“Our work must impact the world!”
Durban: 27 – 30 September 2017
Internationally acclaimed KZN-born composer, cellist and academic, Dr Thokozani Mhlambi is presenting a series of special one-off Durban concerts and events for Heritage Month, embracing multiple genres and influences – from Beethoven to Mazizi Kunene – in and around Durban over month-end September.
To honour heritage month, Dr Thokozani Mhlambi is using different media and multi-cultural musicians to creatively explore new South African music idioms – using as a starting point the iconic cultural legacy of Mazisi Kunene and Princess Magogo and how it intercepts with Western classical music – through new music, electronic soundscapes, spoken word and orchestra works. He has assembled around him an ensemble of like minded music makers from KZN, UK, Italy and Peru.
Mhlambi, who plays a custom-designed, handmade Baroque cello with gut strings, creates innovative new work drawn from the rich heritage of KZN, while still asserting global standards of quality music-making. He will be presenting three concerts and two conversations during Heritage Month.
The starting point to this concert series came from exploring the life and work of celebrated KwaZulu-Natal poet, prolific writer and Durban treasure, the late Mazizi Kunene. “I believe that Kunene’s words outline the role that should be played by artists, thinkers and researchers in Africa today. Their work should aim to develop a national ego, in other words, self-confidence in the minds of its makers and its imagined audience. But the work itself must transcend the boundaries of the nation, in order to express the general experience of mankind.
“Put differently, artistic work must strive to express the human condition, it must not be focused solely on the practitioners own set of immediate concerns,” he explains.
“In this way, the creative output establishes an enabling environment for its producers and audiences, to have their energies released in order to impact the world.”
For Dr Thokozani Mhlambi’s first concert, he takes to the stage in a solo performance in the Playhouse Loft on Thursday 28 September entitled Zulu Song Cycle in which he performs a compilation of songs in keeping with spirit of KZN: taking his cues from Princess Magogo to Beethoven. Inspired by the German concept of Kunslied, (arts songs) Mhlambi will present an intimate programme of unusual music interspersed with descriptive narrative.
“I am looking for something else – something cosmopolitan and contemporary, complex and interesting, with its roots in the classics, in tradition and musical folklore. As a music maker, I continue to grapple with the ongoing quest for a new South African musical ego,” he considers.
“It is quite possible I will play pieces inspired by Princess Magogo, prophets and poets ….and probably some Bach!” he smiles.
Some of the pieces contained in Mhlambi’s Zulu Song Cycle are a reflection of key historical moments. Such as Tribute to Ntsikana, the great Xhosa poet who lived in the 18th century, as legend has it Ntsikana began to preach a message of Christian conversion to his people before European missions arrived.
“One of his instructions was that the people was throw away the red clay (udaka olubovu) being the paste that people used smear on their faces, which was considered to be the practice of the ‘uncivilized’ (amaqaba) once missionaries had arrived. Here the cello imitates the sound of ugubhu musical bow that Princess Magogo would place, while the voice soars above it in a kind of dramatic musical dialogue,” explains Mhlambi.
Mhlambi’s heritage season starts with a lunch time panel discussion at DUT Urban Future’s Centre: Towards a National Ego – New thinking on culture, public life and music in KZN and Beyond featuring Prof. Chats Devroop (Head of Music & Performing Arts, UKZN), Thando Nyameni, General Manager at KwaZulu-Natal United Music Industry Association (KUMISA) and Dr Thokozani Mhlambi, presented at the Urban Futures Centre, DUT on Wednesday 27 September from noon until 2pm. Entry is free and all are welcome.
Mhlambi will be a guest of Wushwini at their fourth annual four-day arts festival titled Botho Pan African Festival – overlooking the scenic Inanda Dam in KwaZulu-Natal’s famed ‘Valley of 1000 Hills, saluting South Africa’s 23 Years of Democracy and the Year of OR Tambo Celebration.
He will be performing a Sound Experiment, featuring Peru/Johannesburg Composer Joao Orecchia with Dr Thokozani Mhlambi on cello. Composer João Renato Orecchia Zúñiga is an artist, composer and maker of physical and virtual “things” that play with reality by deconstructing it, shifting expectations of standard uses or purposes of computers and electronics.
The season culminates with a very special performance at the Mazisi Kunene Museum in Glenwood on Saturday 30 September, in which Mhlambi has created a music and spoken word piece using extracts from one of Mazisi Kunene epic poems, set for five-piece orchestral ensemble featuring Marco Marazzi on viola, Simon Milliken on double bass, Roberto Palma on violin, Maxine Matthews on saxophone and soprano Nobuntu Mqulwana on voice. This will be the world premiere of this piece! Entry is free and all are welcome.
Dr Thokozani Mhlambi wishes to acknowledge the support of the KZN Performing Arts Trust.
Programme
Date: Wednesday 27 September
Time: 12 until 2pm
Venue: Urban Futures Centre, DUT.
Event: Panel Discussion
Towards a National Ego – New thinking on culture, public life and music in KZN and beyond featuring Prof. Chats Devroop (Head of Music & Performing Arts, UKZN); Dept of Arts & Culture; Thando Nyameni, Director of Kumisa, and Dr Thokozani Mhlambi.
Tickets / Booking: –
Info: Urban Futures Centre, DUT 031 373 2000
Date: Thursday 28 September:
Time: 6.30pm for 7.30pm
Venue: Playhouse Loft
Event: Opening Cocktail Function and Concert
Zulu Songcycle with Dr Thokozani Mhlambi
Sponsored by Remy Martin
Tickets / Booking: Computicket / Playhouse boxoffice, R150
Info: www.computicket.co.za or 0861 915 8000
Date: Friday 29 September
Time: 6pm
Venue: Wushwini Pan African Centre
Event: Botho Pan African Arts Festival
In Conversation with Joao Orecchia with Dr Thokozani Mhlambi and Sound Experiment, featuring Peru/Johannesburg Composer Joao Orecchia with Dr Thokozani Mhlambi
Tickets / Booking:
Info: Ph Thandeka Mdlalose: Administrator & Programmes Coordinator: 078 172 5154 / Phila Majola on 0725205093 or email him on: phila@wushwini.co.za.
Date: Saturday 30 September
Time: 5pm
Venue: Mazisi Kunene Museum, Glenwood
Event: Closing Concert
Extract from one of Mazisi Kunene Epic Poems, set for five-piece Orchestral Ensemble featuring Marco Marazzi on viola, Simon Milliken on double bass, Roberto Palma on violin, Maxine Matthews on saxophone and Nobuntu Mqulwana on vocals
Tickets / Booking: Entry is free and all are welcome – but seating is limited, so please reserve your place
Info: Ph 031 205 2912
