The latest SA/UK gospel choir collaboration is a sign of the rebirth of interest in local choral music. GWENANSELL looks at the state of songs of praise
HIT parade trends may come and go, but South Africa’s love affair with gospel seems to go on forever. Its latest expression is an incandescent vocal collaboration between United Kingdom a capella group I Fagiolini and Jo’burg’s Sdasa Chorale, who will be performing around Gauteng over the next week and recording a joint CD for the French Erato (Warner Classics) label.
But the collaboration is taking place before a much broader backdrop. Last week, the Old Mutual national choral contest entered its third decade. And a recent survey of Cape schoolkids – whom you might expect to find immersed in kwaito and rap – found that a surprising number still listed “becoming a member of a choir” as a major ambition.
So why the persistence of the form? For I Fagiolini’s director, Robert Hollingworth, there’s universal appeal in singing: “Whatever the cultural differences, all peoples sing. The human voice is part of our basic genetic equipment.” For Sdasa’s Bheka Dlamini, who is also a prolific composer, it’s the content of the music. “The kinds of songs, and the words, remind people of who they are. The music can channel you to your culture and your creator.”
For music writer Graeme Ewens, author of Afrika O-Ye, it’s not just the lyrics. The tonal languages of southern Africa, he suggests “generate melody lines which express a range of emotions in a kind of shorthand”. Other musicologists have suggested additional reasons for the dominance of choral forms in this part of Africa, including economic, social and resource factors that limited the range of manufactured instruments. And Jazz Pioneers’ leader Ntemi Piliso told this paper two years ago: “Because of our history, the great strength of music in this region – whether we sing it or play it – is in the harmonies we’ve developed.”
Sdasa leader Mokale Koapeng looks to the more recent history of urban musical development in this country. The choral tradition survived and flourishes, he feels, because it was never sidelined by modern trends. “Look at the events and activities around a place like Dorkay House, for example. There was classical music, jazz, folk music, gospel – musicians didn’t label things and exclude them.” Indeed, South Africa’s first recording to hit the mass market, half a century ago, was in the choral tradition: Solomon Linda’s Mbube.
That interchange between choral singing (especially gospel) and pop goes on. Tshepo Tshola, Wendy Mseleku and Rebecca Malope are only three of dozens of current crossover artists, and any real Top 20 listing would have to include recordings by outfits like the Holy Spirits choir. Mahlatini’s “goat-voiced” mqashiyo pop has its roots deep in village tradition, while Zulu iscathimiya singing (in the voices of Ladysmith Black Mambazo) has found its way on to international hit parades.
Zulu performance conventions may make an appearance in a new guise at the Sdasa/I Fagiolini concerts. Their programme “compares, contrasts and combines” unaccompanied vocal music from Europe and Africa; rehearsals suggest this could produce some unexpected combinations, like the application of iscathimiya technique to a Renaissance anthem.
The 16-man Sdasa Chorale started life 11 years ago as a gospel choir; since then the group has broadened its repertoire to include all kinds of music, focusing especially on the original compositions of its members, the late GM Mojapelo, Mokale Koapeng, Bheka Dlamini and Monkitsi Seoketsa. Sdasa was choir of choice for last year’s Grahamstown Festival main programme. The eight-member I Fagiolini group was also founded in 1986 at Oxford University, specialising in secular Renaissance music. Since then, they’ve also broadened their repertoire (after this trip, it will include some African hymns) and toured Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The UK Daily Telegraph dubbed their committed and passionate approach to the music “Monteverdi with balls”.
Sdasa feel there has been a real rebirth of interest in choral music over recent years, and that events like the Old Mutual contests and the SAB’s patronage of Sacma (the South African Choral Music Association) are part of the reason. “But we shouldn’t forget the early work put in by individuals like Professor Khabi Mngoma and groups like the Ionian Music Society,” reminds Koapeng. “And interest will build again now choral music is producing classical opera `stars’ like Sibongile Khumalo and Sibongile Mngoma.”
However, Koapeng also feels the contests are a mixed blessing. “I’m no longer operating within competitive choirs. Music was never meant to be competitive; the focus should be on singing, not winning. Also the idea of set works is musically very limiting; sometimes, you rehearse nothing but those two songs for the next six months. That’s not good for musical development and creativity. I’d prefer to see more non-competitive festivals, and commissions for new and exciting works.”
Seoketsa agrees. “Many organisations provide sponsorship for the mileage, not the music. The guys with big bucks don’t sponsor challenging works.”
Hollingworth, and I Fagiolini’s composer Roderick Williams, say conservatism among sponsors is an age-old problem, and one which affects European choirs too. What surprises them more is the lack of recognition black choral composers in South Africa receive outside their own arena. Says Williams: “When we hear the singing, and the compositions, the idea of us coming here to teach is ridiculous. We are collaborating, and learning. But why are these compositions not more widely known outside the churches?”
Koapeng says flatly, “It’s a class thing,” and tour organiser Brett Pyper agrees. “In a period when there’s concern about audience support for South African orchestras, we should be asking much more forcefully why there is no South African choral music in our concert repertoires.” Dlamini smiles ruefully. “I wonder, would our symphony orchestras dare to commission a black composer?”
Seoketsa, though, is looking outside the classical mileu. “To me, the biggest challenge as a composer today is to look at the styles they use in contemporary pop music and draw on those in my future compositions. The challenge to us is to compose now in a modern musical language.”
Yet, although Sdasa’s songs lack recording, they are far from unknown. Churchgoers have recognised Seoketsa’s U Jehova wherever the two groups have sung so far. “There’s a shortage of sheet music for foreign songs in poor communities,” he says modestly, “so people are hungry to grab indigenous and original songs.” Adds Dlamini, “That has made us, to some extent, role models. I hope we can be musical rule-breakers too.”
And how do the grassroots choristers feel about all this? Mpho Rachel Molefhe is a shop assistant in Yeoville who spends most of her spare time rehearsing and singing contralto in her choir, attached to one of Hillbrow’s charismatic churches. Rehearsals consume most evenings. She faces lots of late and risky travelling. Why does she do it? Thought of competition hardly figures. “Some of it is being with my friends and working together, enjoying ourselves. It’s a social thing for me.” And then, unconsciously echoing Bheka Dlamini, she adds, “Oh, but when you sing you feel such joy; you know it must be going up to the Lord.”
Hear the Sdasa/I Fagiolini collaboration at Wits Theatre on Saturday, in Soweto on Sunday and in a gala performance at Unisa next Wednesday