Sunday, July 27, 2008
My Short Research Report to the SAMRO/SENA manager, Andre Le Roux.
I finally finished the report and handed it to the manager on Tuesday, and I am so glad he was impressed by my efforts. I have already had some of the best comments from SAMRO staff members he had shared the report with for general commentary, including the CEO. In this regard I want to take this opportunity to thank Andre for proudly sharing the report with other SAMRO staff members. This keeps me motivated and I will always try my best to perform to the best of my ability. It is an encouragement that makes me proudly say to my fellow creative students at Wits that I am truly Committed to Excellence and Trusting Relationships for your Convenience. Thank you so much Andre. You are the best manager and I am happy to work under your leadership and guidance.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
My short assignment from the Manager
This week, my manager, Andre Le Roux, has given me a short task of finding information about the late Saxophonist and Jazz musician, Kippie ‘Morolong’ Moeketsi (1925-1983). I promised him I will look back into my second year Music in History and Society (MHS) notes. I know we have learnt a bit about Moeketsi from Prof Lara Allen in 2004, but I'm not sure I will be able to unearth the information from my old readings (too bad for an archivist isn't it?).
The manager also told me that they have been recieving extraordinary querries from members lately, and this is true because early during the week my supervisor, Noelene Kotze, asked if Kgomotso and I have come across 'Suikerbossie', a traditional Afrikaner song that has been sung by many artists in the Afrikaner genre. The two recent querries are the most sought after at the moment and we have a duty to unearth the compositions in the archive. So far, we have entered over 14 ooo light music records on the archive system and still, we have not yet come across the two, and it might take us a while to get the compositions.
About Kippie Moeketsi, I know I have come across compositions by Hugh Masekela, who played in the same band that he (Moeketsi) played, but traces of him as a co-composer were not available. I am certain we will come across his compositions but that might be too late because there is research going on, which needs information on South African composers, Kippie included. The fact that he is in demand keeps us on our toes to work faster in the hope that we'll come across his works and this are some of the challenges the archive is faced with.
The manager also told me that they have been recieving extraordinary querries from members lately, and this is true because early during the week my supervisor, Noelene Kotze, asked if Kgomotso and I have come across 'Suikerbossie', a traditional Afrikaner song that has been sung by many artists in the Afrikaner genre. The two recent querries are the most sought after at the moment and we have a duty to unearth the compositions in the archive. So far, we have entered over 14 ooo light music records on the archive system and still, we have not yet come across the two, and it might take us a while to get the compositions.
About Kippie Moeketsi, I know I have come across compositions by Hugh Masekela, who played in the same band that he (Moeketsi) played, but traces of him as a co-composer were not available. I am certain we will come across his compositions but that might be too late because there is research going on, which needs information on South African composers, Kippie included. The fact that he is in demand keeps us on our toes to work faster in the hope that we'll come across his works and this are some of the challenges the archive is faced with.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Archive Update
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.
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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