Chris van Rhyn holds the degrees BMus, BMus (Honours) (Composition), MMus (Composition) and PhD (Music) from Stellenbosch University. He teaches Music Theory at North-West University’s School of Music and is the Director of the Research Focus Area Musical Arts in South Africa: Resources and Applications (MASARA). His research focuses on the works of art music composers from Anglophone Africa, especially those of the British-South African composer Priaulx Rainier. Chris is also engaged in artistic (practice-based and -led) research in Composition.    

Jaco Kruger has been studying the musical culture of the Venda people of the Vhembe district of South Africa’s Limpopo Province since 1983. He completed a M.Mus dissertation under the supervision of Deirdre Hansen (UCT) in 1985 on Venda musical bows and the xylophone, and a doctoral thesis on Venda guitar music in 1993 under the guidance of Andrew Tracey (Rhodes).