Renowned South African musician and virtuoso guitarist, Billy Monama, is challenging the status quo of music education, particularly in black schools, one seminar at a time.
Monama will be hosting the inaugural “South African Music Colloquium” at Wits University, Braamfontein, on Tuesday, November 8.
Best known for his advocacy in documenting and preserving African music history, Monama told IOL Entertainment, the seminars would alter the South African music landscape.
“Through the many years of research, I have been conducting workshops and master classes and as a performing musician, I have come to realise that our unique style of playing the guitar in South African music is fast disappearing. Important aspects of our heritage and music legacy could die,” commented Monama.
According to Monama, arts and culture once occupied an important place in South Africa’s currently discarded curriculum and were central to integrated teaching and learning.
“What we are seeing today in our schools is an unfortunate state for music studies, which have become, at best, peripheral for learners in black schools.
“Some of the factors that have led to this unfavourable position are the limited special training for music teachers with what remains weighted towards formal, resource-heavy Eurocentric content and classroom processes.”
Monama added that in order to protect the legacy of our African heritage and culture, the change needs to be implemented at the grassroots level.
He said: “For me, history is like a GPS that navigates us into the future. Music is the soul of the nation. Music plays an integral role in social cohesion.
“The power of a lyric is infinite. When we learn an African song, we learn the African language. We often speak of decolonisation and I believe the first place to exercise decolonisation is in the classroom by providing the material that will advance the consciousness.
“Preservation of African history in music will also give ammunition to music students, composers, researchers and authors in order to develop a writing voice that speaks to our history and our heritage that helps us map out our identity as a nation.”
The colloquium will bring together policy-makers, education planners, teachers, music practitioners and other role-players to debate and formulate strategies that will impact the much-needed change in the music education system.
Hosted and produced by Monama, the “South African Music Colloquium” will be moderated by seasoned broadcaster, Pabi Moloi.
Some of the guest speakers and panellists include education experts Millicent Khemese, Innocent Ngwane and Marius Venter.
Monama published his first book titled “Introduction to South African Guitar Styles Vol 1” in April.
The book is an exploration of the history of the guitar in black South African popular music over five decades and the most important styles to have evolved around it: marabi, maskanda, African jazz, kwela, mbaqanga and XiTsonga.
“This book is a documentation of diachronic studies of South African music history and abounds longitudinal studies of African music genres that are not easy to come by,” added Monama.
“The book provides online visuals for reference purposes and also contains groundbreaking artists' biographies and the historical background of each of the musical styles from the 1930s to the 1980s.
“It also consists of multimedia, tutorial videos, and guide tracks that provide demonstrations on how to play South African guitar styles, with over 90 scores from different prolific South African composers,” concluded Monama.
The South African Music Colloquium will take place at Wits University, in Braamfontein, on Tuesday, November 8 at 5pm.
The seminar is open and free to the public. For more information visit www.billymonama.co.za.
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