iLiso Magazine Digital Edition #1

I L I S O

ISSUE 01 04/20

We chat with winner of Standard Bank Young Artist Award (for Visual Arts) in 2020 We review Bongeziwe Mabandla's latest offering titled "iimini"

CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA

uMavusana EDITOR Small magazines: Whose wor(l)d is it, anyways?

What words (do)?words of the marooned, the ruined, doomed, that loom the everywhere of civil society. words of the dead, decaying, deemed

Fill voids and avoids regurgitation of lifeless

decadent and self-mutilating. words do. words

tropes.words resist. words insist on life & rapture of

pump “life into an empty shell�.

rigid enclosures, instituted as normalcy. words unlock new, alternative, portals of becoming.words (must) speak, transgress. & bring the world to account- not its troubles, but the world that makes such those troubles possible.

VOIDTAPE

X

IIMINI REVIEW

#1

IIMINI: A FIDELITY TO UNITY Words Vusumzi Nkomo

frankly,

iimini by Bongeziwe Mabandla

romantic love, one is offered an

is a beautiful body of work, not

opportunity

experience

only because of his haunting &

another, to experience love

meditative, introspective voice,

and life with another, and to

the tenderness of his falsettos,

(experience) love in time. This,

but the way in which the songs

according

are carefully assembled:

In

love,

or

quite to

to

philosopher

French

Alain

Badiou’s

critique of modern love in

They

William Williamson’ short film,

knitted

is fundamentally opposed to

deliberately

modernist

carries the energy of the next

notions

of

the

are

linked,

together. leads

delicately A

song

to

and

individual. And of course I’m

song,

interested in this love, which

curatorial deliberateness. The

poet/writer Nikki Giovanni calls

songs

“a tremendous responsibility”,

another, like life, like our days,

and its relation to time: as two

iimini zethu. One song’s ending

people, ensconced in a world

is deployed as the other song’s

of their making, watching life,

beginning.

watching

happens,

explains that he “always wants

unfolds. I think this unfolding is

to have a sense of beginning

the base upon which the form

and an end in all my work.”

and

as

themes

life

of

iimini

explored by the artist.

strung

together

disappear

And

with

into

the

one

artist

are This brilliance doesn’t emerge

out of nowhere: in Umlilo, the

A fidelity to thematic unity is

last song ‘Ntembisweni’ drags

observed

us abruptly into an abyss, a

throughout the project. This

silence we never asked for and

forward

looking

it is unclear whether the sound

imaginative

neo-soul

will resurface, as singing or

sounds like a whole spliced

speech and save us from this

into

indefinite performative silence.

wanted the songs to tell a story

(Of course when a 9 minute

together

song is brought into an abrupt

picture. The songs are about

stop

expect

one theme and message even

something- even though in the

though they are different; they

iimini

needed to have a sense of

midway,

final

you

song

on

12

by

conjoining and

‘ndiyakuthanda (12.4.19 )’ the

oneness.”

singing

serenading

does

not

resurface

the

folk

and album parts.

also

Apart

artist

paint

“I a

from

the

vocals

on

except for drops of drizzling

guitar laced with electronic

rain and a gentle swishing of

beats, Bongeziwe draws us,

leaves). It is this unexpected

almost cinematically, into his

turn, or gesture if you may, that

world,

makes

usually at the tail end of each

Bongeziwe

interesting

artist.

On

an iimini

song

which by

way

he

constructs

of

creating

what we see is a clear vision,

delicate

with

sounds, speeches, nature, and

clear

aesthetic

thematic objectives.

and

iGwijo:

ambience

with

we get a sense of the buzzing streets as ‘ndanele’ fades faintly carrying the following tune, ‘zange’; horns in harmony with bucking dogs and passing cars, encapsulating the sounds and musics of the outside while ‘zange’ slowly grows into the full sound the song is known for. ‘masiziyekelele (14.11.16)’ carries the energy of and melody of ‘salanabani (13.8.18)’, the end of ‘ukwahlukana entry

into

(#027)

is

the

‘bambelela

kum

(4.6.18)’, the last few seconds of ‘bambelela kum (4.6.18)’ see Bongeziwe

harmonising

sorrowfully with chirping birds giving a ‘foresty’ effect, that leads us seamlessly to ‘isiphelo (#untitled)’.

