Abstract
At a time when black South Africans did not have enough time and money to enjoy leisure pursuits, music and dancing appeared to be their only glimmer of hope. In the townships and slum yards, music developed and became synonymous with life and entertainment. A very good example is the presence of music in the numerous novels that use the township as their main characters. In Mine Boy, the narrator describes a Malay Camp using music to emphasize the atmosphere reigning there: "And from somewhere, the low monotonous wail of a broken-down piano, thumping out an unchanging rhythm, and the sound of thudding feet dancing to it." (MB, 77) The slum yard of the Malay Camp is described through music. In other words, thanks to this definition of Malay Camp we can picture more than a simple slum yard. This place is not a place like the others; it is a place full of music, full of life and also full of emotions. It tells the reader a lot about the link that exists between the narrator and the place.
