Simply Acoustical Delight

Yesterday I went to see two performances: Simply Blue and Acoustic Soul. Both but in different ways qualified as music to my ears.

Simply Blue is a group comprising of 12 boys from Bishops College, Cape Town. There were fairly good though I felt they were a bit under-rehearsed. I loved their repertoire. However, I didn’t love the fact that each time they didn’t know what to do with their hands they thought putting them in their pockets was the coolest thing to do. I imagine that is possibly cool but I am from that generation where such behavior would have been discouraged by sewing together their pockets …finish and klaar!

After the Simply Blue performance which was good enough to end anyone’s blues, I went to see Acoustic Soul. They were excellent! I went there specifically to see Injairu perform. Seeing her was like watching a woman who has found her voice and her calling in life. She looked ultra beautiful and confident on stage. It really seemed like she had gotten her answer about her calling by having a face-to-face conversation with “Mmopi, Mmoloki, eena ea kalletseng maru”; I am talking about the one and only Alpha and Omega called by which ever name you are comfortable with.

Injairu rocked so did each member of that group. I am merely putting emphasis on her because I was filled with so much pride seeing her perform. I guess to me she was like a flower at spring time blossoming for the first time; in my eyes she ceased being just the baby of the Kulundu’s family.

That said, the entire Acoustic Soul performance was very soulful. I left there feeling a bit poetic and without any doubt whatsoever that a higher being exists though it may be understood differently by different souls.

Chronicling the Arts Festival

The Grahamstown National Arts Festival has began. I thought it only fitting to start my own chronicles of this year’s event by offering a review of a show named “Chronicles”. (All pun intended ;-))

Chronicles is actually a student production but you would be forgiven if you thought otherwise. It is a contemporary dance piece by Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) chronicling various emotions that we all share as human beings. There was love, passion, sadness, joy and everything else in between that carries the hope and courage to live yet another day.

The first piece, Wallflower Diaries, was about a girl, I imagine about my age, who has read enough romantic novels to last her a lifetime but is still yet to find love. You see the young playful side to her as she evolves to a sexy and sensual being holding on to hope that her perfect other will eventually come. The music together with the sexy black numbers helped a lot in terms of appreciating this evolution. If not that, I guess it must be that I am sold to the idea that French and Spanish music is synonymous with love, passion and all that is sexy :-). One important thing to mention is that there was realism even though the girl was waiting for her perfect other to come. The girl was under no illusion that the ‘tall dark and handsome’ type of a guy exists as they do in novels. This idea was portrayed beautifully by tearing out pages and showing defiance to anyone who might dare suggest lowering one’s standards/expectations! (I am not sure how many could relate to this but I could precisely because I am at that age where others seem to think my being single means I am delusional in my expectations of the perfect guy and yet I expect three things: 1. he must be the right guy for me; 2. he must be the right guy for me and 3. he must be the right guy for me.)

The second piece, I think it was titled Death of Dreams or Memories. This piece was very profound. It was about letting go of old dreams, mourning them and being totally liberated to pursue what the present and future have to offer. Again the music was also instrumental in helping to convey the message. Personally, it took the music together with the dance to fully appreciate that tentativeness that one has after experiencing loss and disappointment. I am talking about that slow urge to move on with life but not quite knowing what and where to go. Then discovering later that you can find liberation in the decision that you made (right or wrong) and eventually you might just learn to be content for who you are not who you thought you might be. As I said, this I found to be a profound piece and because of it I understood why people say life is a dance.

The third and last piece of the chronicles was titled English for Immigrants. It was about loyalty. Watching it, I got reminded of an old TV show called ‘mind your language’. The piece also invoked the imagery of miners doing the gumboot dance, yet the actual dance that was being performed was very different. I found this very interesting because this created a familiar connection to how song and dance are used by immigrants to maintain focus as they work towards a better future for them and those left behind. This focus ultimately is what breeds loyalty that is so strong that elements of patriotism also come to the fore.

To finish off my posting, Chronicles is certainly a must watch performance. It will remind you that dancing through what life has to offer is better than simply sitting it out!