He tells me: “I always write music from an honest place and the first thing I do is first explain the message as though I’m

telling

something,

a

friend

writing

a

or

letter

about the situation. Writing music is like writing a book.

You have to paint the situation for the listener and every word you use has to add to the description.”

"The call and response style of African music enables a dialogue between the lead singer and those who are following."

LUKHANYO DIDEKA

2019

#2

BLESSING INTERVIEW

I PAINT WHAT I LIKE: A CONVERSATION WITH BLESSING NGOBENI

Despite a Antarctic thawing 36°C Cape Town blaze from Helios, Blessing, winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award (for Visual

Arts)

composed

in

in

2020,

Marco's

seats African

Place, with a glass half-full of something

befitting

a

Friday

afternoon. Adorning his signature fingerless leather glove and wrists covered with a web of eccentric accessories, a grayish brown T and pants,

this

gentle

and

mild

mannered man, a Tzaneen-born painter,

dreamer,

and

“visual

dancer”, is soaking in the Mother City, leisurely, modestly, as if he’s not the creator of the captivating Replica Ever Sang, his latest 20piece solo exhibition showing at Everard Read, V&A.

Words Vusumzi Nkomo

"THE WORKS EXPLORE SEEMINGLY UNRELATED UNFILTERED NARRATIVES ETCHED IN THE BODIES OF FIGURES OF GROTESQUE FORM" Replica Ever Sang opened on

political regimes and show a

the 4th of March and the artist

disdain

kindly agreed to allow me to

portraying

the

will

pick his brains, and annoyingly

people

in

the

struggle

for

get him to decode all the CIA-

power

and

realisation

of

esque

deferred dreams.

encrypted

hieroglyphically

signs

power,

while of

the

in

This matters to Blessing, like all

some of his pieces. Apart from

the Black lives that matter to

the signs, the pieces are an

him.

impressive fusion of collage

dexterity, this chaos on canvas,

and

odd

paint,

expressively

inscribed

for

photographs retouched

Explored and

with

striking

disorientating

at

with

times, ambushing the senses,

acrylic paint. The works explore

strikes at the heart of the

seemingly unrelated unfiltered

troubles that haunt our world;

narratives etched in the bodies

images of famine, dogs’ fanged

of figures of grotesque form;

teeth, burning Black bodies, all

these bodies carry the post-

add to the rich visual and

colonial African reality in ways

conceptual landscape of the

that trouble narrow notions of

project

time-as-linear.

which is to say, references an

Through the imaginary, the

expansive palette of artistic

fantastic, the works wage an

visionaries which paved the

unflinching critique of

way for him.

which

draws

from,

Vusumzi Nkomo: In many of

VN: Throughout the works text

the pieces a certain inscription,

features

text,

inscribed

appears:

PWMAAA&J?

Please decode that for me.

quite

prominently,

with

paint

-

elsewhere as paper/print - to sort

Blessing Ngobeni: When my son was around 7/8 (years old).

When we drive through the City (Joburg), we encounter people who ask for food and

of

augment/expand

meaning, but in the diptych ‘Through City Window I & II’ the text is scratched out, a kind of self-censorship. Can you speak more on that?

money, you know, at the robot.

BN: When you look at how we

At times you find out if you

carry

don’t have money or anything

ourselves,

there

to give to them they become

messages

we

angry at you. My son asked me

someone else’s ears, but it

so many times, “Daddy, why is

doesn’t make them practice

it that these people cannot

the

understand that you have us

scratching out I’m saying. “We

your

are

told you but these words are

responsible for? If you don’t

not getting through. As much

have it, you really don’t have it.

as we still have leadership,

I know you give when you have

though

but these people get angry all

positions

the time.” So it started from

contributed

that moment. So we decide to

contributions

create

Without

out. I’m protesting you know.

Money Are Always Angry and

So we must try by all means to

Jealous’. But it’s really not a

parade our ideas out there and

nice thing to say, so its best if

share them with those that are

it's coded then it becomes

in need of them. So it’s not

interesting.

censorship.

kids,

it:

that

‘People

you

dialogue

things

they it's

among are

send

we

those out

said.

are

in

because but are

to

By

those we our

scratched

VN: God I misread that!

