Born Coloured : Not ‘Born-Free’
Culminating Experience Project - Benjamin Jephta
Culminating experience summary
For my culminating experience I to delve into my experience as a so-called ‘Coloured’ in
post-Apartheid, democratic South Africa. I dissect my experience and created music
centred around important themes. These themes included ‘transformation’, ‘the
coloured identity’, ‘the coloured and black relationship’ and ‘the coloured mentality’.
My aim is to inspire and create a sense of hope, empowerment and unity in the South
African experience, rather than alienating with a radical political approach. The
compositions draws musically from traditional South African styles such as the
Ghoema/Cape Jazz and Marabi music as well as modern African music idioms such as
Gqom (a style of ‘house’ music), kwaito and hip-hop.
Preface
In South Africa I am considered both coloured and born-free. Coloured is a racial
classification given to me by an apartheid government and ‘born free’ refers to the to
people born after 1994 into a ‘supposed’ free and racially undivided democratic South
Africa.
During Apartheid, all South Africans were classified into one of four racial groups based
on appearance, ethnicity, culture and socioeconomic status. Namely: ‘Black’, ‘White’,
‘Coloured’ and ‘Indian’. This was enforced by the Population Registration Act of 1950.

The term ‘Coloured’ is used to classify people of mixed heritage that includes European,
Asian and indigenous people of Southern Africa (Khoisan) lineage. These racial
classifications were used to create false divisions which perpetuated a hierarchy, used
to separate people socially, economically and politically. Today, in a democratic South
Africa, these divisions are still used and accepted.
In 1994, South Africa held its first democratic elections after Apartheid was abolished in
the early 1990s. I was born in 1992 and consequently am considered to be part of the
‘Born-Free’ generation. This refers to youth born into a free and racially undivided South
Africa. Yet we still subscribe to a ‘race-model’ implemented by a colonial Apartheid
regime – a model used to create an economically and socially unequal country.
Does being born ‘Coloured’ mean I can never truly be ‘born-free’?
For a long time, I have embraced that term. However, the uncertainty of my mixed
heritage, culture and traditions as well as this blanket term used to describe something
as complex as race, obscured the way I saw myself in a supposedly democratic
country. I have also become more aware of how ‘we’ interact in our society and how
‘we’ are viewed by fellow South Africans. These stereotypes have manifested into the
socio-economic maginalization of coloured people.
In this project I show how democratic South Africa still subscribing to the term
‘Coloured’ has caused an obscured social identity and developed into a coloured
mentality of low-self-concept and destructive thinking.

Plan of action
As far as my compositional approach: It’s in my nature to do things intuitively so when
writing the music for this project I spent a lot of time really trying to understand the
subject and made choices regarding melodies, harmonic colours and grooves mostly
based on feeling.
I also took an ‘electronically produced’ approach with some material as this informs my
musical manifesto of a modern approach to the tradition. Some of the musicians I
musicians I drew influences from include, but is not exclusive to:Terence Blanchard,
Christian Scott, Zim Ngqawana, Abdullah Ibrahim, Derrick Hodge, Moses Molelekwa,
Afrika Mkhize, Keith Jarrett, Tribe, Mark Fransman, TkZee, Kaytranada and many more.
I started composing the music in November 2018 while taking Bruno Raburg’s ‘The
Composing Performer’ class. While reading and viewing material related to the subject
matter, I slowly started to develop some musical material based on how I felt and
understood things. At this point in time I did not know what themes I wanted to centre
the work around.
Around April 2019 I decided on the most important themes and I developed the musical
sketches around these into complete works. These themes included ‘transformation’,
‘the coloured identity’, ‘the coloured and black relationship’ and ‘the coloured mentality’.
I arranged the music for a septet which included: piano, drums, percussion, electric &
double bass, trumpet/flugel horn, alto saxophone and tenor sax/flute.

