Bongani Ndodana
OPERA has long had the unfortunate stigma of being perceived as an inaccessible European holy cow. True, some of its origins can be traced back to the late 16th century in Italy, to a group of learned poets and musicians known as the Florentine Camerata, but it has come a long way since then. In the course of history it has shrugged off the “Italian” label, as Richard Wagner demonstrated with his Music Dramas, or more recently Karlheinz Stockhausen with his Licht Music Ceremonies.
The formality and strict demarcation of artistic genres in traditional European art forms such as dance, singing, playing an instrument and acting, do not exist in Africa. Some ethnomusicologists might be up in arms about this, but take a Xhosa example such as ukombhela, a delicate yet sombre singing style in the lower register usually performed by a group of middle- aged women. It is accompanied by subtle dance movements and slow clapping, often in a totally different metre from the singing. This might seem like a postcard from the local curio shop, but that is the way things are in villages.
In their song the women would usually sing of some historical tragedy. They would be in costume and adorned in beads that signify their status in the community and have their faces painted.
This is what most Africans find appealing about opera. Disregarding the formalities of recitative and da cap arias, it stands as the only European art form that comes close to this African model of music-making – a synthesis of various art forms with singing as the unifier. Scholars in African music point out that not only is singing predominant in African music in general, but that south of the Limpopo there is a marked scarcity of instrumental music.
In a BBC radio interview two years ago, Dr Andrew Tracey, director of the International Library of African Music in Grahamstown and a world authority on the subject, even went a step further and said that the bass drum was introduced into Zulu music by the British Army towards the end of the previous century.
A talented contingent of black local opera singers, among them the versatile diva Sibongile Khumalo, Linda Bukhosini, Bongani Thembe, Raphael Vilikazi, Abel Motsoadi and Sibongile Mngoma, have established themselves as competent artists in a medium that at surface level seems foreign and far removed from the dusty streets of the townships.
A Cape-based opera singer, whose pupils are a success in major European opera houses, attributes the success of most of these singers to what he calls an “incredible sonority” in the voice.
He is quick to point out, however, that the voice is only an instrument and is not the only make-up of a singer. Composers like Richard Strauss demand a great deal of musicality from their singers, so singers need to have a firm musical background which, unfortunately, cannot be acquired at 18.
This is why he believes music education is important in the child’s formative years at school; a necessary foundation for future growth.
It is a process that is long overdue, hampered by the nature of politics in the country and the short-sightedness of cultural purism.
The road ahead doesn’t look an easier one either, but Africans are sure to make their mark in opera, and celebrate together with the rest of the world in the common language of the human race – music.