BN: (laughter) No! It’s about

Genocide and other horrible

how the Black voice, the voices

not

of the masses are not getting

physically, as a people. But all I

through to these people. So I’m

wanted

trying to explain that as strong

why we treated that way and

as these words are, somehow

think about us in our time and

they are going to waste.

how

VN: Juxtaposition is a salient

between that age and ours.

feature in the show. One such

But

juxtaposition is the constant

people who’ve managed to get

use of text as print, and/against

the ‘cheese’ and tend to treat

painted text. The ‘print text’ has

other Blacks the same way. Did

a reportage feel, an archive

we inherit this or we just

effect, quite authoritative, and

transformed by money and

the

very

lose ourselves. So I want to find

cinematic, has a subtitle effect.

ways of reading what they did

Can you tell me more about

to us.

that specific juxtaposition?

VN: The work boast of a wide

BN: I enjoyed bringing this sort

political

of history because those events

expressive

are relevant to our times. You

Would you or do you consider

can look at the Namibian

yourself a ‘visual activist’?

painted

text

is

genocides; its proof that we are weak,

spiritually

was

there there

to

understand

are are

and

similarities now

Black

vocabulary artistic

and lexicon.

I LIKE TO THINK OF MY WORK AS A “RESULT OF A MASTERPIECE”.

BN: Well I call myself a ‘Visual

BN: Actually I’ve referenced, in

Dancer’ (laughter). But that’s

different ways, Bra Dave (David

something I wouldn’t ignore

Koloane); he features in most

because these are things I

of my work. I love his dogs, the

witness, experience. I like to

way he was painting them. For

think of my work as a “result of

him, his dogs are more settled,

a masterpiece”. Like when two

more blurry. Mine are just dark,

cars

with fanged teeth. So with Bra

collide

and

suddenly

there’s change in life; there’s

Sam

death,

bound,

when I started working with

there’s shock. So that’s the

collages I did not know his

result of a masterpiece, works

work. I did not know anything

that speak in volumes without

about him, even Bra Dave.

being planned but people go

Even Picasso (Pablo). I mean, I

‘wow!’ when they view it.

came from a generation that

VN: The technique of painting

moved from prisoner to art and

over photographs, in a way that

when I was in prison I did not

alters

wheelchair

(Nhlengethwa),

well,

transforms

their

do art, I only did after my work,

something

that

which was consigned to this

could be read as a reference to

other gallery in 2008 and they

Ntate

said my work was stolen. So my

or

meaning,

Sam

Nhlengethwa,

whom you’ve cited as someone

collages

started

whose encounter with has had

period,

end

an impact in your career. Why

remember I spent the whole

was it important to make this

year without painting. At the

specific aesthetic choice?

beginning I would use found

of

from

that

2009.

I

boards instead of a canvas, I

when we went to the opening,

would use tiny collage there

he was there and talking too

and there.

much. I told him sh@%, “this is

But my work has a tendency of

Africa,

wanting to find its own path

history of Belgium, you said

without being compared to

Congo

other artists or movements. For

chopped our people”, and he

instance,

went silent.

they

say

I’m

a

Surrealist painter but the work is constantly trying to unchain itself

from

that

historic

movement.

But the reason to transform images was because people

you is

remember yours

your

and

you

VN: Your figures have these sharp

pointed

edges,

for

example, the fingertips and feet.What

exactly

is

communicated by this use of

usually come and say “Hey, you

line?

BN: I like the idea of becoming

used

It

a child. Unfortunately I’ll never

happened before with my first

be a child again (laughter). But

show when I was working with

it is interesting that we belong

Gallery MoMo in Joburg. There

in

was a Belgium guy who used

everything is exaggerated, our

to travel in Africa and take

past, our present. Hopefully our

photographs, so I used one of

future won’t be exaggerated

his pictures and I destroyed it,

hence we’re writing this history

but

it

right now. But I found that this

completely because I wanted

technique creates a certain

those effects on the photo. So

form, a certain shape. I love

my

I

did

photograph!”

not

destroy

a

generation

where

YOU MUST DISCOVER WHAT YOU LIKE IN THE WORK.

seeing

my

characters

in

makes you feel comfortable

different shapes. It’s about how

and uncomfortable when you

we move as humans, our paths

look at it and how do you pick

are not always straight. By

what you think you like and

creating those straight lines I’m

leave what you think you don’t

interested in the freedom of

like. You must discover what

moving around and moving

you like in the work. So I bring

the way we want, moving

various elements into my work;

straight, turning in the corner,

be they images of Namibian

and I must paint the way I

genocide, images of Congo

want

river, images of Sophiatown,

without

being

questioned.

