The rhetoric of reconciliation in the music of Ubu and the Truth Commission

Abstract

The rhetorical function of the music in Ubu and the Truth Commission is explored through an analysis of the songs and accompanying soundscape to reveal a problematization of the concept of reconciliation. This is achieved by emphasizing the colonial history of South Africa and undermining the explicit messages Pa Ubu delivers in his songs through instrumentation, the use of music identified with the protest movement, and through harmonic and melodic function. Particular attention is paid to the juxtaposition of instruments and sounds of the West with those of Africa or the global South, and the defamiliarization of the idea of ‘home’ and the recognition of Pa Ubu’s position of influence and power through the harmonic function of the dominant pitch and tonality.