“Don’t Frack with Our Karoo”: Water, Landscape, and Congregational Song in Kroonvale, South Africa

Abstract

There is a new environmental threat to the South African Karoo region in the form of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) for natural gas reserves buried deep underground. In this article, I use the issue of fracking in the Karoo to investigate the power of this landscape over its people and focus particularly on the question of how the cultural traditions of the Karoo would be affected. In contrast, W.J.T. Mitchell argues that landscape exerts a relatively weak power over its residents. My work serves as a critique of theories that see landscape as exerting only marginal influence over people. I argue that not only does landscape exert a palpable power over its inhabitants, but also that landscape affects the musical traditions of these residents and, ultimately, the configuration of the Karoo soundscape. To investigate this, I draw on my research of music in three churches with coloured people’s membership in the town of Graaff-Reinet and examine this tradition in the context of its surrounding landscape.

Keywords:

• Karoo
• fracking
• coloured people
• religious singing
• music and place
• music and space
• music and landscape

Notes

¹ Nixon, Dreambirds, 54.

² The typical vegetation of the Karoo (low-lying scrub bushes and drought-resistant succulents) covers about a third of South Africa's total land area (395,000 km²). It is split into three areas, the Great Karoo and the Little Karoo, in the areas of the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces and the Upper Karoo in the Northern Cape region. Farmers raise livestock (mainly sheep, goats, cattle, and ostriches) or cultivate crops (mainly fruit and grains) as the principal trades of the area. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Karoo”.

³ For commentary on the eccentricity of Karoo décor, see Graham, “Karoo Voodoo.”

⁴ For a discussion of the underground versus surface aspects of the city of Johannesburg, see Nuttall, Entanglement, 83–4.

⁵ Mitchell, Landscape and Power, vii.

⁶ While the Cape population census of 1892 defined “coloured” as all non-European people, the census of 1904 distinguished between three racial groups namely, “white,” “black,” and “coloured.” Mohamed Adhikari states, however, that the term “coloured” became standardized from the 1880s onwards. Goldin, Making Race, 12–3; and Adhikari, Burdened by Race, xi.

⁷ Mitchell, Landscape and Power, x.

⁸ Casey, “How to Get from Space to Place,” 24.

⁹ Ibid., 34.

¹⁰ Ibid., 24–5.

¹¹ Ibid., 38.

¹² Ibid., 37.

¹³ Mitchell, Landscape and Power, x.

¹⁴ For explanation of “feminized space,” see Muller, Rituals of Fertility, xviii.

¹⁵ Wylie, Landscape, 2–11.

¹⁶ Ibid., 8–9.

¹⁷ See publications by Bender, Landscape; Mitchell, Landscape and Power; Hirsch and O’Hanlon, The Anthropology of Landscape; and Feld and Basso, Senses of Place in reference section. A growing body of work on music and place has also emerged over the last two decades (see works by Stokes, Ethnicity, Identity and Music; Leyshon, Matless, and Revill, The Place of Music; Bandt, Duffy, and MacKinnon, Hearing Places; and Solomon, “Dueling Landscapes” in reference list). Although not focused on music and place per se, the collection by Bull and Back (The Auditory Culture Reader) does contain work on this issue and the theme is mentioned in its introduction. Publications by Grimley (“Music, Landscape, Attunement”) and Ingram (The Jukebox in the Garden) focus on the topic of ecocriticism, namely, the use of music to highlight environmental issues. See also the Ecomusicology website, http://www.ams-esg.org/.

¹⁸ Mitchell, Landscape and Power, 2.

¹⁹ Schafer, Tuning of the World, 7, 274.

²⁰ Ibid., 9.

²¹ Ibid., 9–10.

²² Ibid.

²³ See Feld, Sound and Sentiment.

²⁴ Feld, “A Rainforest Acoustemology,” 226; see also Feld, “Waterfalls of Song.”

²⁵ Feld, “A Rainforest Acoustemology,” 226.

²⁶ Ibid., 229.

²⁷ Ibid.

²⁸ Feld, “A Rainforest Acoustemology,” 227; and Levin, Where Rivers and Mountains Sing, 95, 98.

²⁹ Ibid., 95.

³⁰ Although the presence of slaves also affected the types of population in this region, historians generally believe that their circumstances and lower numbers did not allow for a significant influence on those around them. There is evidence that the slaves attended the Dutch Reformed Mission Church school, which means they most likely attended church services as well and gradually assimilated the religious singing traditions of the white colonists and their Khoisan servants. Armstrong and Worden, “The Slaves,” 146–8; and Minnaar, Graaff-Reinet, 111.

³¹ Jorritsma, Sonic Spaces of the Karoo, chapters 1 and 3; see also Muller, “Archiving Africanness in Sacred Song.”

³² Rodman, “Empowering Place,” 643; see also Feld and Basso, Senses of Place, 5.

³³ Leon Barendse, interview with author, November 11, 2004; and West, “Oosstraat-kerk was eers in wolstoor gehuisves.”

³⁴ June Bosch, interview with author, August 19, 2004; and Virginia Christoffels, interview with author, October 28, 2005.

³⁵ Rodman, “Empowering Place,” 643.

