David Bellin Coplan, In Township Tonight! South Africa's black city music and theatre (ond edition). Chicago IL and London: University of Chicago Press (pb $26.00 – 978 0 22611 567 2; hb $67.50 – 978 0 22611 566 5). 2008, 472 pp.
In 1985 the first edition of In Township Tonight! was received with plaudits for its breadth and originality, but also words of caution over bias and naïvety. These reviews seem to have been taken on board by Coplan in the production of the second, and much expanded (to 472 from 288 pages), edition of his seminal text (indeed, he remarks on being struck by his naïvety and arrogance when re-reading his first edition). This new text is prefaced by an acknowledgement that it is not an exhaustive compendium but provides a story of black performing arts in South Africa. In this endeavour Coplan undoubtedly succeeds.
In Township Tonight! develops a historical narrative of black urban music and theatre (although the latter is given much less attention than the former) from the nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. The attention to detail lavished on the historical sections is commendable as Coplan blends together narratives of politics and popular culture, highlighting tensions around music, religion, class, region and the quest to be recognized as ‘civilized’. The histories of competing local rural and urban influences, as well as those of the West, are considered and the negotiations and appropriations from these are shown as integral to the complexities of black city music in South Africa.
The mélange of performance styles and cultural identities that Coplan identifies reflects the complex and interwoven social fabric of South African life. Of particular interest is the examination of the tensions in relations between black music/musicians and politics, in terms of the constraints and restraints placed on music and musicians by politics and legislation, but also of music's role as a political tool and of music venues acting as sites of resistance politics. In this arena, Coplan does well in identifying and explaining the tightrope musicians had to walk between political activism and social commentary and being banned by the government whilst appealing to (and satisfying) their audiences.
Whilst Coplan has made efforts to expand his consideration of black theatre in South Africa, the focus firmly remains on music. The two chapters focusing on black theatre are detailed in their own right, but do not possess the same depth of knowledge. He also acknowledges the contribution made by choreographers in the closing section of the book, whilst noting that his brief discussion of them is inadequate.
One area of slight weakness is post-Apartheid black youth music culture. The new chapters, bringing the second edition up to date, cover many aspects of music and theatre in the last twenty years. It is surprising that only twelve pages are focused on urban youth culture. Whilst he does cover the Ngema controversy, there is relatively little detail on kwaito and South African hip-hop – whilst the sparse coverage of hip-hop may be due to this genre's association with the ‘coloured’ population, sections of Coplan's critique of the absence of politics in post-Apartheid music would be enhanced by greater engagement with this genre, and with youth music culture in general.
Overall, Coplan offers an illuminating and intensely detailed examination of the complexities and ambiguities of black urban music and theatre in South Africa. The ways in which negotiations of ethnic, regional, class, residential and other ties produce articulations of individual and group identification in urban spaces are fascinating. The text begins to engage in important debates around the elusive and changing meaning of ‘traditional’ (p. 312) and of the need for the term ‘black theatre’ (p. 392). Coplan notes the need to move beyond staid ideas of tradition in African music and performance as authentic and to embrace the dynamism and heterogeneity of products that arise from collaborations, appropriations and negotiations – to recognize that the products are African because Africans choose to perform them. The commentary and analysis in the concluding chapter provide fertile ground for scholars interested in popular culture, politics and identity.
This second edition will appeal to a wide audience including ethnomusicologists, historians and sociologists, as well as those with a general interest in (South) African music. Although written for an educated non-specialist audience, the level of detail in the book makes it a vital reference for specialists. At the same time, the density of material (overwhelming in places, and sections can read as lists of people, places and performances) and extensive use of technical vocabulary can make the text cumbersome at times. The inclusion of images, songs and music scores helps illuminate the material covered.
