Agitprop, Part 5
Avanti Popolo, alla
riscossa
Onward, people, to the revolution
Songs
Political songs in South Africa are a main part of the Agitprop
of the country. Mass political singing is a South African characteristic.
At political rallies and conferences, and whenever the
masses are gathered in one place, songs can be heard. New songs and old songs.
I would be unusual if a speaker on a platform was to call
for a song, and the audience be unable to respond.
Often, a crowd will assert itself with songs that the
platform may, or may not, welcome. The songs can provide a current of discourse
that runs beside, and affects, the formal, verbal process of the gathering.
Both melodies and lyrics are composed and re-composed to
express current meanings of the moment. Comrades compose and rehearse in
groups. Together with dance, this mass art form that can spread and take off
with speed, with or without the benefit of electronic media, is a very powerful
unifier of the South African masses and of their liberation movement.
All of the above can be written without fear of
contradiction. But what becomes apparent, when doing so, is that there is
hardly any literature or recorded audio material that bears witness to this
giant phenomenon that touches millions and which proceeds from year to year and
decade to decade.
There is the story of the martyr Vuyisile Mini, who was known as a
composer of songs. There is Enoch Sontonga, the composer of “Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika”, which is
the national anthem of South Africa and at least three other countries,
although in South Africa it has been diluted with parts of “Die Stem”. These are known about, but the
modern and regenerative life of political songs in the country is not as a rule
written about in the mass media, or studied in the academy.
Efforts to promote “The Internationale”,
the US trade union anthem “Solidarity Forever”, and others of that kind are not
very successful here, mainly because these works come out of a tradition that
is far less of a mass phenomenon than what we have here in South Africa. With
the possible exception of the “Internationale”, because of its ancient
associations with the Paris Commune of 1871 (the first ever workers’ state) and
its consequent worldwide acceptance as the anthem of the communists, most of
these songs lack resonance in South Africa, where the living culture of
political song is far in advance of other places.
Is it necessary to discuss something like this? Yes, it is
necessary. All of our study is to objectify our political world and to
understand it in a rational and explicit way. It is not acceptable to remain
with a situation where some things are reflected in academic and journalistic
discourse, while other aspects of our political lives are allowed to pass away
without commentary or permanent record of any kind.
In the absence of a readily-available discursive literature,
the above will have to suffice for the stimulation of a discussion about political
singing. We should bear in mind that this study of ours is breaking new ground
in terms of commentary upon mass political song.
We would also want to appeal to anyone who has knowledge of
any recordings of, or scholarly works about, political singing in South Africa,
to let the CU know about them. It may be that there is a body of scholarship
and critical commentary that we just have not discovered yet.
Choirs
Formal Choirs are characteristic of South Africa, although
South Africans seem hardly to be aware of their comparative high position in
the world in this wonderful art form. It is true that there are choral traditions
in many countries but in South Africa, choirs are everywhere. Naturally, they
sing religious songs for the most part, but not always, and there has always
been revolutionary choral singing.
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