³⁶ My thanks to Angela Impey who provided useful insights on the literal and figurative notions of fracturing when I presented this work at the recent Hearing Landscapes Critically conference held in Oxford, United Kingdom.

³⁷ See Jorritsma, Sonic Spaces, ch. 2.

³⁸ See Jorritsma, Sonic Spaces.

³⁹ Titon, “Sustainability and Music.”

⁴⁰ The concern about endangered musics is similar to that of endangered languages. UNESCO estimates that, “if nothing is done, half of the 6000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century.” UNESCO, “Endangered Languages.”

⁴¹ John 5: 1–9. For further information and a multimedia example of this chorus, see Jorritsma, Sonic Spaces, 102; and the website, http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/em/Jorritsma/910014, respectively.

⁴² Steingraber, “Ode to Marcellus”; see also Steingraber, Raising Elijah.

⁴³ Pitock, “In Arid South African Lands.”

⁴⁴ Pitock, “In Arid South African Lands”; Galbraith, “Seeking Disclosure on Fracking”; and Vermeulen, “Observations” lecture.

⁴⁵ Fox, Gasland. Various parties have objected to Gasland's connection between the methane in taps and fracking; instead, this can be caused by migration of methane either naturally or through drilling, for example coal mining. My understanding is that as fracking involves drilling, there nevertheless remains a plausible link. Philips, “Flaming Taps.”

⁴⁶ Loeb, “Fracking Can Cause Small Earthquakes”; Paige, “Blackpool Earthquake Tremors”; Mahoney, “Oklahoma Earthquake Recharges Fracking Debate”; and Shahan, “Oklahoma Earthquake & Fracking.”

⁴⁷ Sikhakhane, “Karoo Shale Gas Seen as Energy Option”; and Pitock, “In Arid South African Lands.”

⁴⁸ Westby-Nunn, Graaff-Reinet, 146; and SouthAfrica.info, “South Africa's Weather and Climate.”

⁴⁹ Sapa, “Prof: Fracking Will Cause Water Pollution.”

⁵⁰ Vermeulen, “Observations” lecture.

⁵¹ Du Toit and Dugmore, “Battle for the Karoo,” 33 and 35.

⁵² Vella, “Food and Water Security in South Africa.”

⁵³ Du Toit and Dugmore, “Battle for the Karoo,” 33.

⁵⁴ Reuters, “SKA Success May Threaten Fracking Plans.”

⁵⁵ Davies, “South Africa Eyes SKA Telescope.”

⁵⁶ SKA Africa, “South Africa is the Ultimate Site for the SKA”; and SKA-Nuus, “Moratorium op hidrobreking verwelkom,” 2. For additional web sources on fracking in the Karoo, see http://www.1485.org.za/1485Frameset2.html.

⁵⁷ Du Toit and Dugmore, “Battle for the Karoo,” 32–3. See also the TKAG website, http://treasurethekaroo.co.za/.

⁵⁸ Ibid., 34. There is also musical resistance in the form of singer, Koos Kombuis, and the Karoo “shaman,” Antoinette Pienaar, who have begun performing anti-fracking songs. Ibid. See also Van Schoor, “Fracking is Not an Option”; and TKAG, “Videos and Songs.”

⁵⁹ Du Toit and Dugmore, “Battle for the Karoo,” 33 and 35.

⁶⁰ June Bosch, telephone conversation with author, November 2011.

⁶¹ Rupert restored the building and it is now known as the Hester Rupert Art Museum. Minnaar, Graaff-Reinet, 92; and Hester Rupert Art Museum, “Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet.”

⁶² Rupert, “Shell Lied to Us Once.”

⁶³ Sapa, “Shabangu Stops Fracking.”

⁶⁴ Pressly, “Group Set to Take State to Court.”

⁶⁵ Jorritsma, Sonic Spaces, 59–60 and 114–5.

⁶⁶ Attali, Noise, 3.

⁶⁷ Ibid., 27.

⁶⁸ Ibid., 3.

⁶⁹ Archer, “Technology and Ecology in the Karoo,” 675.

⁷⁰ Ibid., 696.

⁷¹ One of the main modifications was the removal of all internal fences in order to allow the game to roam freely within the farm's borders.

⁷² As the natural predator of jackals and red cats is the now-extinct Karoo leopard, the abundant supply of livestock and lack of predators has caused an unprecedented growth of the population numbers of these animals.

⁷³ Day men are hired for short periods of farm work, but are not full-time employees.

⁷⁴ Similarly, Graaff-Reinet itself has also seen change. It originated in the late eighteenth century as a humble village that offered little to its residents, forcing them to travel to Cape Town to obtain supplies. For a brief period (1795–6), Dutch-speaking farmers declared Graaff-Reinet as a republic independent from British rule. In the nineteenth century, it grew in size and scope, becoming a significant market town in the district. After an economic boom in the 1850s, its status gradually declined and currently, although it is still an important center for its community, the town relies mainly on income from tourists and travelers. See Jorritsma, Sonic Spaces, 24, 32–3.

⁷⁵ Feld, “Voices of the Rainforest,” 139.

⁷⁶ Rupert, “Shell Lied to Us Once.”

⁷⁷ I am indebted to Daniel Grimley for his perceptive comments on “flow” when I presented this work at the Hearing Landscapes Critically conference. See also Wylie, Landscape, 199.