We feed off the spirit of the audience' : an ethnographic study of musical storytelling in the street music of South Africa

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorNixon, Michaelen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorGillham, Aliceen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-06T11:32:06Z
dc.date.available2014-10-06T11:32:06Z
dc.date.issued2008en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes abstract.en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 119-123).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractStreet musicians in South Africa work within a challenging macrostructure. In order to maximise their success within this performance environment they must develop strategies to overcome the difficulties that South Africa's streets present. Various social issues: unemployment, crime, health and xenophobia, have a direct impact on its street musicians, who predominantly come from lower income groups. The changing tourism industry, which is a vital source of income for these musicians, also presents challenges and opportunities. Together these aspects create a unique street environment within which to examine the role of the musical storyteller, and a performance space that requires the development of specific skills by the street performer to maximaise its advantages. Watching a performance by a group of South African street musicians, telling a complex narrative to their audience, I realised that these performers might not only be fulfilling various social functions, but might also be playing a role in actively performing, and contributing to, genres of South Africa's traditional musical heritage. I wished to explore this and began to interview selected street performers, and to observe and record their performances. The boom in the South African tourism industry encourages street musicians to develop styles of performance and musical storytelling that rely heavily on styles of traditional music. However, their repertoires are extensive, and keep altering. There is no pre-established, repeated canon of material to study and draw conclusions from. I therefore had to approach this study with a different intention. I did not look for single musical narrative items, which I could then dissect and present, but rather I attempted to identify unique aspects of this performance environment and the patterns, or frames of behaviour these cause and inspire.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationGillham, A. (2008). <i>We feed off the spirit of the audience' : an ethnographic study of musical storytelling in the street music of South Africa</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,College of Music. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8148en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationGillham, Alice. <i>"We feed off the spirit of the audience' : an ethnographic study of musical storytelling in the street music of South Africa."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,College of Music, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8148en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationGillham, A. 2008. We feed off the spirit of the audience' : an ethnographic study of musical storytelling in the street music of South Africa. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Gillham, Alice AB - Street musicians in South Africa work within a challenging macrostructure. In order to maximise their success within this performance environment they must develop strategies to overcome the difficulties that South Africa's streets present. Various social issues: unemployment, crime, health and xenophobia, have a direct impact on its street musicians, who predominantly come from lower income groups. The changing tourism industry, which is a vital source of income for these musicians, also presents challenges and opportunities. Together these aspects create a unique street environment within which to examine the role of the musical storyteller, and a performance space that requires the development of specific skills by the street performer to maximaise its advantages. Watching a performance by a group of South African street musicians, telling a complex narrative to their audience, I realised that these performers might not only be fulfilling various social functions, but might also be playing a role in actively performing, and contributing to, genres of South Africa's traditional musical heritage. I wished to explore this and began to interview selected street performers, and to observe and record their performances. The boom in the South African tourism industry encourages street musicians to develop styles of performance and musical storytelling that rely heavily on styles of traditional music. However, their repertoires are extensive, and keep altering. There is no pre-established, repeated canon of material to study and draw conclusions from. I therefore had to approach this study with a different intention. I did not look for single musical narrative items, which I could then dissect and present, but rather I attempted to identify unique aspects of this performance environment and the patterns, or frames of behaviour these cause and inspire. DA - 2008 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2008 T1 - We feed off the spirit of the audience' : an ethnographic study of musical storytelling in the street music of South Africa TI - We feed off the spirit of the audience' : an ethnographic study of musical storytelling in the street music of South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8148 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8148
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationGillham A. We feed off the spirit of the audience' : an ethnographic study of musical storytelling in the street music of South Africa. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,College of Music, 2008 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8148en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentCollege of Musicen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherStreet musicen_ZA
dc.titleWe feed off the spirit of the audience' : an ethnographic study of musical storytelling in the street music of South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMMusen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2008_gillham_a.pdf
Size:
12.59 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters