South Africa today is a beautiful place full of plants and animals. Before this all was here South Africa was a place full of apartheid and segregation. According to the dictionary apartheid is a system of segregation that divides people by race. Now Nelson Mandela would one day change it all and end apartheid in 1994 it would all change. Nelson Mandela a young man was accused of a lot of things and one of them was a crime. He was accused of treason. When he was younger he had been accused of trying to overthrow a state following the rivonia trial in 1962. He was sentenced to life in prison but was let out in 1990. After spending 27 years in prison, in 1994 he had started making negotiations to end apartheid and he did. He finally did it and put an end to segregation as well. After that he was voted for first black president of south africa and easily won.
Now He was president he made sure everyone got equality throughout the country concerning opportunities to become a teacher or anything else academic for black people this was revolutionary, they could enjoy life and be anything their heart desired. South Africa was a totally different place before apartheid ended. In education black people could not be educated the way they could be and they were not allowed inside certain schools. Now it is well known that people in South africa have the well opportunity to be smarter beyond belief. Thanks to Nelson Mandela being president he made sure that they would no longer be underestimated by their power of knowledge. In South Africa during apartheid people barely even owned homes only white people did. Mandela changed that by making sure that everyone is treated equally and should have their own homes and land. In South Africa many things changed including the amount of segregation. In the days of apartheid racism has shot to the roof. But now in today racism has lowered itself and some parts of it are peaceful.
In Mandela’s younger days he went to prison but that is what made him drive even harder towards his goal of permanently taking down the world changer known as apartheid.He couldn’t do it alone,he needed a team he got some activist together and then officially formed the African National Congress in South Africa or this team is known as the A.N.C.So the “father of Africa” has now joined a team that would take down apartheid.The ANC’s move to end apartheid wasn’t easy,in fact it would be the hardest thing they would do in their quest to end apartheid make a compromise or negotiation to end apartheid and make the world a better place.At least it wasn’t hard as it was for the apartheid leaders.Through all they been through the ANC lost people they cared about fought for freedom went to jail and through it all it came to this,the end of apartheid.It took half their lives but apartheid was gone.Thanks to Nelson and the A.N.C.Nelson Mandela finally got peace and no more war for the ANC.
In South Africa it has many amazing traits but the one I mainly know is the wonderful music of it.In South Africa it has many great sources of music including the instruments.The ones I am familiar with is the percussion or (drums)of South Africa.The bongos ,balafon and jembe are all percussion instruments.These instruments are so amazing because the tone you can make it sounds the way you feel.In South Africa the instrument named balafon is just like the american xylophone.There is also a instrument called the talking drum.https.“10 Most Popular African Musical Instruments.” Answers Africa, Answers Africa, 3 May 2018, answersafrica.com/african-musical-instruments.html. These instruments remind me a lot of american instruments. In South Africa music can start a lot of different dances but in this case the most fun dance music can start in South Africa is Alingo. This dance is fun and gets your body moving. In the part of the talking drum it is mostly made of wood and some other instruments also have wood added. In the U.S.A, the instruments can be made of metal or wood but mostly metal. In the first days of South Africa music was what they had to bring their spirits up and I still think it does. In the new days of South Africa,their music is going world wide and although I don’t speak their language I sure do like the beat.
In South Africa music is most likely the key to everyone’s hearts and soul. In my ears music is just the key to everyone’s heart. In south Africa I love the amount of music in the different areas. The talking drum has to be my favorite South African instrument,but I also like the bongos. In Africa there are many different types of music but the one that most likely touches my heart is the instruments not the voice because the music from the instruments make the background and that builds up and makes the voice sound like it is the perfect tone of the music and that is what influences the voice. I hear that in the U.S.A and in South African music. It may even be in music all around the world. What I also found out is that there are 2 different types of south african music scenes.One is by the white people singing songs from some Europeans and the other is music from the black people making songs of rejoice and dancing and clapping.Also south african music can consist of jazz and the blues.South African music has became a complete icon-ic mixture of songs and chants and dances,I mean rare singers can sing and dance at the same time.In South Africa the most known percussion instrument is the talking drum.The fact that the instrument is made of wood is good.That just shows that people in the USA don’t need a iphone or metal to make a cool instrument.
There are so many icons that use instruments to make their songs sound better.Like one person I know is Hugh Masekela he has sold over 49 albums in between 1962 and 2016.Another is a person of royal blood,”South African Music Award winning singer, pianist, dancer and performer Toya Delazy is the granddaughter of Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the great-granddaughter of Princess Magogo, a Zulu Princess and traditional Zulu composer.”The mamokhorong was a single-string violin that was used by the Khoi in their own music-making and in the dances of the colonial centre, Cape Town, which rapidly became a melting pot of cultural influences from all over the world.”In my favorite instrument known as percussion I found out South Africa’s main instrument is percussion.That is why I love the bongos at my school because I felt some kind of connection between me and the instrument and I learned more about it and found out it was from South Africa.To be In south Africa the music will get people hyped and out of their seats and dancing so when I actually get there that will most likely happen to me.In South Africa music was a way to happiness but it originated from the thoughts of slaves who always had perseverance.
This trip is important to me because I want to know how it feels to adapt to a whole other place.Going to this place will test how I react to being pushed out of my own comfort zone.This place will let me know how it feels when mexican,africans and ect feel when they go to a whole nother place that we only see in the internet and get to actually be there.In south africa there will be many landscapes that I have never seen before but imagined.I want to see where some of my ancestors were and hear their cultural sounds of music with dancing.I want to be one of those kids who got that opportunity to be somewhere they may never see again because you only have one life.This will impact me and how I raise my family as they need to actually work hard for things that they want and go for it because South Africans work hard with their hands to make instruments including kids that are our age in that place.They don’t have the resources that us lazy american kids use as another one of our electronics.The way they live is a good way for them to influence our life and make our hearts wider.
What I’m expecting to gain is the fact that actually my hypothesis is not proven until I actually get there. In South Africa some of the geography is strange but if I get there I actually find it’s background history and I may get a better understanding. I also want to gain something else,the information is partly,but most of all it is the cultural experiences in South Africa. The music the, chants, the songs and all the rest it has to offer is all I need for the perfect place to be. The instruments are insanely cool also. This is exactly why I want to be in South Africa.
Works Cited
- https://www.history.com/topics/africa/nelson-mandela
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nelson-mandela-released-from-prison
- https://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/anc-and-early-development-apartheid-1948-1950s
- https://www.thoughtco.com/when-did-apartheid-end-43456
- https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography
- https://www.nelsonmandela.org/
