Pleasure Beyond the Call of Duty

235 Pages·2012·20.97 MB·English

Pleasure Beyond the Call of Duty
Perspectives, Retrospectives and Speculations on Boeremusiek

Willemien Froneman

Pleasure Beyond the Call of Duty:

Perspectives, Retrospectives and Speculations on Boeremusiek

Willemien Froneman

Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the
University of Stellenbosch

Department of Music
Faculty of Humanities

Promoter: Prof. Stephanus Muller

March 2012
The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of
the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF.

Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
Declaration
By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original
work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and
publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously
in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification.

March 2012

Copyright © 2012 Stellenbosch University
All rights reserved
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Abstract
Boeremusiek, a form of indigenous, predominantly white folk music in South Africa, remains virtually unexplored
in academic discourse. Ridiculed by the Afrikaner middle-class throughout its history, in popular perception today
the genre is the reactionary underbelly of white privilege and exclusivity. This thesis explores the juxtaposition of
duty and pleasure in the boeremusiek world. The history of boeremusiek – a genre with an historical apolitical
character and hybrid racial beginnings – opens up a view on an Afrikaner popular culture often in opposition to
Afrikaner nationalist politics. At the same time the impact of political ideology is evident, particularly in the
invented sub-genre of “traditional boeremusiek” and in the repeated usage of Afrikaner nationalist symbols.
Contemporary boeremusiek performance suffers from this schizophrenic subservience and resistance to Afrikaner
nationalism.
The creation of a comprehensive master-narrative of boeremusiek is not the objective of this thesis. Rather,
inspired by Adele Clark’s notion of “situational analysis”, it aims at a different kind of scholarly depth in a series of
semi-autonomous chapters. These chapters employ methodologies as diverse as musical, literary and theoretical
analyses, autoethnography, ethno-history, visual ethnography and biography, while also drawing widely from
various disciplinary discourses within the arts and humanities.
Interspersed with the main chapters there is a series of short ruminations called “Minors” after a common
boeremusiek term. The first offers a technical cameo of boeremusiek. The second is an autoethnography exploring
the author’s embarrassment about the genre and its practitioners. The third is a display of kitsch boeremusiek
tropes, and the fourth critiques the centrality of “fieldwork experience”, especially as it relates to audiovisuality in
contemporary ethnomusicology.
The main chapters explore the duty/pleasure juxtaposition of the title from various theoretical and
methodological perspectives. Chapter 1 is a theoretical, historical and ethnographic reflection on the meanings and
mechanisms of the juxtaposition of duty and pleasure at contemporary boeremusiek events. A deep suspicion of
live performance, a recurring theme in the genre’s twentieth-century history, is noted, and the notion of
“subjunctive pleasure” as it holds true at contemporary events is explored. Chapter 2 offers an alternative
historiographic reading of the origins of the genre – one deeply embedded in nineteenth-century blackface
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minstrelsy. This chapter also addresses the various ways in which embarrassment about the racial hybrid origins of
the genre has found expression in boeremusiek discourse. Chapter 3 is an interpretive biography of boeremusiek
songcatcher Jo Fourie based primarily on archival material. Fourie’s socially ambivalent position as a Dutch female
immigrant is linked not only to her interest in boeremusiek but to the tension that exists in her writings between her
attempts to discipline the genre and her gradual enrapturement with the music. The commercialisation of
boeremusiek and the economic metaphors in the lives and careers of two of the most commercially successful
exponents of the genre, Hendrik Susan and Nico Carstens, are the focus of Chapter 4. A commercially profitable
relationship between Afrikaner politics and Afrikaner popular culture is suggested: one in which images of
nationalist politics are exploited for apolitical ends. The notion that Afrikaner culture is per se an extension of
Afrikaner nationalist ideology is hereby challenged. A visual ethnography in the form of a photo-essay of a
