A study on the creative processes of Ngalanga traditional music and dance from Mozambique: expressions of the Mozambican Chopi immigrant community of Clermont Township in Durban.

Abstract

This study is an ethnographic enquiry on the creative processes engaged in ngalanga by a migrant community of Mozambicans in Clermont Township in Durban. It discusses how creative actions are conceived and applied to indigenous dance traditions of a migrant community and how these traditions find expressions within the context of their new environment. Ngalanga is one of the indigenous music traditions that is found among the Chopi from Mozambique, and whose studies within ethnomusicological circles is scanty. Literature available on Chopi musical tradition largely focuses on the timbila tradition although other musical traditions such as ngalanga find equal space within the performance repertoire of the Chopi. This research draws on the theoretical formulations as grounded in interpretative innovation, socio-musical practice and system model of creativity to understand how creative processes are engaged within the creation and performances of ngalanga and how these serve as a tool to negotiate space for self-expression, recognition, cultural dialogue and a means of sustenance within this migrant community. Data for the study was collected through interviews and participant observations of musical activities of the Mozambican migrant community in Clermont Township in Durban that performs ngalanga in addition to available literature on the music and dance traditions of the Chopi. The study is organized in six chapters - chapter one is an introduction to the study, chapter two discusses the body of literature on Chopi music and dance traditions. Chapter three examines migration issues as related to Mozambique and ngalanga performance analysis, chapter four discusses the creative conventions in ngalanga, chapter five focuses on ngalanga dance analysis, and chapter six summarizes and concludes the study.