Browsing by Author "Dunseith, Michael Hamlyn"

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    Manifestations of ‘langarm’: from colonial roots to contemporary practies.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Dunseith, Michael Hamlyn; Muller, Stephanus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Use of the term ‘Langarm’ by various cultural groups in South Africa has tended to problematize the meaning of the term and therefore precipitated research into the term’s relation to Ballroom dancing amongst the so-called Coloured community of the Cape, who it appears, have claimed this moniker as their own. This research has revealed a strong tradition of high quality Ballroom dancing to which the Afrikaans speaking sector of this community attached the moniker ‘Langarm’ at an unknown point in time, but certainly for the greater part of the twentieth century. Research uncovered music and dance with deep colonial roots heavily influenced by the practice of slavery and an emerging creole culture in a thoroughly slave based society. Central to this history was the musicianship of the slaves and the lasting influence these musicians had on the Contredanse, the Quadrille and other Square Dances which it appears were introduced to the Cape by the French in the late 1700s and re-introduced by the British in the early 1800s and which remained integral to ‘Langarm’ practice in Cape Town until the late 1960s. Quadrille music was, by its nature, instrumental music which spawned this particular creole history of instrumental dance music at the Cape, not only amongst the creole or so-called Coloured community but also amongst the colonialist Cape-Dutch or latterly Afrikaner community whose dance music become known as boeremusiek. So-called Coloured or Cape Malay Quadrille Band String Orchestras were, it appears, active for dances from the 1850s into the early 1900s. The American ‘dance craze’ of the early 1900s and its new African American inspired dances as well as the proliferation of African American dance bands and their music which would become known as ‘jazz’, profoundly influenced the instrumental formation and repertoire of these saxophone driven bands at the Cape, throughout the twentieth century. From 1930s, the introduction of the saxophone as the lead instrument for this style of Quadrille music became almost emblematic with ‘Langarm’ music in the so-called Coloured community for the remainder of the century until the present. The creole or so-called Coloured invention of the vastrap or ghoema rhythm, speculatively developed from the up-tempo reels of the Quadrille or Square Dances as played by the Cape Malay Quadrille Bands of the early nineteenth century especially at the Cape Malay sea-side picnics, where moppies were also likely to have been sung to these rhythms, was to become central to both the vastrap rhythm of ‘Langarm’ Square Dances and the ghoema rhythms of the up-tempo marches of the Klopse and Nagtroepe of the ‘Coon Carnival’ of the twentieth century. This vastrap-ghoema rhythm-complex quite possibly fused Iberian and Islamic rhythmic roots injected with Khoikhoi syncopation as well as American minstrel influences from the mid-1800s and Brazilian samba. Although the Square Dances have died out, the vastrap rhythm still remains for loose dancing and Line-Dances as the highlight of ‘Langarm’ dance events today. Contemporary ‘Langarm’ dancing amongst the so-called Coloured community of the Cape, remains a vibrant social form of weekend recreation, having seen its ‘Golden Era’ in the 1940s and 1950s. This thesis attempts to show and explore the links between the colonial roots of Ballroom dancing at the Cape and current manifestations of ‘Langarm’ dancing. An important aspect of the conclusion, which was inspired by the notes of one of the foremost band leaders of the past half-century, the late Willie Jales, elects to link the titles Ballroom-Langarm in a dual-language moniker that perfectly situates its cultural and linguistic connections to the so-called Coloured community of the Cape while at the same time firmly establishes its roots and formal qualities in Ballroom dancing.