Composer BONGANI NDODANA explains why he=20 chose a criminal as the hero in his new=20 opera, Broken String
VILLAINS have always been the stuff of=20 opera. From the tormented Don Giovanni,=20 whom we are glad to see dragged down into=20 the portals of hell, through to the almost=20 parodic Peter Grimes, awkward and=20 misunderstood, evoking sympathy when we=20 learn of his resolution to sink his boat at=20 sea.
Needless to say, we too have our villains,=20 both tormented and misunderstood, and opera=20 is not confined to the borders of Europe=20 and North America. Our own stories are=20 standing in the wings waiting for their=20 songs to be sung. And the legendary tale of=20 Nongoloza – the “black, homosexual Robin=20 Hood” – is just one such story.
“I read in the Bible about the great state=20 of Nineveh that rebelled against the Lord=20 and I selected that name for my gang of=20 rebels against the government’s law … I=20 myself was Inkoos Nkulu (sic) or king …=20 This reorganisation took place in the hills=20 south of Johannesburg several years before=20 the war of 1899 was dreamed of. My=20 Ninevites taught the system to other=20 prisoners.”
This is an extract from the testimony of=20 Nongoloza Mathebula, as reported in the=20 Director of Prisons report of 1912. The=20 spirit of the Ninevites gang, whose=20 present-day heir is the notorious 28 gang,=20 remains an ominous power controlling our=20 prisons, beyond the grasp of the law of the=20 land. The 28 gang have their own laws,=20 customs and justice system – part of the=20 legacy of Nongoloza which, half a century=20 after his death, still touches on some=20 sensitive social and political issues in=20 contemporary South Africa.
It is certainly a thorn in the side of our=20 country’s deep-rooted Calvinistic mores -=20 to think that the might of a white minority=20 government was once outwitted by a=20 marauding band of homosexuals.=20
Social historian Charles van Onselen is=20 probably the scholar most versed in this=20 particular history. In his work The Small=20 Matter of a Horse: The Life of Nongoloza=20 Mathebula 1867 -1948, he traces the=20 childhood of the young Mzuzephi herding=20 cattle and smoking cannabis in rural=20 Zululand, his subsequent association with=20 white criminals and how he formed the=20 Ninevites that eventually took control of=20 the South African prison system.=20
The Inkoos Nkulu (Inkos’ enkulu in today’s=20 writing) wielded much power from his prison=20 cell. He wore a necklace of front teeth -=20 trophies knocked from the mouths of those=20 who thought they knew better.=20
His hatred of the white man began with a=20 small matter of a horse. He fled the farm=20 after his baas blamed him for a horse that=20 went missing and beat him.
In the musical score of my opera about=20 Nongoloza, Broken String, (libretto by=20 Michael Williams), there is a ubiquitous=20 four-note motif associated with Nongoloza,=20 based on the rhythm and speech inflection=20 of the name (long-short-long-long). The=20 music portrays the villain as victim – he=20 has been wronged; he is bitter, fiery and=20 ready to avenge.=20
In one of the score’s delicate moments,=20 Nongoloza sings an aria beckoning those who=20 have been wronged to come to him with their=20 gripes and he will take revenge against the=20 specific white man involved. It is a gentle=20 woodwind figure, floating over a delicate=20 homophonic texture .
There are only two female characters in my=20 tale (played by the same actor) – the=20 gregarious shebeen queen Ma Fats and an=20 anonymous woman in the prologue who is=20 subjected to Nongoloza’s blows for letting=20 the fire die out. In Sprechgesang he yells:=20 “Woman, well of poison! Devil bitch!”=20
Thunderous tutti sforzando dissonances=20 emanate from the orchestra with each of the=20 blows and she is hurled to the ground.=20
Van Onselen explains this misogyny and the=20 notion of the well of poison with: “The=20 king of Nineveh instructed his troops to=20 abstain from physical contact with the=20 opposite sex. Instead he encouraged the=20 older ikehla to take the younger abafana=20 and keep them as izinkotshane (boy wives).=20
Sociologist Zackie Achmat challenges the=20 notion that venereal disease was the sole=20 reason for these same-sex marriages. He=20 himself was imprisoned at Victor Verster=20 prison and, in a dissertation, argues that=20 “The Ninevites are the only prison gang in=20 South Africa who consciously adopt=20 homosexuality as a creed, and who have a=20 set of laws governing their sexual=20 relations.”=20
He also casts considerable doubt on Van=20 Onselen’s interpretation of Nongoloza’s=20 testimony to the Director of Prisons,=20 citing a pre-existing, latent sexual=20 deviancy that is not rooted in the evils of=20 the migrant labour problem, prison=20 conditions or even the said venereal=20 disease
It is these sets of controversies – of=20 sexual orientation and society, of villains=20 as heroes and heroes as villains – that=20 appeal to a dramatic sense of history.=20
It’s a tale that, when converted to stage,=20 cannot help but create discussion. It seems=20 to go beyond ethnicity, criminology or even=20 sexuality – and like any composer, one=20 fervently hopes and prays that it will be=20 met with the same pandemonium that greeted=20 Stravinsky’s ground-breaking, artistically=20 adventurous Rites of Spring in 1913.