Choice Review
The evolution of South Africa has become apparent in changes of various aspects of social, political, and economic culture in the aftermath of the apartheid regime. These changes have occupied center stage in studies of South Africa across the humanities. Olsen (Univ. of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) discusses the evolution of the practice of maskanda, a genre of Zulu folk music and dance that embodies Zulu identity. To sustain her argument, she draws on past and present performers who have used this genre to reflect social changes among the Zulu. The author presents extensive methodological discussion of prevailing ethnomusicological paradigms and theory but avoids defining maskanda. She presents it simply as a body of musical practice that emerged during the height of the apartheid era in the 1980s. Thus, maskanda becomes an ideal genre that stresses the functionality of African music whose structure and meaning are derived from its association with a cultural activity. Written in clear, simple language, Music and Social Change in South Africa is an informative book that will be useful to ethnomusicology students interested in social changes in Africa, in particular South Africa during and after apartheid. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Kazadi Wa Mukuna, Kent State University