Marikana,

VN: The work is visually and

feelings and treatment they

conceptually

applied to each and every

dense,

disorientating

and

overwhelming

the

viewer/reader, bringing across a

stream

unrelated

of

seemingly

and

incoherent

narratives at times. Why is it important for you to bombard the

viewer

with

these

narratives all at once?

BN: I always tell people about ‘Beauty, Hate, the Ugly, the Brutal’ part of my work; what

African.

where

all

these

"I’m protesting you know. So we must try by all means to parade our ideas out there and share them with those that are in need of them."

BLESSING NGOBENI 2020

JOBURG SELECTED REVIEW

#3

SAM NHLENGETHWA’S MEDITATIONS ON TIME AND SPACE, ‘SIGHTS & SOUNDS’ OF IT ALL. Text: Vusumzi Nkomo and Azola Dayile

November 2019 saw us one Joburg evening

at

the

Selected,

Goodman Nhlengethwa's

exposition

Gallery in Rosebank – our first reads an ode to a city as old as time – to witness the opening memory, as old as colonial of Sam Hlengethwa’s Joburg expansion,

and

the

Selected exhibition, on show nightmarish insatiable appetite from

12

October

to

9 for

African

gems.

Joburg

November. Upon arrival & entry Selected on display at the into the white, empty, taciturn Goodman Gallery, is a selection showroom – and thinking of its of works at the service of and histories of exclusion both for commitment to memory-ing, artist and audience – we did remembering: the people of not, however, feel a sense of and in Jozi, the architecture, mis-place.

The

three- and the colors, the textures, the

dimensionality and near-real music-sounds feel

of

Johannesburg

of

a

gigantic

downtown concrete jungle, the artist laid on

canvas eyes and treaded quietly in

hanging on the white walls, felt and around its maze-streets. familiar. Like we could, with relative ease, walk into The We were drawn to the works Kitchener (2019), find a seat at with no sense of movement,

the bar and ask for the usual, that as

we

sounds

habitually of

Louis

do.

are

The moving

not

occupied

subjects.

There’s

by a

Moholo stillness, a kind of tranquil

making all the better.

element, a calmness (save for a few that hint at the buzz and

Given the befitting title of ‘

roar that is synonymous with

THIS PICTORIAL DISRUPTION OF TIME (AND SPACE) TROUBLES LIBERAL NOTIONS OF PROGRESS

Jozi) that is quite striking. But we’d like to believe, Joburg we’re interested in them as Selected is a vignette of how much as they are deployed in present our past is, which is to contrast to those that carry a say,

how

entangled

is

the

different kind of movement: a present with the past. certain movement from the past into the future-present, a The work’s commitment to deracination from a previous memory,

remembering

the

time to the current time. This is past (mining the gems of the achieved

in

placement

the

of

careful Archive) becomes interesting

monochrome to read when it is read against

archival photographs in the Nhlengethwa’s

commitment

pieces. These black and white to archiving the present, so figures

are

placed

next

to that present narratives can be

present day objects (building retrieved in the future. This is and people) in a way that political in as much as it is disturbs conventional narrative artistic (though a separation of strategies.

This

pictorial the

two

disruption of time (and space) avoided). troubles

liberal

progress;

notions

what

development

look

Joburg

by

Africa,

and

and

of concerned

should

always

be

The

Timer

is

about

Joburg’s

does cultural sites/spaces and how like

in they continue to disappear,

extension, owing to the ‘contemporary’ Western colonial expansionist project

conceptions of life; how dead known as gentrification. are the Dead? How alive are Black people? It is obvious,

In the age of digital

manipulation of images and which is to say, paint the oversaturation of photographs background (and sometimes that look too-good to be true, foreground) Hlengethwa’s

on

the

canvas,

aesthetic giving the pieces a surreal

intervention will never get old: effect, thus inviting us to think deftly

applying

photographs

paint

on about the productive dialogue

magnifies between

meaning while simultaneously ‘fine beautifying

the

image.

