Cape Town Harmonies

Memory, Humour & Resilience

Tuesday 10 April 2018
14:00 – 15:30 – Centre for Humanities Research, University of Western Cape

Thursday 12 April 2018
16:00 – 18:00 – College of Music, University of Cape Town

Armelle Gaulier (LAM-Bordeaux)

Cape Town Harmonies : Memory, Humour & Resilience proposes an analysis of two repertoires of choral songs : Nederlandslidjies and Moppies, interpreted by Cape Town’s “Malay Choirs” and Klopse (carnival clubs) which are performed each year in Cape Town during the Klopse carnival and the Malay Choirs competition, from January till March. It suggests that the study of the origin and organisation of these choirs, of the various styles of interpretation adopted by the choirs and of the intense discussion they generate provide a subtle understanding of the wavering and ambivalences which underlie the various notions of identity discussed among people who were classified “coloured” during apartheid. Cape Town Harmonies shows how ethnomusicological and sociopolitical analyses can cross-fertilise and help apprehend intricate situations in all their nuances.

In the two seminars, Armelle Gaulier shall propose an analysis of these repertoires and show how multiple and dynamic “coloured identity configurations” appear to be when approached from a musical angle. Nederlandslidjies and Moppies are rooted in history and are said to embody « tradition »; yet they have continuously changed and have always adapted to social and political circumstances, as well as to musical fashions. They provide evidence of creativity on the part of people who have long been considered as having no history and no culture, and the discussions they arouse suggest that there is no fixed, immutable “coloured identity” but multiple, adaptable and consequently endlessly transforming conceptions of identity.

Armelle Gaulier holds a doctorate in political science from the Bordeaux Institute of Political Studies. She conducted research on the musics of the Kaapse Klopse and the Malay Choirs in 2006 and 2008, and was granted two masters degrees from the University of Paris 8-Saint Denis for dissertations based on her fieldwork in Cape Town. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Bordeaux Institute of Political Studies. Her research focuses on the relationship between music, politics and identity, with a particular interest in the symbolic power of music, and in musical practices and experiences of citizenship, especially within groups of migrants.