"Trade winds of our time …"

What is a Sunday without good music? I don’t know how many times I have listened to Randy Crawford, but today as I listen to her sing Trade Winds it feels like I have never heard her voice before. I feel shaken to the core perhaps because I had never realised how profound that song is.

She says the world is filled with hatred, brotherhood (and I dare say sisterhood) are dying, and the good people are turning bad. Whilst the children of all race, poor or rich are in search of the truth, which if they don’t find will lead to even darker days. Days without hope and love! Is this really what we want? If not, then realise that:

The choice is all up to you
[otherwise] We’re caught in the trade winds
The trade winds of our time

Remembrance Sunday

Well it is that sunday of the year where we remember the fallen heroes – our fathers and grandfathers who fought in the world war. This particular year as we celebrate the freedoms that these men fought for, one song comes to mind. This song was written by Ntate Karabo Eric Lekhanya and its chorus is as follows:

“Khotso e rene kahohle-hohle
Pula li ne melubela;
Batho ba lule ba ratana
Ba lese ho loantšana.”

Translated:

Let peace reign all over
Let the rains rain
All people must continue to love one another
And they should not fight each other.

It is therefore my hope that all the prayers made during the 2 minutes of silence can result in a renewed commitment to peace. Khotso Pula Nala!

Sing and dance through it all

This evening I went to Rhodes University Chamber Choir concert. I must say the performance was impressive—but if the truth be told, Wits choir is a little bit better than us. This is not really about comparing the two choirs, my point is while listening to the choir, I was reminded of an article I read not so long ago — the jive that kept us alive —a tribute to John Matshikiza.

The gist of the article was about dancing and singing through all that life has to offer us. Yesterday, we were hit by a mini tornado here in Grahamstown; it is still relatively windy to be at ease, but despite this, it was impossible not to enjoy the singing and dancing. Strange as this may sound, it suddenly made sense to me why music is such a huge part of our culture. For example, in my own culture, we sing virtually for every occasion including war. We have songs known as mokorotlo (war songs) and koli-ea-malla (sad songs), which I provide as support for my statement.

Much as I had never thought about singing and dancing as part of culture, I never underestimate the power of song. The repertoire included songs in isiXhosa, Sesotho, IsiZulu, Germany, English and I think Latin as well. It wasn’t just the language factor but some compositions were dated as far back as the pre-Christ era. This means that the choir, through song and dance, was able to transcend it all — language, time and differences in culture.

So, as food for thought, we should consider singing and dancing through it all — be it we are in pain or filled with joy. Whilst, of course, taking heed of advice given in a song Nna Na (I think it should have been: Nnana). In this song, a person called Nnana is asked to remember that life is like a spinning wheel (bophelo ke lebili); what goes around will surely come around!

Invocations from Indigenous Music Performance

Yesterday, I went to see Umrhube (indigenous music) performance featured in the Grahamstown’ annual arts festival. The performance was great! However, the patriot in me thinks Basotho are better. This of course is debatable but is absolutely besides the point.

The point I wish to make is that the perfomance invoked thoughts of what ‘indigenous’ means and how much of what can be regarded as indigenous information an/or knowledge is documented. I am not really sure of the answer but since I appreciate that most of this information is passed on from one generation to the next orally, I thought it would be worthwhile to challenge myself by embarking on a journey that takes me to the roots of my origins. I will begin this journey by using Umrhube’ performance. The group dressed in colourful attire and each member dressed according to their own individual style and taste. The women in particular although danced standing reminded me of the Batlokoa women.

Batlokoa women like women from other clans (in Lesotho) dance on their knees. The only difference is that they don’t just move their upper body, they literally lift their knees much like men lift their legs. You can just imagine the effort; especially in making all believe that the elagance and beauty of the dance comes without effort! To those who understand the Batlokoa this is not surprising since defiance is one quality that can be associated with the clan. Thus, the dance itself can be viewed as an act of defiance, with women saying: ‘if you think as women we need to kneel then we shall! But we will do exactly what men do!’

Other than the dancing, the performance made me think of the role of music in general to culture. To me, it seems that we sing through it all. We sing when we are happy, sad, uncertain, bored, etc. So indeed music might be the food of the soul and through music we might just return to our roots.