A01=David B. Coplan
Author_David B. Coplan
Category=AVLT
Category=JBFH
Category=JHM
Category=JPVC
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_music
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Product details
- ISBN 9780226115733
- Weight: 624g
- Dimensions: 16 x 24mm
- Publication Date: 01 Feb 1995
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The workers who migrate from Lesotho to the mines and cities of neighbouring South Africa have developed a rich genre of sung oral poetry - "word music" - that focuses on the experiences of migrant life. This music provides a culturally reflexive and consciously artistic account of what it is to be a migrant or part of a migrant's life. It reveals the relationship between these Basotho workers and the local and South African powers that be, the "cannibals" who live off the workers' labour. Coplan discusses every aspect of the Basotho musical literature, taking into account historical conditions, political dynamics and social forces, as well as the styles, artistry and occasions of performance. Complete with transcriptions of full male and female performances, this book develops a theoretical and methodological framework crucial to anyone seeking to understand the relationship between orality and literacy in the context of performance.
