Abstract
This exegesis is an accompaniment to the CD Cello for Africa – a collection of innovative musical compositions for cello by South African composers, commissioned to specifically explore an original sound combination by merging diverse musical cultures and instruments, thereby creating a forum for cultural interaction within the diverse South African setting. The CD recording represents the outcome of a four-year research process and a musical and personal journey with my cello into the Africa of my birth and heritage, and counts as the fourth performance towards meeting the requirements for the DMA. The purpose of the exegesis is to make explicit what the objectives of the CD project were, and to explain the methodological steps that were taken to complete it. The discussion about the works, the collaborations with composers and musicians, and the reception of the performance demonstrate how the objectives have been fulfilled. Furthermore, the exegesis explains how the research contributes to new knowledge. The process of creating the document has been one of reflection, and engages with the methodology of autoethnography. The first part explains how the project came about as a result of personal questioning of my identity as an expatriate South African. It includes a review of South African music for cello, exploring characteristics of South African music, as well as my work with selected composers, and ends with an explanation of the works I commissioned. The second part explains the process of bringing the works to performance in terms of logistics and my own performance preparations. The third part explores autoethnography as a mode of reflection and the methods associated with it. The themes that surfaced from the story about the circumstances and intentions behind the project deal with identity formation, a sense of, and a connection to, place and intercultural collaboration with reference to contemporary writing on the subjects of music, identity and place. The fourth and final part deals with the reception of the music, the personal consequences of it, and plans for further projects along the same lines.