photography

arts’,

an

and

experimental

This avant-garde-ism central to the

technique allows us to re- Black

radical

aesthetic

imagine the image, to think of tradition in general, and Jazz in and beyond the limitations of particular,

and

undermining

the photograph (to go where a any efforts to separate, or put photo won’t go, that is, at the differently,

to

think

of

excess of the meaning of the photography as antithetical or photograph) as a thing that incompatible with ‘fine arts’. should represent reality. This (re)imagining (upsetting

of

the

our

real The question of the archive

standard

knowledge of the objective In I Love Jozi, Park Station, and

concrete

real),

is

the J.S.E in Winter, The Marc (all

genius of the ‘mixed media on 2019), as well as Inspired by canvas’ pieces: the Romare Bearden and Ernest photographs of buildings have Cole (2018), the people/figures been

blown

up

and

deep painted by Tat’ Sam appear, or etched, pasted on a canvas, stand, next to monochrome and Tat’ Sam chose to re-do,

images that have been

borrowed from the ‘Archive’ (I

between

Love Jozi and The Marc feature

bodies

color photographs that look

both

like they were taken ‘recently’).

complex narratives. According

architecture in

as

Joburg objects

and

Selected, that

carry

to Nhlengethwa, “the buildings Here, the artist problematizes

become the persona here.” The

Cartesian logic and the notion

artist seems to suggest that the

of time as linear (and space as

stories that bodies tell and

fixed),

photo

carry, can be told and carried

materials as leitmotif, in his

by these buildings. And both,

imagination

the

the bodies and buildings, are

“contemporary” Johannesburg

both vulnerable to the violent

melting-pot;

colonising

using

archival of

preoccupied

whims

of

racial

only/mostly with the Black who

capitalism. The buildings “have

in the histories of the city has

their own stories and relate to

had

our history in various ways.”

to

occupy

designated times,

Therefore keeping the memory

carrying with them identifies

of these buildings, the artist

that proved ‘belonging’, even if

seems to suggest, is as equally

only for a few hours as mine

important

boys, newspaper men, kitchen

portraying/narrating the stories

girls or the homeless who

of the people. “When you look

today

for

at what photographers like

sidewalks/pavements as night-

David Goldblatt did in the past,

beds.

some of those structures no

spots

at

specified

opt

as

longer exist, but they’re on There is an interesting relation

record. It’s about memory,

more than just architecture”.

The

absence

representation even

of of

though

oblivious

bodily

whiteness, we

to

aren’t

whiteness’

presence in other ways, is a curious

question.

Johannesburg come

to

as

have

is

the

know

consequent “discovery”

we

result by

of

white

a

capital

that catapulted migrant labour in Southern Africa. Park Station is key a factor, with disposable Black labour arriving daily in Joburg

having

been

ferried

long hours by bus or train. By bringing these monochrome photographs “present”

back

and

into

the

foregrounding

them as the main people in the

pieces

they

appear

in

speaks to a persistence on centering

Blackness

(and/or

Black people) and history as an incessant event.

"Lwimi lulephuza amadangatya Nkcubeko ibuthwa phantsi Kunkcenkceza isiXhosa" ZIZIKAZI SOFIKA 2020

#4

INK. SECTION

THE WITCH DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER

Mustapha unemployed

Jinadu self

is

an

ordained

Shaman living in Lagos City, receiving trance:

visions

through

spontaneous

transmissions in a spiritual cave projected

onto

pages/

expressly and directly with out modifications in syntax and artificial grammar; nothing is error

but

accidental.

everything

is

THE FRONT PASSENGER AND I SURVIVED.WITH A CRUSHED PELVIS AND LACERATED EYE.

1.

I

side. The front passenger and i am

the

witch

doctor's survived.with a crushed pelvis

daughter

and lacerated eye.

My father passed away in a car 2. crash, while speeding away from

town.

away

from

his he was laughing, and i was

sons.car with him when the laughing, i said we are home accident

happened

and

I free.by tommoro morning i will

believe that his sons were be on my way, to london. pursuing me and not him, he was laughing at me.No one because

they

heard

planned

to

kidnap

that

I is chasing you. When you get to

their London

nephew.

send me‌.

