Jonathan Hughes

BIOGRAPHY

Jonathan Hughes is a PhD (Music) student at Stellenbosch University, where he researches the role of the pipe organ in South Africa through the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation. By analysing historical and contemporary perspectives on the organ and organ building in South Africa, his work examines the cultural, social, economic, and political insights that the pipe organ offers for understanding South African settler societies. His master’s research focused on the organ-building firm G. W. Price & Son, examining how the firm’s work contributed to the formation of white settler identity in South Africa between 1883 and 1924, and was supervised by Stephanus Muller and Erik Dippenaar.

PUBLICATIONS

Hughes, Jonathan E. ‘Addressing the Pipework in South Africa’s Oldest Playable Organ: A Materialist-Political History’. Journal of Musical Arts in Africa 20, no. 1 (2023): 115–126.

Dippenaar, Erik, and Jonathan E. Hughes. ‘Organs of the Groote Kerk (1737–1957): A Microhistorical Perspective’. Vir die Musiekleier 45, no. 1 (2025): 156–193.

Forthcoming:

Hughes, Jonathan. ‘G.W. Price & Son: Organ Building and the Making of Colonial South Africa (1883-1953)’. South African Music Studies 45, no. 1 (2026).