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composer and conductor |
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Local composers have won fame at home and abroad for serious music that combines Western and African traditions.By Coenraad Visser (fromARTS 99, a guide to So.African Art)South African composers have long enjoyed a considerable reputation in international musical circles. While some (like John Joubert, Priaulx Rainier and Kevin Volans) have chosen to settle abroad, others (like Hubert du Plessis, Stefans Grové and Arnold van Wyk) have enriched classical musical life locally. Today, South African musical style, although rich in variety, increasingly seeks to fuse the best of Western and African musical traditions. With three operas (and seven other works) in less than five years, Roelof Temmingh is probably the most prolific South African composer of large-scale works. One of Temmingh’s former students, Bongani Ndodana, is a 1998 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner — and one of the most exciting new voices in serious music today. He often conducts his own works — The Lamentations of Jeremiah (1995) in Grahamstown, Vespers (1996) in Stellenbosch and Uhambo — the Pilgrimage (1998) at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. For Episodes, a ballet, he collaborated with choreographer Lindi Raizenburg of the Cape Town City Ballet. He sees the arts as an integral part of life in South Africa, and champions harnessing the creative energies of young people from disadvantaged communities as an essential for rebuilding their lives. "The arts are not just about stirring music, engrossing paintings or graceful movement, but about investing in ourselves, our communities and future generations," he says. Uhambo is an opera-oratorio derived from Guy Butler’s epic poem, Pilgrimage to Dias Cross. It is an eclectic work which blends Ndodana’s recreation of styles to suit the dramatic content of his work. The unifier of the work is a core "African accent" in the musical language and the use of the instruments to evoke a kora, uhadi and djembe. The
desire to mould a new style from divergent Western and African traditions
and incorporate a contemporary point of view is obvious. The African element
is not confined to structure but includes interlocking rhythms, working
with metres, and aspects of African vocal tradition. An imbongi or praise
singer is used alongside a chamber orchestra, children’s choir and three
soloists.
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