Jaiva, Township jive (TJ), Soweto jive, Soweto sound or Soweto beat is a

subgenre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

of South African township music and

African dance African dance (also Afro dance, Afrodance and Afro-dance) refers to the various dance styles of sub-Saharan Africa. These dances are closely connected with the traditional rhythms and music traditions of the region. Music and dancing is an int ...

form that influenced Western

breakdance Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consists mainly ...

and emerged from the

shebeen A shebeen (, "home-made whiskey") was originally an illicit bar or club where accessible alcoholic beverages were sold without a license. The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, to Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Zimb ...

culture of the apartheid-era

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Influences and particularity

While closely associated with

mbaqanga Mbaqanga () is a style of South African music that emerged in the early 1960s in the urban townships, particularly around Johannesburg. It draws from a variety of ethnic traditions, including Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Pedi, and Tsonga musical element ...

, township jive more broadly incorporates influences from mariba and

kwaito Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, between the late 1980s and 1990s. It is a sound that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of h ...

, and is synonymous with none of these. To the extent that

marabi Marabi is a style of music and dance form that evolved and emerged in South Africa between the 1890s and 1920s. The early part of the century saw the increasing urbanisation of black South Africans in mining centres such as the gold mining area ...

influences TJ, it may be somewhat sanitised as TJ broke into the international commercial arena.

Emergence in world music circles

The Boyoyo Boys received additional press coverage when

Malcolm McLaren Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English fashion designer and music manager. He was a promoter and a manager for punk rock and new wave bands such as New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, Adam and the Ants, and ...

allegedly plagiarised their song "Puleng" and released it as the hit " Double Dutch", capitalising on the emergence of

and

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

.Ambrose Ehirim, Sunday, 9 December 2007, The Boyoyo Boys and Township Jive Today , http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/ambrose-ehirim.html Additional momentum for

world beat Worldbeat is a music genre that blends pop music or rock music with world music or traditional music. Worldbeat is similar to other cross-pollination labels of contemporary and roots genres, and which suggest a rhythmic, harmonic or textural cont ...

attention to South African music developed as a result of international attention to the demise of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

and Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday concert in Wembley Stadium, London in 1988.

History

According to Ambrose Ehirim, a US-based Nigeria specialist, township music dates to the 1950s when it was proscribed by South African police. This has been contradicted by anti-apartheid activist/musician

Johnny Clegg Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. He first performed as part of a duo - ''Johnny & Sipho'' - ...

, who has claimed that "by the 1960s, the development of

hadn't even really started". Mbaqanga (or umbaquanga) has been characterised as urban pop music "with high-pitched, choppy guitar and a powerful bass line" influenced by "funk, reggae, American R&B, soul and drawing on South African Marabi, gospel music". It draws on both

kwela Kwela is a genre of street music originating from southern Africa. It is distinguished by its prominent use of the pennywhistle, jazz-inspired elements, and a distinctive skiffle-like rhythm. It evolved from the marabi sound. Kwela brought South ...

and marabi. Township Jive is closely associated with the development of mbaqanga but is more closely associated with emergent international trends and not as insular and rooted in tradition. Christopher Ballantine traces the "shift from imitating American jazz to localizing the sound with African features. This he connects to the emergence of the ideology of New Africanism". While the international market was absorbing Township Jive under the swirl of commercial activity culminating in the McLaren copyright infringement lawsuit, the subsequent release of BBoys' new album was preferred by a more elite audience closely associated with the black diaspora consciousness movements.

Globalization

The homogenisation of Township Jive with US and UK culture, due to

globalisation Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

, is viewed by African artists as a threat to the preservation of their local tradition and credibility. Thus, artists focus on maintaining an emotional link between customer and brand. This explains why transnational corporations are much less interested in homogenising or Americanizing kwaito music because true kwaito represents and dictates South African experience. Americanizing kwaito, as is many artists' opinion, can potentially dilute the substance kwaito was originally based on. On the upside, critical awareness of TJ has enhanced appreciation of fusion artists and others influenced by its style. For instance, Vibration Bookings bills its artist Nomfusi as a proponent of "a new style where South African Township Jive ("Jaiva") meets Motown". And the Boyoyo Boys have, subsequent to the copyright scandal, signed by

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

which released ''TJ Today'' in 1998.

External links

* Audio track ''Soweto Jive'' Zambia Association of Musicians website * Township Jive clips on web radio * "Jaiva" clip of dance competition in English and Zulu; note "kwaito" context

Additional scholarly references

Charles Hamm Charles Edward Hamm (April 21, 1925 – October 16, 2011) was an American musicologist, writer, composer, and music educator. He is credited with being the first music historian to seriously study and write about American popular music. He also w ...

(1987). Review of David B. Coplan 'In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre', ''Popular Music'', 6, pp. 352–355 * THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF CAPE TOWN Cape Town: ''The Making of a City: An Illustrated Social History''. Edited by

Nigel Worden Nigel Worden (born 27 March 1955) is a British/South African historian who has researched the history of Cape slavery and the social and cultural history of early colonial Cape Town. He is Emeritus Professor of History and retired from the Hist ...

, Elizabeth van Heyningen and Vivian Bickford-Smith. Cape Town: David Philip, 1998. Pp. 283. Rand 250 (). * ''Cape Town in the Twentieth Century: An Illustrated Social History''. Edited by Nigel Worden, Elizabeth van Heyningen and Vivian Bickford-Smith. Cape Town: David Philip, 1999. Pp. 255. Rand 225 (). * David Copeland, Cape Town, 1994: ''Operation and impact of Musical Action for People's Progress in disadvantaged communities in the Cape Flats'' * David Copeland, 1985 ''In township tonight! South Africa's black city music and theatre''. London; New York: Longman; Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1985. (French edition, published in 1990 by Karthala) *

Barbara Browning Barbara Browning (born December 7, 1961, in Madison, Wisconsin) is an American academic, novelist, dancer, and cultural critic. Education and career Browning received her B.A. in comparative literature from Yale University in 1983, spent a year ...

(1998) ''Infectious Rhythm: Metaphors of Contagion and the Spread of African Culture'' aperbackRoutledge * Louise Meintjes' ''Sound of Africa'' (2003) * Gwen Ansell's ''Soweto Blues'' (2004).

References and notes

{{Genres of African popular music South African styles of music Music genres 1940s in music 1990s in music