A personal reflection on the Moerane Project 2013-2020

Abstract

This personal reflection on the Andrew Mellon-M.M. Moerane Digital Scholarly Edition (https://african-composers-edition.co.za/edition/michael-mosoeu-moeranescholarly-critical-edition) focuses on the context and production of a nearly 700-page new edition of African music scores. It explains this major new edition’s position in relation to an earlier one, of music by Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa (https://africancomposers-edition.co.za/edition/michael-mosoeu-moerane-scholarly-criticaledition/), and the location of these editions and other music on the website African Composers Edition (ACE; https://african-composers-edition.co.za/). It reveals that Moerane, who only published two choral works in his lifetime (Liphala and Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen) and is known in the South African choral industry mainly by three others (Ruri, Sylvia, Della), nevertheless wrote far more choral music than was previously imagined. Indeed, many of the choral works published for the first time here have never been seen, let alone performed. Not even Moerane’s only foray into writing for full orchestra, the symphonic poem, Fatše La Heso (My Country), has been published before. This article reflects on the Moerane Edition both as an extensive heritage reclamation project and as a product, a commercial publication available online that was brought to fruition by a small research team at Africa Open Institute, Stellenbosch. It ends by situating the edition within the growing field of digital online editions produced globally and asks what potential it has to contribute to digital humanities in South Africa.