i. Transformation
‘An Incomplete Transition’.
When talking about post-Apartheid South Africa we have to speak about the how the
lack of complete transformation has led to a fragile unequal society between racial/class
groups. In a recent study by the world bank group they found that South Africa is the
most economically unequal country and that racial inequality is one of the prominent
factors behind this. With ‘An Incomplete Transition’ I used this harmonically ambiguous
piano ostinato to create the expectation of something promised, but never being
delivered.
I included a quote by social commentator Dr Leonard Martin talking about abolishing
notions of race to complete the transformation process.
“Racialism is a deep decease in our social political fabric; and for the next generations,
the responsibility of our leaders in this generation is to clear the ground in order for a
healthy humanity to take place. To redesign, reconfigure our social space in order for
that equality and also human self-respect to begin to grow again”
ii. The Coloured Identity
‘The Ben-Dhlamini stomp’
Because the coloured identity is not homogenous, classifying a multiethnic group under
one label creates problems in the way we see ourselves as well as how our society
views us. With this theme I wanted to specifically focus on a part of our identity that

often gets denied. Our Africanism. Already in the population registration act (1950) we
are seen as ‘not Native’. Our Black African Identity is important since this leads to our
social-economic marginalization when it comes to reparations post-Apartheid.
The song ‘Ben-Dhlamini stomp’ was inspired by recent protests in South Africa by ‘The
First Nation Movement’, a group reclaiming their African history and advocating against
for the socio-economic exclusion of Coloured, Khoi San, and Mixed-race people.
Personally, I’ve often battled with my own identity as an African. Through many
conversations, especially one with Randy Weston in his Brooklyn home in 2016 talking
about his love and connection to Africa, as well as this book by Sylvia Vollenhoven
called ‘Keeper of the Kumm’ in which she speaks about finding belonging by listening to
messages from your ancestors in you DNA, I have decided that:
Firstly, I am African,
Politically I am Black, as a protest against this colonial classification,
And Culturally I am Coloured.
The name Ben-Dhlamini comes from a nickname I was given by some of the black
musicians in South Africa which combines my name with a Nguni name by way of
acknowledging my Black African identity. I attempted to combine these identities
together in a protest song or stomp which is created by a piano and bass ostinato figure

iii. The Coloured and Black relationship
‘Klopse Kwaito’
The created identities of Coloured and Black was part of an apartheid “divide and rule”
strategy was meant to inhibit the development of political alliances. Relations between
the two groups are frequently based on a perceived lack of similarity and a heightened
awareness of difference.
With Kwaito Klopse I plan to musically show how we are more alike than we are
different by fusing the grooves of 2 music traditions, namely the Klopse tradition and
Kwaito music as well as highlighting South Africa’s love for dance and dance music by
creating a dance track. Klopse is a minstrel tradition born out of the Abolishment of the
Cape Slave trade and is similar to the Mardi Gras tradition in New Orleans. Kwaito
music is a variant house music which features the use of African styles with electronic
samples. It emerged in the black townships of Johannesburg, South Africa, during the
1990s.
From these two grooves I developed this my own groove in 5/4, which is held together
with Danilo’s 5/4 clave. The bass and piano parts imply a 4 over 5 feel but separated by
an 8th note. I merged the Klopse and Kwaito kick and snare pattern and the melody that
is simply is taken from a pentatonic scale, characteristic of the African diaspora.

iv. The Coloured Mentality
‘Born Coloured – not ‘Born-free’ (3 part suite)
This was by far the most interesting part of my research. To understand Coloured
people’s attitude towards South Africa I looked at the ‘The South African Reconciliation
Barometer (SARB)’ which is a survey used to measure citizens’ attitudes toward social
cohesion and transformation. To understand how that attitude manifests I also looked at
race-based statistics within South Africa.
What I found is that there is a cycle perpetuating a coloured mentality of a low selfthinking. It starts with a sense of marginalization, leading to minimal class mobility,
then disillusionment in the current adminstration which leads to and an obscured
social identity which then develops this low self-concept and destructive thinking,
evident in many statistics I found: high levels of gangsterism, drug abuse, incarceration
rate, homicide rate, unemployment and a 41% Poverty Rate.
Born Coloured; not ‘Born-free’ reflects my hope for the self-empowerment of Coloured
people by breaking free from an Apartheid mentality that was meant diminish their selfworth. It is in three parts; Acceptance, Metamorphosis and Resurgence
Acceptance
‘Acceptance of who we are and what we came from, and this starts with a dialogue.’
Musically I portray this by creating a unified statement upfront to set the tone for what
is still to come

