Deconstructing "the South African jazz feel" : roots, rhythms and features of South African jazz

Abstract

South African jazz has established itself as a distinct and influential genre in modern popular music that merges musical elements from traditional South African musics with influences from U.S.-American jazz. Formed during a time of extreme social inequality in a divided country, South African jazz became the soundtrack of the struggle against social injustice and racial oppression, and was brought to international attention by artists such as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Abdullah Ibrahim who gave poignant musical expression to the hardships of the time. South African jazz is celebrated for its unique sound, original catalogue and all-important "feel" . To many listeners, performers and musicologists, it is this concept of feel that makes South African jazz so distinctive and inimitable. To date, however, much of the scholarly and popular literature on South African jazz has centred on the historical, social and political aspects of the music, with less attention given to close musical-textual analysis. A few studies have considered the melodic and harmonic language of iconic saxophonists and bass players but there are "“ to date "“ no close studies of rhythm and feel in South African jazz. Beginning to address this gap in the literature, this study uncovers some of the elements that constitute the South African jazz feel through close rhythmic and more general musical analyses of a selection of South African jazz recordings.