We were both very drunk when I couldn't hear what he said i the accident happened. we should send him. There was a went the wrong way onto a horn blaring and we saw the one

way

wanted pursuers.

bridge,because

us As

to we

i red lights of a truck.we saw the

elude

our truck floating toward us. We

flew

we felt like ghosts in a dream. I

smashed into a truck headfirst. can't recall what happened the truck climbed the left side after this.seeing the red lights of our vehicle and crushed my and hearing the blaring horn. father and a passenger in the drowning our voices. When I backseat

behind

him.

they woke I was in a hospital.

both died. I was on the right

INK. SECTION: WITH MUSTAPHA

3.

naturally. I am safe. My faith is

4.

in my untimely death.the Men

5.

will find me here.but i know

6.

not how

7.

8.

19.

9.

20.

10.

21.

11.

22.

12.

23.

13.

24.

14.

25.

15.

26.

16.

27.

17.

28.

18.

29.

30.

he said many of us who are alive AND I HAD A FRIEND worked out our salvaciรณn from the presente doom through driving me wrecklessly on a our devoted work in our past motor bike through traffic on 30000

lives

too.theres

and

nothing

this

life our bridge.i squeezed his waste

such

as and begged him to slow down

luck.I know how it ends.I will or be care. I relaxed when he always hold on to faith. It is a shunted and rode us down the song strange: I will live and die . steps away from Smashing iron

fell toward pale green water the steps had ended. I prepared to crash into the

ocean

and

prayed

to

myself. Boy not to panic but float and paddle myself to the columns attached to the bridge.

The Man who fell with me.the driver

carried

me

through

swimming and pushed me to the column base.he was my friend.

I

was

praying

that

though i live i shouldnt suffer nightmares from this how i could have died.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36. i tried to relax, so as not to panic or cry, since it was inevitable.

I

was

going

to

drown. I relaxed a little and found myself sinking, into the cushion, and tried as much as possible not to think about my family, having to mourn me.

Then

I

thought

about

my

father, I tried not to think about him, that he would no longer be visiting me, since my head was drowning.

INK. SECTION: WITH ZIZIKAZI

Zizikazi is a writer, actress, radio

personality,

speaker,

mentor

public and

a

model. Born in a small town called

Tsomo,

currently

Zizikazi

enrolled

is at

University of the Western Cape as a final year student majoring

in

Media

and

Psychology. She is inspired by her grandparents' stories, with an eagerness to share them with the rest of

the

world. The writer is a free spirited woman, sapiosexual and

self-identifying

nonconformist. Her previous projects

include

a

book

called 'Sifunda Ngokwenza', a few years in theatre, and is currently a radio personality at UDaps radio.

NDIKHULILE NDIBONILE

Oko bendingumntwana

Uza kwenzakala ukhaba umviko

ndinqwanqwadwa

nje

Ndikhahlelwa ndiholongwa

Wakha watsho owaseBhayibhileni

Ndibangulwa ndisambeswa

Ntonje ndilibala igama lakhe

Ndigutywa ndinkqonkqwa

Abizwa ngalo lweCawa.

Ngezinjani zona iziluleko?

Wema wakhula umthi wom – Ndibe ndicinga njengomntwana

Okhi

Ngoku ndiphekwe ndavuthwa

Hayi gxebe owom-Ebhoni

tubhu

Mehlo ngathi ngawehlosi

Obona mna ubona I – Ebhoni

Buhle obunje bakha belanywa

Mthi mni owalanywa zizizwe?

yini na?

Ndisakhasa ndikhasela eziko

Andithethi ngezikrweqe,

Ndidlal’oonopotyi nezidudu

nezangotshe

Ndihlatywa ngameva obuntwana

Lwimi lulephuza amadangatya

Yantununtunu indaba.

Nkcubeko ibuthwa phantsi Kunkcenkceza isiXhosa

Ndee gqi sendigingqa Ndikhas’eleziko

Kwee qwenge lakhula usana

Bathi “Hata” abaziyo

Kwagabuka amehlo

Kaloku inyathi ibuzwa

Yehl’intlekele! Mawoo! Kazi iyozala

kwabaphambili.

nkomoni na?

