Abstract:
This article is the dissemination of an investigation of the Pedi tradition of
Thanksgiving Songs that continued in spite of all cultural suppression. This article
discusses the form, content and functions of Pedi Thanksgiving Songs as guided
by the research questions and hypothesis of the study. Content is discussed with
reference to African indigenous knowledge about what a ‘human-musical product’
entails in the African world view. It is a creative-artistic content informed by human,
philosophical, artistic, spiritual, socio-contextual, and health perspectives indigenous
to Africa. The particular Pedi Thanksgiving Song discussed here serves as an example
and/or representation of the general African traditional perspective of musical
practice and creativity. Specifically, the study attempts to establish the reality that
music making is not restricted to organized sound only; it also includes a symbolic
expression of a social and cultural organization, which reflects the values, the past
and present ways of life of human beings.
