An unsung dialogue: music, society and the history of The Flames

Park, Duncan Keith

Title: An unsung dialogue: music, society and the history of The Flames
Creator: Park, Duncan Keith
Subject: The Flames (Musical group)
Subject: Fataar, Steve
Subject: Durban (South Africa) -- History
Subject: Durban (South Africa) -- Race relations
Subject: Musical groups -- South Africa
Subject: Music -- Social aspects -- South Africa
Subject: Music -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Durban
Subject: South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1961-1978
Date: 2020
Type: text
Type: Thesis
Type: Masters
Type: MA
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/169632
Identifier: vital:41780
Description: This research aims to examine the relationship between music and social conditions within the context of apartheid . The focus area is the city of Durban, specifically 1960-1970. A case study of the multi-racial Durban-based band, The Flames 1963–1972) will be used to rigorously assess the extent to which social conditions and music can affect each other in both directions. This will also be the first coherent and historical narrative of the band, The Flames. As such, the thesis aims to make an original contribution to this field of music history, while it will provide the very first academic discussion of The Flames. South Africa during apartheid, with its racialised legislation provides an ideal context to scrutinize the effects (both potential and real) of music on social conditions. The Flames provide a particularly relevant case point; being a collective of “mixed-race” individuals classified as Coloured performing for a multi-racial fan- base. This means that at their concerts, audience members would have frequently been from a variety of different racial backgrounds. This would have been in direct contravention to the National Party‟s (NP) Separate Amenities Act as well as the policy of “separate development”, the cornerstone of apartheid. The thesis will firstly contextualise the research within the broader, global historical context, as well as in the existing theoretical literature which focuses on the relationship between music, politics and society. Firstly, this will entail a brief historical account of popular music around the world during the twentieth century. Through this we will observe both the ways in which the development and popularisation of various forms of popular music came to be shaped in a particular way, as well as the ways in which the public received this music. This will include an examination of positive responses to certain kinds of popular music which resonated and became popular with various sectors of society. Conversely, it will also closely examine the backlashes against these musical forms, and attempt to identify why certain sectors of the public were deeply opposed to particular kinds of popular music which may have been perceived to embody certain values and meanings. This will be conducted by studying various forms of popular music from the turn of the twentieth century into the early 1970s with a cross-cultural, global perspective, examining particular historical instances and existing theories relating to these instances. Chapter one will then shift from a global perspective and will situate the research within the South African musical context specifically. This will include an account of the development of South African popular music through the twentieth century in relation to the country's politics. Through examining this relationship, the dialogue between historical case studies and theoretical literature will continue, in which existing theories relating to the relationship between music, politics and society will be discussed. This theoretical literature will be made use of in the final section of the paper in order to make sense of The Flames and their role in South African history. The second section of this thesis will focus on the socio-historical context of the city of Durban under apartheid. The author will contextualise the research through a narrative historical retelling of Durban‟s social history, focusing on both political and social public mobilisation and the role of cultural spaces and practices within these his torical moments and their relevant structures. Attention will be paid to the development of segregation and apartheid within Durban specifically, while racial relations will also be fo cused upon. This will provide the reader with the necessary background required in order to meaningfully understand how the band The Flames came into existence, became popular, and whether or not they had any meaningful effect on their historical context. The section on Durban's history will be followed by a brief account of Durban's Coloured community's history, as well as a discussion around Coloured identity more broadly within the South African context. This will be vital to the research due to the fact that the musicians of The Flames were classified as Coloured under apartheid, and such an historical background will be critical to understanding the social, political and economic context of the band. Finally, the thesis will end with the written history of The Flame . This final section will provide an account of The Flames' history in which the band will be made sense of within the context of Durban during apartheid, as well as within the context of South African music, and the globalised context of popular music. By situating the band within these three contexts, we can truly assess both how they were shaped by their contexts, and whether they had any effect on these contexts of which they were a part. In this section those existing theories around the relationship between music, politics and society will be discussed and assessed in order to determine how useful a framework they may be for understanding popular music in certain historical contexts. In this way, the research aims to make a meaningful contribution to the study of music and its socio-political role throughout history, as well as to the broader understanding of Durban's history. Specifically, the role of music in Durban's history is being examined, and the researcher hopes that this work can begin to open up new discussions around the importance of studying music in Durban, and South Africa's history. Additionally, this thesis will open up a new area of research into a band which, until this point, has not been engaged with in the field of music history whatsoever. .
Format: 105 pages, pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, History
Language: English
Rights: Park, Duncan Keith

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