One of the most important things that I remember during my Ethnomusicological studies at Wits was getting useful information on VhaVenda music Online. This was due to the works of pioneer archivist Hugh Tracey (1903–1977), who is still regarded as one of the pillars of the discipline because of his vast collection of African music, and John Anthony Randall Blacking (1928-1990), who wrote extensively on Venda Music from the 1960s up until the 1990s. Their works are now easily available Online, and during my studies, I could easily access a musical theme and analyze it while watching a performance. I recall listening to a Tshikona performance prior to my visit to Venda to do research, and when I got to Venda, I already had basic knowledge of what the VhaVenda music sounds like because of Blacking’s works Online.
Currently, SAMRO has over 80 000 musical works that we interns, as Data Capturers, are storing on computer systems and I am glad they will be put Online for enhancement of music usage in South Africa and the rest of the world, because the music will be made available to music users, who will buy copy rights to reproduce whenever they want to. I did not know this until this week, when our Manager Andre Le Roux, came and explained to us how important the work we are doing is and how ILAM (the International Library of African Music, an Archive Initiated by Tracey) is already advanced in this technological revolution. This also reminded me of the first week of our internship, when our Supervisors Noelene Kotze and Oscar Phophi, told us that the accuracy of the information we were going to capture is very important and that we must not concentrate more on the quantity of data as its accuracy is more important. Filing a large amount of inaccurate Data was far worse than filing a small number of accurate Data. Now I see how important this work is and, hopefully, I have been doing the work in the right way, because sometimes I would lose a whole day’s work because of pressing one wrong button, which resulted in wanting to catch up fast on the following day.
I am however, confident that though now an archivist instead of a field researcher, I am working in a place where field-works are preserved and thus I am still part of the discipline and enjoying every moment of it. I just wish I could be part of the technological revolution that is taking place at SAMRO for years to come, and witness how my work is contributing to the betterment of music usage to the public, and the Archive itself.
Ethnomusicologists who want to read John Blacking’s works Online go to http://www.qub.ac.uk/sa-old/resources/VendaGirls/Definitions/DefTshikona.html Or simply Google search any topic/article that you have read about in the library and I can rest-assure you that you will get more information to backup that field research you just conducted recently, in audio/visual and of course transcription.
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2 comments:
Dear Vorster
What a great post. You're not just relaying the content of your work, you are really reflecting on it. Thanks for that.
There are many similarities with Kgomotso's latest post, did you notice? She is also wondering about the balance between quantity, quality and getting all that right within a time frame.
I love the way you give a reference at the end of this post. You are taking the meaning of your work at SAMRO to heart, and making sure that people learn about our music - not just within your work hours, but even in your weblog. I will go and look and listen.
If it wasn't for you and your passion for your work so evident at your weblog, I would never know about this music. Thank you.
Thanks for the possitive comment Lesley. I really appreciate it. The tips on how to approach a weekly report have also been helpful and I am grateful for the efforts you took to help me and my fellow students. You have indeed kept the promise the WOW made in our contract, that extra help will be given to the interns to encounter the challenges of the work-place. Thank you very much.
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