ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the findings of an ethnographic study of South African musicians active in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. It aims to demonstrate how music connects with localized experiences of HIV-positive people and those who live in the midst of the epidemic, as well as to explore the kinds of spaces for advocacy or support that it creates. The chapter explores how music echoes, reinforces, or disrupts notions of displacement and concepts of health or illness. It would be incomplete without mentioning the potential that many see in music to act as a building block of character and a wholesome pastime. According to the head of a choral association in Durban, teamwork, discipline, and respect are part of choral experience, and transfer directly to the broader social realm, holding enormous potential for creating citizens and building the new, post-apartheid nation.
