MARK S. RADEBE

The Bantu found out how to use his lips, his tongue, and his teeth in combination with his throat and then expressed his intellect by means of recognisable vocal sounds and equally recognisable univocal sounds. . . Then his task now was to combine his intellect with his emotions: to join the words which represented to him material things and abstract ideas with his rhythm and his changes of pitch. . . Bantu music could briefly be classified as follows: Epic poetry with its war songs, patriotic, stoic, elegiac, hunting, initiation, satitic, lamentation, children's, action and working songs. We also have songs of exorcism, songs accompanying tales and games frequently introduced into the tales to embellish them, and others. . . Today we have composers like Mr. R. T. Caluza who deal with the type with a great deal of syncopated rhythm, and on the other hand Messrs Ben Tyamzashe, Moses and Seth Mphahlele, Mark Radebe, Enoch Sontonga, the Composer of the Bantu National Anthem---"Nkosi Sikelel' i-Afrika"---and others have given us music that at once appeals to one of the deepest instincts of human nature.

- Mark S. Radebe, "John Knox Bokwe Opens The Way To Bantu Talent And Art", The Bantu World, October 21, 1933.