Durban - African choral music specialist Mbuso Ndlovu, from Madadeni, will debut his seminal work Echoes of Heritage, the result of a year-long artist-in-residence programme at the University of Johannesburg, in July.
Right now, the UJ choir is hard at work memorising the words and actions for the choral music production that will come together in a symphony of sound, storytelling and dance. It will culminate in three concerts – one in Bloemfontein, and two in Gauteng.
“It has stretched me to create more original music because at first one is introduced to this space by doing arrangements, meaning that there are songs that already exist, and one just gets to extend it a bit,” said Ndlovu.
Over the past 12 months, the composer, conductor and performer has produced 14 original pieces of choral music that encapsulate the various seasons of life. The songs are about cattle and their role in weddings, funerals and harvests.
“I sat and thought about what is it that resonates with me, and how am I going to put everything together, because there has to be a theme that cuts across all songs. I thought of the importance of owning cattle, as well as the importance that cattle play economically, spiritually and also just in the day-to-day lifestyle of indigenous Africans,” he said.
Ndlovu, who has graced stages at home and abroad, says that when studying music he was introduced to composers of various eras and their styles of composition, but the coursework barely scraped the surface of how to produce music that was purely African, or what Africa has been offering for many years.
He hopes that through his musical legacy he will be able to fill that gap, which is in accordance with his belief that every person and generation has the responsibility to leave the world a better place, no matter what field you are in.
“When you study ethnomusicology, which teaches you about African music in depth, you still don’t get to learn about the nitty-gritty of how to create music that resembles the places it comes from.
“When it comes to African music, my contribution will come in the form of assisting those who would like to create South African traditional music, specifically for choirs, who will be able to learn from what I have done and some of my approaches,” he said.
The lyrics for his new choral pieces from “Echoes of Heritage” traverse all official languages, barring English and Afrikaans – no mean feat, given that Ndlovu is mainly fluent in isiZulu and English, and South Africa’s languages are tonal. This meant that for his project to succeed he had to work closely with language consultants.
“There are words that might change meaning if their tone is changed, so what I’ve had to do is sit with a person who speaks the language and then listen to the rise and fall of the tone. Then, from how they phrase the sentences or words, I had to compose melodies that attempted to follow the tone of the spoken language,” said Ndlovu.
Although he works full time as a conductor for several prestigious choirs in Pretoria, including Rythmony, the choir at Pretoria High School for Girls, Ndlovu never dreamt he would be able to follow his passion for music.
From childhood, he and his four siblings received music lessons from their father, Vuka Petros Ndlovu, a choir conductor, guitarist and singer. However, he said his parents impressed upon him the importance of education and finding a “typical solid career”, and the concept of having a calling or following your passion was never encouraged by them.
Initially he wanted to be a medical doctor. His academic achievements netted him a bursary for electronic engineering, but after four years of that he dropped out. He then followed the call of his heart and studied music, specialising in conducting at the University of Pretoria.
Ndlovu – who has published several works for choirs, and directed stage productions and concerts in Germany, Spain and Italy – is a sought-after musical director, adjudicator and pianist and a top-rated educator in traditional African choral and African indigenous music and dance.
Still, with his upcoming shows it is his first musical mentor that comes to mind.
“I believe that, wherever he is, my father will be proud, especially for my taking one of the stories he used to tell me and actually putting it on stage and having choirs sing the songs he used to sing to us when we were young.”
Pieter Jacobs, UJ’s head of arts and culture, said artist-in-residence positions were awarded on a competitive basis, taking an applicant’s career track record, level of productivity, academic writing experience or potential, and the residency proposal into account.
He said the aim of the programme was to stimulate arts practice as research, and to support the development and presentation of innovative arts and culture projects.
“Within the context of the UJ artist-in-residence programme, the success of a year is determined by the number and quality of arts practice as research projects, as well as the knowledge generated by them, that were developed and presented within the framework of the Department of Higher Education’s creative output programme.”
Applications for next year’s intake open in June, and the programme welcomes proposals from new, emerging and established artists from across the globe, but preferably those with a connection to Africa.
Artists are eligible to apply for physical or remote residencies at the institution and, depending on the nature of the proposed residency, successful artists may work partly or completely remotely, Jacobs said.
The Independent on Saturday