Marching to Pretoria
McBride, Jerry
popularized in American by Josef Marais. Who is marching, and why? Does it
have any overtones of apartheid? I've checked the Great Song Thesaurus, 2nd
ed. and the Book of World Famous Music, 4th ed. with no luck.
Jerry McBride, Music Librarian Music Library
Jerry....@middlebury.edu Center for the Arts
(802) 443-5217 Middlebury College
Fax: (802) 443-2057 Middlebury, VT 05753-6177
http://www.middlebury.edu/~lib/musiclib/musiclib.html
*************************************************************************
To leave MLA-L, send the command SIGNOFF MLA-L to
LIST...@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU or send an e-mail message to
MLA-L-...@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU. To suspend mail temporarily, send the
command SET MLA-L NOMAIL to LIST...@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU.
pap...@wku.edu
Just a hint, to help you in your search for the origin of the song
"Marching to Pretoria": try works about children's songs. It is a
children's song. I remember singing it in music class in grade school.
Penny Papangelis
Western Ky. Univ.
Karen Weiss
> Does anyone know the origin of the song, Marching to Pretoria. It was
> popularized in American by Josef Marais. Who is marching, and why? Does it
> have any overtones of apartheid? I've checked the Great Song Thesaurus, 2nd
> ed. and the Book of World Famous Music, 4th ed. with no luck.
>
> Jerry McBride, Music Librarian Music Library
> Jerry....@middlebury.edu Center for the Arts
> (802) 443-5217 Middlebury College
> Fax: (802) 443-2057 Middlebury, VT 05753-6177
> http://www.middlebury.edu/~lib/musiclib/musiclib.html
>
This was discussed on the Stumpers list. I enclose two messages that were
posted.
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 22:27:44 +0000
From: "T. F. Mills" <tom...@du.edu>
To: Stump...@crf.cuis.edu
Subj: Re: marching to Pretoria
Charles Cody's
> > Patron is seeking background info. on the song Marching To
> > Pretoria. We've found in the Girl Scout song book, SING TOGETHER,
> > that it's attributed to Josef Marais. But our patron want more --
> > is it connected with some event? When was it written?
Robin suggested the song is about the Voortrek ("Great Trek" of
1835-37). If so, the relationship would be indirect. The Trekkers
founded the Orange Free State in 1854 and the Transvaal Republic in
1856. Pretoria, founded in 1855, became the capital of Transvaal
and later of South Africa. Andreas Pretorius was a leader of the
Trek, and Marthinus Pretorius first president of Transvaal. The
Great Trek, a seminal event in Afrikaner history, is reenacted every
year. So, "Marching to Pretoria" cannot be directly about the Trek
since Pretoria did not exist then.
The words of the song "Marching to Pretoria" are pretty innocuous.
It is more of a contra dance than a political message. I suspect the
folksong originated after the Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902, and
probably after the Union of 1910, as an accompaniment to the annual
Trek celebrations. (I am not sure when the latter started.)
During the war of 1899-1902 the British were initially overwhelmed
but took the offensive in 1900, and, pretty much following the route
of the Trek, conquered the Orange Free State and Transvaal, occupying
Pretoria on 5 June 1900. Since "Marching to Pretoria" is also sung
in Afrikaner, I doubt it has any relevance to the British conquest.
T(rekking) F(orvaarts) Mills
tom...@du.edu (University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA)
http://www.du.edu/~tomills
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 17:34:37 -0600
From: "Dennis K. Lien" <Dennis....@tc.umn.edu>
To: Joel Shimberg <shim...@poboxes.com>, stump...@crf.cuis.edu
Subj: % marching to Pretoria
At 03:23 PM 1/19/99 -0500, Joel Shimberg wrote:
>On 17 Jan 99, Charles Cody wrote:
>
>> Patron is seeking background info. on the song Marching To
>> Pretoria. We've found in the Girl Scout song book, SING TOGETHER,
>> that it's attributed to Josef Marais. But our patron want more --
>> is it connected with some event? When was it written? . . . etc.