contemporary boeremusiek festival constitutes Chapter 5. Overturning the duty/pleasure binary, the ironising
effects of affective displays on discursive order are explored in collaboration with photographer Niklas Zimmer.
The thesis concludes that boeremusiek has been positioned as a “low-Other” throughout the genre’s history.
The polarities of “high” and “low”, “duty” and “pleasure” therefore serve in maintaining the genre’s illicit
character.
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Opsomming
Boeremusiek, ’n hoofsaaklik wit, inheemse volksmusiekvorm in Suid-Afrika, is feitlik onverken in akademiese
diskoerse. Hoewel boeremusiek deurlopend in die geskiedenis deur die Afrikanermiddelklas bespot is, word
boeremusiek vandag beskou as die reaksionêre subkultuur van wit bevoorregting en alleenreg. Hierdie tesis verken
die jukstaposisie van plig en plesier in die boeremusiekwêreld. Die geskiedenis van boeremusiek – ’n genre met ’n
histories a-politieke karakter en hibriede rasse-oorspronge – bied ’n blik op ’n populêre Afrikanerkultuur wat
dikwels in opposisie staan teenoor Afrikanernasionalistiese politiek. Terselfdertyd blyk die impak van politieke
ideologie, veral in die gekonstrueerde subgenre “tradisionele boeremusiek” en in die herhaalde gebruik van
Afrikanernasionalistiese simbole. Hedendaagse boeremusiekuitvoering ly onder hierdie skisofreniese
onderdanigheid aan en verset teen Afrikanernasionalisme.
Die doelwit van hierdie tesis is nie die samestelling van ’n omvattende meesternarratief oor boeremusiek
nie. ’n Andersoortige akademiese diepgang word nagestreef in ’n reeks deels-vrystaande hoofstukke met Adele
Clarke se “situasie-analise” as inspirasie. Hierdie hoofstukke maak gebruik van diverse metodologieë soos musiek-,
literêre en teoretiese analise, etnohistoriografie, visuele etnografie en biografie en ontleen aan verskeie dissiplinêre
diskoerse binne die kunste en geesteswetenskappe.
Tussen-in die primêre hoofstukke is daar ’n reeks kort refleksies, getiteld “Minors”, na aanleiding van ’n
algemeen bekende boeremusiekterm. Die eerste is ’n tegniese lesing van boeremusiek. Die tweede is ’n outo-
etnografie wat die skrywer se verleentheid oor die genre en sy praktisyns ondersoek. Die derde vertoon kitsch
boeremusiektrope en die vierde is ’n beoordeling van die belangrikheid van “veldwerkervaring”, veral soos dit
verband hou met oudiovisualiteit in kontemporêre etnomusikologie.
Die primêre hoofstukke verken die plig/plesier-jukstaposisie van die titel vanuit ’n verskeidenheid van
teoretiese en metodologiese perspektiewe. Hoofstuk 1 is ’n teoretiese, historiese and etnografiese refleksie oor die
betekenisse en werking van die jukstaposisie van plig en plesier by hedendaagse boeremusiekfunksies. ’n Diep
wantroue in lewendige uitvoering, ’n herhalende tema in die twintigste-eeuse geskiedenis van die genre, word
uitgewys en die “subjunktivering” van plesier by hedendaagse boeremusiekfunksies word ondersoek. Hoofstuk 2
bied ’n alternatiewe historiografiese lesing van die oorspronge van die genre wat diep ingebed is in die praktyk van
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swartgesmeerde minnesangers van die negentiende eeu. Hierdie hoofstuk ondersoek ook die verskillende maniere
waarop ’n verleentheid oor die genre se hibriede rasse-oorspronge in boeremusiekdiskoers uitgedruk is. Hoofstuk 3
is ’n biografie van boeremusiekversamelaar Jo Fourie en hoofsaaklik gebaseer op argivale materiaal. Fourie se
ambivalente sosiale posisie as vroulike Nederlandse immigrant word nie net gekoppel aan haar belangstelling in
boeremusiek nie, maar aan die spanning wat uit haar geskrifte blyk tussen ’n dissiplinering van die genre en ’n
geleidelike verrukking daarmee. Die kommersialisering van boeremusiek en die ekonomiese metafore in die lewe
en loopbane van twee van die mees kommersieel suksesvolle eksponente van die genre, Hendrik Susan en Nico
Carstens, is die fokus van Hoofstuk 4. ’n Kommersieel voordelige verhouding tussen Afrikanerpolitiek en populêre
Afrikanerkultuur word voorgestel: ’n verhouding waar simbole van nasionalistiese politiek uitgebuit word vir a-
politieke doelwitte. Die beskouiing dat populêre Afrikanerkultuur per se ’n verlenging van Afrikanernasionalistiese
ideologie is, word sodoende betwis. Hoofstuk 5 bestaan uit ’n visuele etnografie in die vorm van ’n foto-essay van
’n hedendaagse boeremusiekfees. Die plig/plesier-teenstelling word omgekeer en die ironiserende effek van
affektiewe uitdrukking op diskoerse van plig word in samewerking met die fotograaf Niklas Zimmer ondersoek.
Daar word tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat boeremusiek deurgaans geposisioneer is as ’n “lae-Ander”. Die
funksie van die polariteite van “hoog” en “laag”, “plig” en “plesier” is gevolglik om die ongeoorloofde karakter van
die genre in stand te hou.