Playing in the land of God: Musical performance and social resistance in South Africa

Abstract

This essay treats the performances of Venda musician Solomon Mathase as a form of resistance to corruption and poverty at the end of the colonial period. In his music resistance is religiously legitimated through his concept of “God's land”, a moral philosophy that promotes supportive co‐existence. The tenets of this philosophy are powerfully articulated in communal performance through Mathase's manipulation of interactive musical techniques, which place him in a position of emotionally regenerating ritual power, while inducing states of intense shared consciousness among the participants in his performances. Performance thus shapes group identity, while allowing musicians to express their thoughts on their poverty and subaltern status and to speculate on creative solutions to their problems. Accordingly, music‐making functions as more than mere reflective symbolic action in that it provides an ideological foundation for socio‐economic change.

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