be driven by public sentiment and opinion. As a musician, there is plenty to be learned from this because the entertainment business is driven by public sentiment and opinion. I cannot stress enough the importance of image and getting the public to want to be associated with your brand.


Those that invest in the JSE have to accept the consequences of this. The market price for whatever company they want to invest in will rise and fall precariously. It is, however, advisable that an investor should have a thorough understanding of the company’s financial history that he or she is planning to invest in. Similarly, companies that are listed therein have the responsibility to make sure that their company brands have exceptionally positive perceptions in the public eye. Whether we like it or not, no man is an island and all individuals are brands. Terrence Chauke emphasized on this point by urging us to be as informed as possible when it comes to financial affairs. Another reality shown by the JSE is the extent that the South African economy is dependent on first world investors. It then became my concern that most people I know believe that in order to make a better financial life for yourself, you need to invest in foreign currencies and companies whose exchange currency is more valuable than South Africa’s. The ironic thing is that we turn around and complain about how poor our country is becoming whereas we are not prepared to invest in it. I then look at our music record industry. There are constant complaints from the music industry’s participants about being mistreated and not receiving enough marketing for their albums by the very record companies who expect the album to sell like cool drink. Fiona McDonald said in her Leadership presentation that good leaders create positive energy, set people up for success and are able to manage conflict. She then says that a great leader has a strong sense of identity, empathy and love for people. A good leader also has a balanced dose of emotional and cognitive intelligence. Being overly emotional and pessimistic about our quality of life as musicians leads us to a destructive kind of lifestyle. When will we take care of our own brands within, by developing ourselves qualitatively, then without, by leading others to do the same?