The Class and Colour of Tone: An Essay on the Social History of Vocal Timbre

Author: Grant Olwage

Source: Ethnomusicology Forum, Volume 13, Number 2, November 2004 , pp. 203-226(24)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

The voice as timbral entity has proved especially resistant to analysis. Focusing on the voice of black South African choralism, this essay attempts to do two things: provide an account of the colonial-historical conditions - political acts and "structural aesthetics" - in which the black choral voice was fashioned, and then, through an approach one might call the "phonetics of timbre", describe that voice's sonic identity.

Keywords: Voice; Timbre; Choir; South Africa; Victorian; Race; Class; Colonialism; Resistance

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1741191042000286167

Publication date: 2004-11-01