This article is meant, first, as a brief introduction to South African music studies and some of its specific problems for the Czech (ethno)musicological community, second, as a summary of some recent developments in the field, and third, perhaps most importantly, as a starting point for my research in the South African popular music culture. As a red thread, one basic idea goes through the whole text: the problem of essentialism and binary oppositions, how (if it is possible) to go beyond and what methods we can choose to reach this goal. Drawing on particular examples, I plead for a broadly based cultural analysis, new comparative approach and ethnographically informed local-scale studies. My findings and suggestions are based on my immediate experience with the South African environment – lasting more than fourteen months between 2005 and 2008 – as both a student and field researcher in popular music culture in South Africa and Lesotho.