#  How to Listen to Sentimentals in Cape Town 

 



    ![Abstract image of stereo](/sites/g/files/omnuum4936/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/mahindra/files/musics_abroad.jpg?h=8c3f8b2e&itok=xIjgzq7T) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **March 5, 2026** 

 07:00PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Barker Center, Room 133**  



 

 



 

## [MUSICS ABROAD](/music-abroad)

## SPEAKER: Francesca Inglese, Northeastern University

Sentimentals (covers of English language popular love songs) are central to *Kaapse klopse* ("Clubs of the Cape"), a vibrant parading and performance tradition practiced by mostly “Coloured” South Africans–people positioned between a Black/White racial binary under apartheid. Through an ethnographic analysis of performances and audience experiences, this talk explores how Kaapse klopse participants listen to sentimentals to orient themselves as racialized subjects with particular ties to history, community, and place, and in the process frame popular music as a dynamic social experience.

### About the Speaker

Francesca Inglese is an ethnomusicologist, historian, and musician. She is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University. She received her PhD from Brown University and completed a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dartmouth College. She is the author of *Remixing Race after Apartheid: Kaapse Klopse in South Africa,* published in 2026 by Wesleyan University Press.



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Seminar ](/event-type/seminar)
- [ Musics Abroad ](/seminars/music-abroad)
 
 

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