Abstract:
This study delves on the problem of Vhavenḓa traditional songs and economic emancipation as well as ways of discovering the empowerment and promotion of business of musical artistry in relation to the economy. This will eventually improve the lives of Vhavenḓa cultural performers economically. The population of the study involved people who participated in the data collection process by means of questionnaires and interviews pertaining to Tshivenḓa traditional songs. This study mainly utilised the qualitative research method because the focus was on understanding, describing and explaining the social phenomenon being Vhavenḓa traditional songs and economic emancipation. With this method, participants expressed their perceptions with regard to the issue under investigation.
A number of non-probability techniques were used. First and foremost, purposive sampling was used in order to enable the researcher to choose respondents who have knowledge in Tshivenḓa cultural songs. In other words, the researcher used her judgement to select participants. Secondly, snowball sampling was utilised where several people were selected and then asked to recruit other people who meet the requirements. Thirdly, convenience sampling, which is also known as accidental sampling, was used in the study. This sampling was based on festivals of traditional songs in towns, soccer matches and bus stops. This is considered a quick technique used in situations where there was no prior arrangement of interview with interviewees or participants. Finally, quota sampling was also used where the researcher chose groups of cultural performers and solicited information from them.
This study is based on traditional songs and economic empowerment. Consequently, the data gathered was in relation to the economic development of Vhavenḓa cultural song performers and the promotion of traditional songs in the African language. The researcher used questionnaires and interviews as data collection instruments in order to obtain information about thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, values and perceptions of groups
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of respondents, namely cultural song performers, cultural leaders, elders, scholars and SABC radio broadcasters.
In this study, economic empowerment and globalisation theories were used. The globalisation theory is rooted in spoken and written business discourse. This study looked at ways of promoting the business of cultural songs and places where businesses of these songs can be conducted. The researcher used two main methods of analytical comparison namely method of agreement and method of difference. With the method of agreement, the researcher looked at common outcomes of participants. In contrast, the method of difference examined the areas which are different amongst participants. Findings of this study indicate that Tshivenḓa cultural songs lack business empowerment to be able to compete with other cultural song performers such as Europeans, amaZulu and amaXhosa who earn a living through singing and dancing.
