MUSICAL FUTURES: SINGING FUTURES INTO BEING By Marguerite Coetzee
I
F the future were a song, what song would it be? Or rather,
Below is an excerpt from those findings:
if the future were like a song, what would it sound like? Consider, for a moment, how different the future would seem if we were to think of the future as something that is
The Johnny and Sipho duo of the 1970s was born in a time of police control, border wars, and a racially divided nation. They
creatively composed and collectively heard, but individually
sang in small, private venues; their collaboration against the
decoded and intelligently entangled with meaning; adaptable
law. They then formed the multi-racial band, Juluka, in the 1980s
and enigmatic, imaginative and improvisational, harmonious
with their music preserving the traditional Maskandi genre
and enduring. Music - like the future - can be personal,
and giving a voice to a largely silenced population, and their
practical, and even political. To illustrate this, I experimented
shows being raided by police. Sipho then left the band to return
(Coetzee, 2019) at the intersection of creativity and Futures
to a life of farming, and Johnny went on to create the cross-
Studies to see what could emerge. Focusing on South Af rican
over band, Savuka, in the 1990s, which seemed to mirror the
musician and anthropologist, Johnny Clegg, I explored the
transition in South Africa; the country crossing over into a new
nodes and networks of his musical career; his lyrical stories,
era and starting to see more interaction between its previously
ethnographic performances, and prophetic songs.
segregated parts. After the death of a band member in political
Familiar to many futurists is the Sigmoid Curve (or the
violence – during this time of transition – Savuka disbanded.
S-Curve); a ‘curve of life’. By mapping Clegg’s musical
Johnny Clegg then took on a solo career in the 2000s, his music
career onto this curve, it exposed the contextual conditions
becoming more multifaceted as if to incorporate the growing
that potentially contributed to his sustained success and
trend of globalisation. He incorporated styles from around the
continuous transformation as an artist; changing with
world – Hindi, French, Celtic, and others. He sang of the influence
and adapting to the times to meet new needs, expressing
of technology, of uncertain futures, of loss of tradition, and other
new experiences and ideas, and dreaming new futures and
topics that were relevant during this time of national growth,
possibilities (Coetzee, 2019, p. 4-5).
followed by gradual decline (Coetze, 2019, p. 5).
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HUMAN FUTURES
