Exploring Jazz Composition as an Agent for Addressing Social Issues - Perspectives from Young South African Jazz Composers

Abstract

This study looks into the perspectives of young South African jazz composers with regard to their compositions and the nature of engagement with social issues. Five composers were interviewed, to gain an understanding of their ideas regarding their work as well as their impressions about how music functions in relation to its societal contexts. The study also looks at the history of South African jazz and the various modes of engagement with social issues reaching back to the arrival of the Dutch settlers in 1652.

This qualitative study took the form of a case study, looking into the individual constructions of the participant subjects. Participant selection was aimed at providing a diversity of views by selecting participants from different backgrounds.

The research has revealed a multi-layered and sometimes complex engagement with social contexts, from subtle to overt and activist in nature. Taking into account the socio-historical relationships and present-day perspectives of the participants, the engagement of jazz composition with society is apparent throughout.

The study is an inquiry into how jazz composition in the South African context acts as a window into the social – the window can be clear, stained, broken, big or small.