Denise Rack Louw
Musicians of the Rainbow Nation will be strumming their stuff in Portugal on August 3 for South Africa’s national day at Lisbon Expo `98 – the last world exposition of the 20th century.
The expo, which runs until September 30, is expected to attract 16 million visitors from around the world. About 150 countries are participating, and each has been granted its courtesy day.
Anton Loubser, Director of Culture, Sport and Recreation, points out that the expo is not “a trade show as such”, but provides a “global platform and a unique opportunity” to promote South Africa’s investment, trade and tourism potential.
The list of local performers is varied, drawn from South Africa’s rich diversity of musical talents.
From KwaZulu-Natal comes guitarist Mfiliseni Magubane, whose style of music has its origins in maskandi poetry. Apparently maskanda music – in which a Zulu musician recites poetry while playing an instrument – has changed over the years, with its most recent evolution being in celebration of a land with new opportunities.
Magubane, who learnt to play on a tin guitar while herding cattle, has performed with Paul Simon, and has toured internationally with shows by Mbongeni Ngema.
The traditional Zulu dancing of Magubane’s supporting group adds to the vibrant energy and enthusiasm which characterises his maskanda sound.
In very different mode is the Cape Malay and minstrel music offered by the Tulips Traditional Male Choir. The 19-member all- male choir – founded in the mid-1980s – has performed with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Salzburg Festival (1986), and in the Netherlands, Sicily, Spain and France.
Pounding the drum for Mpumalanga will be Nothembi and the Siblings, garbed in magnificent hand-made traditional Ndebele clothing, which complements their singing and dancing to present a multi-faceted picture of Ndebele culture.
The leader of the 13-member group, singer and guitarist Nothembi Mkhwebane, has performed with such luminaries as Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela. She has toured Europe and the United States, and was honoured with the Woza Africa Foundation Award in 1988.
Other artists to be featured in Lisbon are the a capella group Cutt Glas from Gauteng; the Indian Cultural Dance Group; and the youthful Teemayo Cultural Group from the Northern Cape, who – inter alia – use song, dance and drama to further Aids education.
South Africans will no doubt be one of the highlights of the mammoth event, sprawled against a backdrop of the Tagus river mouth and the magnificent 11-mile sweep of the new Vasco da Gama bridge. The 70ha site is served by an ultramodern transport station and a marina.
Innovative buildings, designed by some of the world’s leading architects, accommodate fascinating exhibits and a programme of multi-media presentations and entertainments.
A culmination of the long tradition of fairs this century, Expo `98 will contend in human memory with the Great International Exposition of 1851, held in the Crystal Palace, England, and the French International Exposition of 1889, for which Gustave Eiffel built his futuristic tower.
The coastal location will add to the theme of Expo `98 – The Oceans: a Heritage for the Future – that gestures towards the importance of the oceans as an international resource in the new millennium.