>> thanks.
>
>Joseph Marais and (his wife?) Miranda were popular in USA in the 50s as
>singers of South African songs. I think that this song is likely to predate
>Mr. Marais, and that it's likely that credit should be limited to
>translation.
>
>Joel Shimberg
This WorldCat record suggests that Marais wrote it based on a folk
song; divide credit as you wish...
ACCESSION: 11791868
AUTHOR: Marais, Josef, 1905-1978.
TITLE: Josef Marais and Miranda revisit the South African veld
PLACE: New York, N.Y. :
PUBLISHER: Decca Records,
YEAR: 1959
PUB TYPE: Recording
FORMAT: 1 sound disc : 33 1/3 rpm, stereo ; 12 in.
NOTES: Original compositions based on South African folk songs.
All compositions by Josef Marais except Henrietta's wedding, by
Josef Marais and Albert Diggenhof.
Program notes by Josef Marais on container.
Sung by Josef Marais and Miranda Marais ; with the Bushveld Band.
Henrietta's wedding -- Here am I -- Marching to Pretoria --
Siembamba -- Jan Pieriewiet -- Auntie Mina's cooking the sirup --
Pretty Kitty -- There's the cape-cart -- The Zulu warrior --
Meisiesfontein --Old Johnnie Goggabee -- Polly, Polly -- How
lovely cooks the meat -- As the sun goes down -- Oh brandy leave
me alone -- Around the corner (Beneath the berry tree).
MUSIC NO: DL 78811; Decca
Oldest records I found for the song in WorldCat were an uncertain c.1941
or a more confidently dated 1942
ACCESSION: 10401408
TITLE: Songs from the veld, vol. 2
PLACE: New York :
PUBLISHER: Decca,
YEAR: 1942
PUB TYPE: Recording
FORMAT: 4 discs : 78 rpm, mono. ; 10 in. + 1 pamphlet ( 12Ø p. : ill. ;
22 cm.)
NOTES: Title from container.
Song lyrics and program notes, in part by Marais, in pamphlet in
container.
Josef Marais and his Bushveld Band.
Marching to Pretoria -- My heart is so sad -- There's the cape-
cart -- Meisiesfontein -- Siembamba -- "Ai, ai" the pied crow cry
-- As the sun goes down -- Jan Pieriewiet -- There comes Alibama -
- Train to Kimberley.
MUSIC NO: A-302 (18230--18233); Decca
unless (unlikely) the specific cut on the following preceded 1941/2:
ACCESSION: 28835500
TITLE: Folk song America
a 20th century revival. 1
PLACE: Washington, DC :
PUBLISHER: Smithsonian Collection of Recordings : Produced in association
with Sony Music Special Products,
YEAR: 1991 1919
PUB TYPE: Recording
FORMAT: No. 1 of 4 sound discs (70 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
NOTES: Smithsonian Collection of Recordings: RD 046-1. Additional no. on
label and container: A-22062.
Folk songs, and popular music in folk tradition.
Title on container spine: Folk song America I.
Compact disc.
Also issued as analog discs (R 046) and cassettes (RC 046).
Various vocal and instrumental performers.
Recorded between May 1, 1919, and Dec. 4, 1955.
<snip>
Liner notes on this last, or on earlier records, would likely give more
information on source. (We have the Smithsonian set, though not in
my library building; we don't have the Marais albums.)
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // d-l...@tc.umn.edu
Please accept my apologies for the length of this posting.
Karen Weiss
--
Information Center of the Black Gold Cooperative Library System
c/o Santa Barbara Public Library
P.O. Box 1019
Santa Barbara, CA 93102
Tel: (805)963-1397 Fax: (805)962-1840
"We look for things."--Grebnedlog in "Star Trek: The Next Generation",
"Samaritan Snare" episode