Jordan on the occasion of the Launch of Heritage Month at the Miriam Makeba
Performing Arts Centre, East London
1 September 2006
Honourable Premier of Eastern Cape, Madame Nosimo Balindlela
MECs here present
Vice Chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz
Your Honours, the Mayors from the Buffalo City and Amathole Districts
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
On behalf of the national Department of Arts and Culture, I would like to
express my sincere gratitude to the government and the people of the Eastern
Cape and also the University of Fort Hare for affording the Department of Arts
and Culture the opportunity to launch Heritage Month at this new centre.
Today, 1 September 2006 marks the beginning of Heritage Month 2006, with the
theme, âOur Music our Heritageâ. During this month of September the Department
of Arts and Culture pays tribute to all the musicians, the composers, the
arrangers and performers who have contributed so significantly to the
development of South Africaâs rich musical heritage.
South Africa has a rich and diverse intangible heritage that includes her
musical traditions, orature, ritual, oral history, popular memory, and
performances such as dance. Music is one of the components of that heritage
that transcends all population groups, cultural backgrounds and age groups.
Music has a significant place in our intangible heritage. It is integral to
all the rites from birth to death in every section of our population.
The music performed during the rites of passage is not merely to entertain
and to give pleasure. It is instructive; its role is to teach the participants
and audience about ancient traditions, to impart an understanding of the need
for respect, to instruct about responsibilities, and to transmit from one
generation to the next age-old customs. We perform music when a child is born;
we perform music when that child is brought into the community; we perform
music when the child reaches puberty; we perform music when the boy passes into
manhood; we perform music when two young people exchange vows of marriage; we
perform music too when the individual passes from this existence in death.
Music is the most expressive art! We use it to express emotions of love and
affection. Regrettably, we use music too to express the opposite emotion, hate.
Through music we express our commitment to each other as a community, which is
why every social unit usually has an anthem. We use music to remind ourselves
of our co-responsibility for each others as members of the same society: It is
essential for social cohesion.
Despite the critical role played by musician in our society, we cannot say
that our musicians receive their just deserts. Our musicians, like other
artists in our society, face big challenges in the areas of job security,
protection of their intellectual property rights, copyright protection and lack
of supportive networks to care for them in times of need.
Earlier we listened to a beautiful rendition of an old South African song:
Mbube. That song was appropriated by the unscrupulous operators in the
international music industry and recycled, and sold back to us in the shape of
âThe Lion Sleeps Tonightâ. When challenged, they even had the temerity to claim
it was not an act of piracy! We had to enter into a lengthy and costly
litigation to win back for the Linda family the royalties that were due to
them. The Department of Arts and Culture supported the Linda family in the
lengthy lawsuit.
Madame Premier,
I want to use this occasion to appeal to South African musicians, all our
musicians, to desist from adulterating and violating a wonderful South African
song by singing that abomination called âThe Lion Sleeps Tonightâ, Let us do
its composer the honour of rendering it as it was originally composed, as
Mbube!
The launch of Heritage Month at this new, state of the art performing arts
centre demonstrates governmentâs commitment to affirming our musicians,
especially those from the Eastern Cape.
This partnership between the Department of Arts and Culture, the Eastern
Cape Provincial Department of Sports, Arts and Culture and the University of
Fort Hare expresses the commitment of government to promoting and preserving
the musical heritage of the people of our country: And, through their music,
improving the lives of artists by making available facilities such as these
that have been installed here.
This multi-media centre, named the Miriam Makeba Performing Arts Centre will
not only focus on working and training musicians from the Eastern Cape but will
also contribute to the economy of the province by creating employment
opportunities for persons with technical aptitude and the desire to acquire
knowledge of the music industry.
This Centre is the brainchild of the Honourable Premier, Nosimo Balindlela,
who six years ago held the portfolio of MEC for Sport, Recreation, Arts and
Culture in the Eastern Cape. It is a joint project between the provincial
Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture and the University of Fort
Hare. We fortunate too that it is headed by a visionary Professor, Hotep
Galeta, himself a very talented musician.
This Centre, I am certain, will become a vibrant, diverse and economically
viable regional multi media production facility. It is in a unique position to
offer and provide high quality multi media production services and products to
the academic, the corporate, the government and the arts and culture sectors of
the province and the rest of South Africa given its state of the art pre and
post multi media production facilities.
The centre is in a good position to develop, produce, record and market the
wealth of artistic talent that exists in this province. The global arts and
cultural consumers can be enriched through the CDs, DVDs and Audio Tapes that
can be produced and marketed from here.
The establishment of a Digital Animation Production Division will enable it
also to produce digital animated cartoons and films reflective of South
Africaâs diverse culture and our experience as a people. We grew up on Tom and
Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Woody Woodpecker and cartoons from elsewhere. The
future will see cartoons depicting African stories, folktales and characters
that as universal as all the others we have come to know.
Artists will be able come and record their compositions, do their final
mixes here to bring them to a standard acceptable for release into the
mainstream of our music industry.
This yearâs Heritage Month is anchored in a series of events, all intended
to celebrate our musical heritage and to harnessing the economic potential of
South African music.
An initiative of the department to assist the music industry, Moshito, will
host a series of workshops throughout South Africa during the month of
September.
The Moshito workshops will focus on:
* career planning and networking in the music industry
* recording and marketing demo discs
* negotiating a record deals and understanding contracts
* the basics of copyright law
* artistic performances and gigs
An information booklet, aimed at artists and industry role players will be
distributed. The booklet will carry information about the workshop topics and
other industry information
The workshops will culminate in the Annual Moshito Conference on 23
September 2006, one of the national events. This conference is a joint venture
between the Department of Arts and Culture and the stakeholders in the music
industry, including music promoters and the creative workers union. It will be
forum to create a platform for up and coming musicians to network and engage in
discussions pertaining to the music industry. It will also educate artists
about their rights and how to protect their intellectual property.
The National Heritage Council will host another important event, the Ubuntu
Conference, in Middelburg, Mpumalanga on 21 September.
I think we all recall President Mbeki challenging government departments to
find ways for our cultural heritage to be harnessed for the socio-economic
development of our nation on Heritage Day when we celebrated on 24 September
2005 at Taung, in the North West province.
The Ubuntu Imbizo, hosted by the National Heritage Council, will look into
ways and means of harnessing our cultural traditions, and our indigenous
knowledge systems for the development of our economy and so contribute to
social cohesion, peace and democracy.
On 16 September, in Cape Town, we will launch South Africaâs first ever Jazz
Orchestra, led by Dr Abdullah Ibrahim.
The Heritage Month celebrations will be held on the Grand Parade in Cape
Town on 24 September. They will showcase the richness of South African music in
speeches, live performances and an exhibition at the Castle of Good Hope,
depicting the evolution of South African music from ancient times, through the
Cape Minstrels, the Malay Choirs, African choral music, mbaqanga, isicathamiya,
kwela, jazz, kwaito, and anything else our young people have invented including
genres such as hip-pop.
On 25 September, again in Cape Town, we will have a grand concert of Modern
African Music including a choir, a jazz big band and a Marimba band.
It is my sincere hope that through these different activities and programmes
for Heritage Month, South Africans of all races, cultural backgrounds,
languages and creeds will find it possible to share in each otherâs cultural
heritage as we develop a society and a nation that is as peace with itself, at
peace with its neighbours and at peace with the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour and with much pride that I name
this centre, the Miriam Makeba Performing Arts Centre.
May her name and her achievements continue to inspire the countless young
musicians who will come through these doors?
I hope we all have a very successful Heritage Month!
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
1 September 2006
