Hybrid ‘Authenticities’ in youth popular culture: performing costume and identity in the work of South Africa’s Sho Madjozi

Abstract

The professional stage act of one of South Africa’s newest musical prodigies, Sho Madjozi, may be analysed as a quintessential Afropolitan example of the innovative and hybrid combination of music, costume, and dance in urban youth popular culture in Africa. This paper analyses the dynamic intersection between costume, music, and dance, presenting it as a crucial site where urban youth popular culture can reimagine tradition, while simultaneously demonstrating that contemporary African cultural identities exist in a constant state of flux. The paper borrows from scholarly insights on hybridity, identity, the Afropolitan and popular culture, as well as other writings in youth agency and popular culture, to argue that South Africa’s Sho Madjozi belongs with a tradition of contemporary urban youth performance culture that continuously resurrects and destabilises elements of the past as it reimagines the future. Sho Madjozi’s unique style as a rap artist in Tsonga is presented as an illustration of the progressive role that contemporary urban youths in Africa can play as proponents of cultural preservation, even as they stand at the cross-roads between the old and the new.

Le numéro de scène professionnel de l'un des plus récents prodiges musicaux d'Afrique du Sud, Sho Madjozi, peut être analysé comme un exemple afropolitain par excellence du mariage innovant et hybride entre la musique, le costume et la danse dans la culture populaire des jeunes citadins d’Afrique. Cet article analyse l'intersection dynamique entre le costume, la musique et la danse comme un carrefour essentiel où la culture populaire urbaine des jeunes peut réimaginer la tradition tout en, dans le même temps, reconstruisant les identités culturelles africaines contemporaines comme quelque chose qui est en constante évolution. L'article emprunte des éclairages savants sur l'hybridité, l'identité, la culture afropolitaine et populaire ainsi que d'autres écrits sur les agences de jeunesse et la culture populaire pour affirmer que Sho Madjozi d'Afrique du Sud appartient à une tradition de culture contemporaine de la performance des jeunes citadins qui ressuscite et déstabilise continuellement des éléments du passé tout en ré-imaginant l'avenir. Le style unique de Sho Madjozi, artiste de rap à Tsonga, est présenté comme une illustration du rôle progressiste que les jeunes citadins contemporains en Afrique peuvent jouer pour la préservation culturelle alors même qu'ils se trouvent au carrefour entre l'ancien et le nouveau.

Keywords:

• (Re)construction
• Afropolitan
• hybridity
• costume
• identity
• youth
• authenticity

Mots clés:

• (Re)construction
• Afropolitain
• hybridité
• costume
• identité
• jeunesse
• authenticité

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Statement of Ethics

At the time this study was conducted, Tshwane University of Technology did not require ethical approval to be sought for this type of research.

Notes

1 Available at https://hadithi.africa/2019/12/06/sho-madjozi-preserving-the-tsonga-culture-and-language-through-music/ (accessed 15 February 2020).

2 Available at https://hadithi.africa/2019/12/06/sho-madjozi-preserving-the-tsonga-culture-and-language-through-music/ (accessed 15 February 2020).

3 Available at https://hadithi.africa/2019/12/06/sho-madjozi-preserving-the-tsonga-culture-and-language-through-music/ (accessed 15 February 2020).

4 Available at https://hadithi.africa/2019/12/06/sho-madjozi-preserving-the-tsonga-culture-and-language-through-music/ (accessed 15 February 2020).

5 Available at https://hadithi.africa/2019/12/06/sho-madjozi-preserving-the-tsonga-culture-and-language-through-music/ (accessed 15 February 2020).

6 Available at Kenz (@Bokenza1) December 23, 2019.

7 Available at TheSmirk (@MooseMuesli) December 23, 2019.

8 Available at Precious T(@TP_Shangisa) December 23, 2019.

9 Available at Hunadi’a Malope! (@Feto_D) December 23, 2019.

10 Quoted by Browning-de Villiers, Sarah (20 March 2019). ‘#HERitage: Sho Madjozi on Braids’. Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 5 July 2013.

11 Available on YouTube https://YouTube.com/watch?v=fljooogkY8/ShoMadjoziChampionsLeague–Ep1Shibelaniauditions (Accessed on 1 March 2020).