Metamorphosis
‘The process of ridding the apartheid mentality to give rise to a better sense of self.’
This lament features a cyclic melody that grows with intensity as an underscore to a
bass solo. I drew from the South African choral tradition as three voices enter
independently to create one unified sound
Resurgence
‘Reconfiguring the way people see themselves to negate the terms we were defined
by.’
It starts with a piano ostinato featuring a hopeful undertone that expands
harmonically, but the melody remains constant. The melody is simple and moves
parallel between the three horns with the lead in the alto. The horns play rhythmically
loose and make use of vibrato and glissandos to give it a vocal-like quality
characteristic of the ‘Cape Jazz’ idiom.
Results
This a conclusion I’ve come to regarding the coloured expierence in South Africa:
“I do believe that the racial inequality in South Africa is not specifically a coloured issue,
but we cannot deny peoples lived experience. What makes this issue important to me,
is that here we have people that has been denied their history and their place in South
Africa. They are trapped in terms of class and social mobility and as a minority

community, they are often overlooked. Going forward, Coloured people will have to
reimagine an identity that is not just stereotypical, but allows for different possibilities.
What's important for us as Black and Coloured South Africans is to understand these
multiplicity of identities through dialogue, so that we become aware of all the different
parts that make up our being and culture.”
Through research and musical practice this year at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute I’m
starting to make more connections between my humanity and musical expression. I’ve
become more passionate about my role as not only a musician but an activist and this
has subsequently informed the way I express myself musically. My focus has shifted
from just being a good musician to be a good person and through confronting my own
prejudices and epathic practice I’m really excited about the many possibilities that now
lies ahead of me.
How the work contributes to the profession
What I plan on doing musically is similar to what South African pianist Moses Taiwa
Molelekwa did. He managed to fuse his jazz approach with traditional South African
music as well as modern popluar styles with a more electronically produced approach.
His approach to the music seems to be the driving force behind many of young South
African musicians at the moment. Attempting to live in both the past, present and future
simultaneously.
To date, I am not aware of any musical work that is centred specifically around
Coloured Identity issues in South Africa.

Next steps
My future plans include continuing to develop my musical identity through this research.
I would also like to continue to experiment with composition as well as the ‘zero gravity’
playing concept spoken about at the institute I also have plans to record more music
with South African musicians and release this work as an album next year
I’d like to present a longer detailed version of this presentation to the public, especially
at schools and conferences centred around race/class and social justice. At the moment
is see it as an 1hr 30min presentation with a live band component
After seeing the impact music has to evoke social change this year at the institute, I
have have a long-term project that involves developing a music program specifically at
tertiary level in Cape Town that is based on the ‘Global Jazz Institute’ model. This will
be developed together with a music therapist with the aims of expanding the potential of
musicians and Instilling a sense of Social justice within their musical ethics.

Biliography
Vollenhoven, Sylvia. The keeper of the Kumm, Cape Town, Tafelberg, 2016.
Various contributors. “Apartheid” Wikipedia.org . 23 June 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
Brown, Kendrick (2000) "Coloured and Black Relations in South Africa: The Burden of
Racialized Hierarchy,"Macalester
International: Vol. 9, Article 13.
Taylor, Matthew & Roman, Nicolette & Mwaba, Kelvin & Groenewald, Candice. (2011).
Coloured Identity in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Study of the New Experience of
Personhood.
Makino, Kumkino (2013) "Public policy and transformation in South Africa after
democratisation.” http://hdl.handle.net/2344/00010218 pages 1-9.
The Advocates for Human Rights (2017), SOUTH AFRICA: Equality and Nondiscrimination Joint Stakeholder Report for the United Nations Universal Periodic
Review
Research study/survey & statistics
Institute for justice and reconciliation: SA reconciliation Barometer Survey (2014, 2015
and 2017) : http://www.ijr.org.za/resources/
World Bank Group: Republic of South Africa Systematic Country Diagnostic (2018). An
Incomplete Transition: Overcoming the legacy of exclusion in South Africa:
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/
Statistics South Africa (2017), Poverty trends in South Africa 2006-2015
Stats SA, http://www.statssa.gov.za, visited on 15 May 2019
South Africa Gateway: https://southafrica-info.com/, visited on 15 May 2019

Video
Multimedia Live (2018, October 12) “The blood of our people are calling': 'Blood Friday'
#shutdown” [video file] retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MqKQctcm4
SABC Newsroom (2016, September 13) “Coloured debate” [video file] retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSEc2-fEFKE&t=820s
Pansula dancers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vWdZI6-2-w
Capetown celebrates Minstrels Carnival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmVdndziiKk