For many years, African knowledge has always been associated with the aural traditions that have, in recent times, slowly lost its relevance in a world that is dominated by media and technology. Many social events that provided a conducive environment for the practice of aural traditions (mainly music, storytelling) have since been abolished. The shift towards a tech-based society has, in turn, meant that some African cultures and knowledge shared through aural traditions risk being lost entirely. CDs and in some rare cases videos are used as a form of preserving and cultivating the music tradition. Over and above the use of CDs and DVDs, music notation is one significant aspect that needs to be developed and utilized in a more aggressive way to preserve and make African music knowledge more accessible to the younger generation. Notating African music will allow it to exists in platforms that were initially not favourable to its existence but agreeable to the forms of acquiring knowledge today. JIWE Publishers aims to create an online platform (Online African Music Library) in which broader African music (all genres, from historical up to modern genres) can be archived in written format. The online African music library will make it possible to access the music beyond local and regional existing archives.
Jiwe Publishers is the joint effort of Dr Andile Khumalo and Bernett Nkwayi Mulungo
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