Uza kwenzakala ukhaba umviko

Wayithatha ingcaphe waluthatha

nje

usiba

Wakha watsho owaseBhayibhileni

Hayi wabhala umntwana

Ntonje ndilibala igama lakhe

Ntinga ntakandini.

INDLALA Awu! Madoda yhini na le?

Izinto ezibuhlungu azipheli Izinto ezilusizi ziyenzeka Andisathethi ke ngamasikizi Azi ukuba wawuvela phi na wena ndlala?

Azi ukuba banalishwa lini na abafikelwa nguwe Azi ukuba bashwatyulelwa yini na bona Kha uhambe kaloku phakathi kohlanga oluNtsundu.

Bambi bathi uza namava Bambi bathi uza nempumelelo Bambi bathi uligwala Mna ndithi ungumdodobalisi ngqondo.

Hayi amanyundululu amasikizi owenzayo Hayi indlelol’ otshabalalisa ngayo umlisela nomthinjana wezwe lethu.

Bazinikela kwezesondo kuba ubabhuqa ngemva Bangamaxh’obeziyobisi kuba bacima iintsizi Le ndaba iqale emyezweni kuba watya u-Efa uNongqawuse naye waqhubekeka UThuthula naye wasele eqhuba le nqwelo Ulutsha nalo lwayityekeza ngezigigaba zakho ndlala ndini!

"Writing music is like writing a book. You have to paint the situation for the listener and every word you use has to add to the description.�

BONGEZIWE MABANDLA

2020

SONGS OF LIBERATION

FEATURE

#5

THE EFFECT OF TRADITIONAL AFRICAN MUSIC ON LIBERATION SONGS Words Lukhanyo ka Dideka

To

demonstrate

the There is a song called Palesa

significance and the function that

we

sang

during

the

of music in the everyday life of national protests of Fees Must African

society,

Tönsing

Gertrud Fall and that resonates with

analyses

interrelationship Christian

the the

assertion

of

emotional

between expression by Tönsing. For the

choruses

and context of #FeesMustFall the

liberation songs. The scholar song

was

not

necessarily

notes that in traditional African relevant; however, it was made societies music was rather a to be with the alteration of the necessity than it was luxury as lyrics to fit the context. The it was ‘integrally linked with song starts as a lament by a every aspect of community life man who I assume had spent and essential of creating bonds the and

sharing

news.’

1

night

out

with

Palesa.

Also, However, on the hour that they

traditional African music or must leave for ‘home’ (his place what is referred to here as I

assume

again),

Palesa

cultural songs were – and still disappears, and so laments the are – characterised by their guy: vocality, and with the clapping (call)

Oh

yhini

ses'goduka

of hands and stamping of the Palesa x2 foot which often take the place Oh just when we were about to of the percussion instruments. go home Palesa This characteristic of traditional that (response) yhini ses'goduka songs could be sung wherever Palesa x2 and whenever. Tönsing further Just when we were about to go African

music

meant

argues that this feature of home Palesa traditional African music was always available for expression (call) Wavele wanyamalala x2 You just disappeared(response) of emotions. 2

THULA WE MDUNDI SIZELE WENA wavele wanyamalala x2

Though the song was not a

You just disappeared

liberation song, as its lyrical content was not political, it was

Ohh yhini ses’goduka Palesa!

however,

given

Oh just when we were going

purpose by the students: that

home Palesa!

of

capturing

Another

a

political

and

unifying.

scholar,

Anne

The song would go on like this

Schumann, who also analyses

from the start to the end, only

the

changing in timbre as well as

attests that even though the

in

texts of such songs “were not

rhythmic

patterns.

and

make

of

songs

always political ones, their use

relevant to the student scene

was nevertheless to advance a

we tweaked it, and added a

political cause.” 3 Considering

call

guy,

all that the students were

addressed here as a student, to

seeking to achieve through

not cry as we have come here

their

for him:

respective

the

to

use

it

to

Thus,

melodic

political

lamenting

demands

to

their

institutional

management, it was important (call)

Thula

we

mfundi,

Quiet now student

that they remain united and determined on the cause they had taken up to achieve, and

thula we mdundi sizele wena

songs such as Palesa were

x2

therefore

Don’t cry we have come for you

purposefully to mobilise and

deployed

unify students behind their (reponse) Thula we mfundi,

demands.

