Bow music takes centre stage at conference
The 1st International Bow Music Conference is a Sources of Creativity Catalytic Project, funded through a research grant from The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
THE first international Bow Music Conference being hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) from 24 to 27 February will open its doors to public attendance at paper presentations, workshops and discussions which will focus on diverse topics on global bow musical practises.
The music cluster within UKZN’s School of Arts hosts the event.
Convened by a team led by Dr Sazi Dlamini, UKZN lecturer and well-known township jazz exponent, the event has garnered a wave of passionate interest from local and international bow music practitioners, as well ethnomusicological research academics from as far afield as the US, Brazil, Europe, and neighbouring SADC countries of Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The conference acknowledges the widespread indigenous occurrence of musical bows both in Africa and in far-flung areas of the globe, as well as the growing research and public interest on bow music.
The keynote address will be given by bow music professor David Dargie, a retired monk who brought to the world’s attention Xhosa women’s umrhubhe mouth-bow playing and the mesmerising overtone singing techniques of Ngqoko village women of the Lady Frere area in the Eastern Cape.
The Bow Music Conference will include a progrmamme of musical performances that will showcase Southern African musical bows such as uhadi and ikatari (Xhosa); the Sotho lesiba, sekhankuri and lekope; the Venda thomo; chizambi and chipendani mouthbows found in Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe; sitolotolo, makhoyana, umqangala and makhweyana (Zulu & Swati). During the conference some of these musical bows will be displayed in a curated exhibition of indigenous musical instruments at the KZNSA Gallery.
A significant presence in the conference is that of the the Afro-Brazillian musical bow the berimbau, the calabash-resonated musical bow closely associated with capoeira, the worldwide popular physical game-dance-martial art that resulted from the presence of African slaves in Brazil. Several scholarly presentations will focus on the berimbau’s African origins as well as the instrument’s relationship to widespread Bantu bow cultures of Africa’s sub-Saharan region. The programme will include screenings of director Richard Pakleppa’s documentary film ‘Jogo de Corpo’ [Body Games] – which traces the roots of capoeira and of the berimbau to Angola.
Conference presentations will take place at UKZN’s Innovation Centre at gate 9, Rick Turner Road on 24, 25 and 26 February. Entrance is free on registration. The film and concerts series take place at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at UKZN’s Howard College campus from 25 to 27 February. Tickets will be available through Computicket. Daytime events at the KZNSA on Saturday, 27 February include a workshop on musical bow-making, an indigenous musical instrument exhibition and a capoeira Angola roda conducted by Mestre Cobra Mansa from Salvador, Bahia-Brazil.
For more information go to www.bowconference.com or facebook.com/bowconference, or email info@bowconference.com.
The 1st International Bow Music Conference is a Sources of Creativity Catalytic Project, funded through a research grant from The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
