She Danced Alone: Jo Fourie, Songcatcher of the Groot Marico
2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/17411912.2012.659447
ISSN1741-1920
Autores Tópico(s)Musicology and Musical Analysis
ResumoWith a concertina and a ukulele in the trunk of her car, Jo Fourie—a female Dutch immigrant and widow of a prominent Afrikaner—criss-crossed South Africa in the 1950s in search of Afrikaans folk music. Fourie's documents in the National Film, Video and Sound Archives, Pretoria, tell an extraordinary tale of a collector and musician who is now all but forgotten. This article employs biography as interpretive strategy, not only to give credence to the personal meanings Fourie assigned to boeremusiek, but also to highlight the uncertain and ambiguous position of the genre within Afrikaner society of the period. It is argued that Fourie conceived of her identification with boeremusiek as a strategy of integration, when the genre's low social stature for reasons of morality, race and class would have rendered her efforts impossible. In so doing, the competing forces of aesthetic discipline and musical rapture in Fourie's boeremusiek adventures are highlighted.
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