Women’s Day Celebration: Celebrating Black South African Female Jazz Composers

Abstract

Women’s Day (9 August) a reminder of the tenacity, resilience, and power of South African women. This performance is part of the University of Pretoria’s weekly Lunch Hour Concerts, where leading musicians (local and international) host an open-public performance.

This concert, held on 10 August 2023, sounds and celebrates the often-subjugated voices of black South African female jazz composers and musicians whose impact is yet to be fully realised. These voices are often neglected in songbooks, repertoires, and writings on South African jazz history. This is not an issue unique to the said context, evident in research by Willis (2007), Caudwell (2012), Björck and Bergman (2018), Vleet (2021), and Buscatto (2021). Soules (2011) used the lives of American female jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams and singer Ella Fitzgerald as cases to explore intersectional factors and the struggles of black women navigating the male-dominated jazz space. This is also evident in Tucker (2008), who speaks to two historic American female big bands, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and the Darlings of Rhythm, with a focus on the latter. Within this, Tucker notes that women in jazz were often viewed as “women from Mars” (p. 284).

I find an affinity with Masenya’s (1998) Bosadi approach, which emphasises the urgency to make South African women visible and to acknowledge the oppressive systems that inform their experiences. Therefore, the primary objective of this performance was to allow black South African female jazz musicians a space to exist. The artists whose work was part of the programme were Lindi Ngonelo (Tata), Nthabiseng Motsepe-Notyesi (Nthabysang), Lindiwe Maxolo (Nomalili), Phuti Sepuru (Keteko ya Bosadi), Nomfundo Xaluva (Thandoluhle) and Gloria Bosman (Play me those love songs). These are a few of the South African jazz women who exist(ed) not only as performers, singers, or instrumentalists, but also as composers and educators. This concert also sought to reflect women beyond common historical narratives as vocalists. Performing their works in this setting, and on this day, was a necessary step towards allowing basadi (women) into the space and acknowledging their contributions.

This performance provides a reinterpretation of these works (with the band being led by two women), encouraging the dialogic between thinking and doing. I conceptualised this performance, assembled the band, and served as a pianist, alongside fellow project leader and vocalist, Mrs. Nthabiseng Motsepe-Notyesi. We, as black female jazz musicians, wanted to have a sense of agency and urgency and take control of the ‘doing’. The performance is a dialogue; it presents an engagement and reciprocity within a group setting. But it also involved engaging the women whose works were the focus.

The broader performance provided a way of thinking through these issues. Performing, interpreting, and researching the works of other women was part of enhancing and thinking about my own composition. Listening to the selected repertoire and the underlying meaning(s) highlighted the fact that we are all searching for our own bodies and belonging. The compositions focus on self-exploration through the voice, sounding a musical home, articulating experiences, and borrowing from other sonic homes. My composition, Keteko ya Bosadi, was titled “Untitled” at the time of this recording. Trying to carve a home between a heritage of men, using the works of other women as a source of interpretation, led to the revised title, which translates as “A celebration of womanhood”. Here, the body, through performance, served as a tool for pushing boundaries—borrowing a home for basadi.

The research questions guiding this performance were: 1. In what ways have/are black South African jazz women contributing to the South African jazz canon? 2. What is the significance of making the contributions of women visible within the South African jazz space?

Within the South African context, scholars such as Dalamba (2008), Muller (2011), and Mzimela (2020) explored subjects related to female jazz musicians; namely, singers Miriam Makeba, Sathima Bea Benjamin, and Dorothy Masuka, respectively. Gender disparities within the South African jazz milieu are also articulated in research by George (2020) and Röntsch (2020), with the latter bringing to light the work of the first South African all-female big band. This performance may be viewed as a continuation of the efforts of these scholars.