Challenges Experienced by South African Indigenous Musicians: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Framed within social constructivism theory, this article argued that government, organisations, and stakeholders could foster and promote collaboration, community engagement, cultural recognition and policy advocacy to address the socio-economic challenges faced by Indigenous African musicians. With an increasing number of indigenous African musicians who greatly contribute to the country’s cultural landscape, South Africa is well renowned for its incredibly rich and diversified heritage of music. However, due to modern influences and globalisation, there are growing concerns that indigenous African musicians are facing significant obstacles in the music industry that have implications for preserving and promoting cultural heritage. A sensitive endeavour that calls for careful navigation and adaptation is balancing classical aspects with modern musical genres. It was against this background that this article set out to critically discuss and raise awareness of the challenges experienced by South African Indigenous musicians. A qualitative research method was adopted together with critical discourse analysis as the primary methodology. The findings of this article pointed out that indigenous African musicians face several socio-economic challenges in pursuing their artistic careers. The findings of this article affirmed that there is a need to empower indigenous African musicians through educational programmes and financial support from various stakeholders to preserve South African culture, identity, and indigenous languages in the globalised world. Keywords: Cultural Heritage, Indigenous African Musicians, Indigenous Languages, Socio-economy, Sociomusicology