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| Jaiva | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Township jive, Soweto jive, Soweto sound, Soweto beat |
| Stylistic origins | Mbaqanga,kwaito, Westernpop music |
| Cultural origins | 1940s – early 1990s, South Africa |
Jaiva,Township jive (TJ), Soweto jive,Soweto sound orSoweto beat is asubgenre of South African township music andAfrican dance form[1][2] that influenced Westernbreakdance[3] and emerged from theshebeen culture of the apartheid-eratownships.[4]
While closely associated withmbaqanga, township jive more broadly incorporates influences from mariba andkwaito,[5] and is synonymous with none of these. To the extent thatmarabi influences TJ, it may be somewhat sanitised as TJ broke into the international commercial arena.[6]
The Boyoyo Boys received additional press coverage whenMalcolm McLaren allegedly plagiarised their song "Puleng" and released it as the hit "Double Dutch", capitalising on the emergence ofbreakdance andhip-hop.[7]
Additional momentum forworld beat attention to South African music developed as a result of international attention to the demise ofapartheid andNelson Mandela's 70th birthday concert in Wembley Stadium, London in 1988.[citation needed]
According to Ambrose Ehirim, a US-based Nigeria specialist,[7] township music dates to the 1950s when it was proscribed by South African police.[8] This has been contradicted by anti-apartheid activist/musicianJohnny Clegg,[9] who has claimed that "by the 1960s, the development ofmbaqanga 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".[10] It draws on bothkwela and marabi.[11]
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.[12] 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".[13] 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.[14]
The homogenisation of Township Jive with US and UK culture, due toglobalisation, 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.[15] Americanizing kwaito, as is many artists' opinion, can potentially dilute the substance kwaito was originally based on.[16]
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".[17] And the Boyoyo Boys have, subsequent to the copyright scandal, signed byRounder Records which releasedTJ Today in 1998.
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