Quiet now student

response

The of

the

call song

and is

accompanied by clapping and thula we mfundi sizele wena

stamping

of

the

foot.

The

x2

former is a cry by the lead

Don’t cry we have come for you

singer, for Palesa who had

vanished with the night, and

The

he is supported through his

which

pain

student to cease crying over

by

a

sympathetic

response.

sympathetic asks

response,

the

lamenting

Palesa as we – the students – have come for him, this should

Through clapping of hands

concurrently be interpreted as

and stamping, the rhythm and

an intervention made through

melody of the song is formed,

song. We should consider that,

and they go on through the cry

to sing that “we have come for

and

The

you”

and

students against a society that

response with the rhythm and

perpetuated their systematic

melody

a

marginalisation, as such they

captivating factor that is able

had had enough, and be that it

to draw and unify any mass

maybe, they were prepared to

that

take on the system. 5

the

blending

response. of

gives

is

the

cry

the

singing

song

the

song.

as

a

stand

taken

by

However, when the lead singer (as the crying guy) laments,

The call and response effect

wavele

are

wanyamalala,

the

a

typical

feature

rhythm and melody break and

traditional

the arms of the lead singer and

which Tönsing accounts for

the sympathisers are tossed to

and adds that this effect is

the air in sign of vanishment.

suited to crowd singing. The

Taken

call

further,

the

missing

and

African

of

response

of

enables

a

African

music

to symbolise the unfulfilled

dialogue

between

promises of the post-apartheid

singer

dispensation,

following.

enshrined

on

that the

are

of

style

Palesa could be interpreted as

and

songs

those

the who

Through

lead are this

Freedom

dialogue they state their claims

Charter – which was adopted

and demands, or anything the

in Kliptown on the 29th of

song may be calling to action,

June in 1955. 4

or referring to. This warrants a

strong lead singer to introduce

(and

enough variation to keep the

other. The other point is that,

interest and dynamism of the

the Freedom Charter is at the

group going. 25 The call of the

fore of the split between the

leader commands, or gives a

ANC and the Africanist bloc

directive of which the response

that formed the Pan Africanist

follows, and it clearly indicates

Congress in 1959 led by Robert

to the desired politics of the

Sobukwe – which conceived

group singing liberation songs.

the struggle for the liberation of

1

Tönsing,

Africans

to

from

be

each

that

of

‘Limnandi

Africans only, and anyone who

Hlanganani

was an ally or sympathiser had

Bafundi: An exploration of the

to organise themselves and

interrelationships

rally behind the cause under

Evangeli

G.

ethnicities)

and

between

Christain choruses and South

the leadership of Africans.

African songs of the Struggle’.

(2017):

2

21

Ibid.

22

4 The extent of violence that

Schumann, A. (2008). ‘The Beat

ensued at various campuses

that Beat Apartheid: The Role

illuminates

of Music in the Resistance

students carried to further their

against

cause,

Apartheid

P.

in

South

the

however,

will the

that latter

Africa’, P. 243 The Freedom

should not be read as to be

Charter is important on at least

saying that the student incited

two points in the history of the

the

South African liberation; the

higher institutions of learning –

first, it signals the unification of

rather, the opposite is true. The

the different interest groups in

history of the South African

the

Police Service, in the apartheid

political

South

Africa

apartheid

landscape against

state

–

of the

which

and

violence

the

that

ravaged

democratic

state,

proves of its incapability to

intended on enhancing those

resolve

conflicts

with

differences by separating races

movements and protest

mass

situations. The case of Andries Tatana – shot dead by police in Sasolburg in a service delivery protest – and the Marikana massacre attests to the latter.

Instead

of

institutional

executives and governmental officials to take accountability, students were met by the brutal force of the law; the police

service

and

private

securities were deployed to put an end to the protests by any means

necessary,

and

the

students were to have none of it – universities caught fire.

5 Tönsing, G. (2017). ‘Limnandi Evangeli

and

Hlanganani

Bafundi: An exploration of the interrelationships

between

Christain choruses and South African songs of the Struggle’.

P 3. See also, Peis, P. (1996) ‘Kizungu

Rhythms:

Luguru

Christianity as Ngoma’, Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 26.

Sukoyika