With a chorus of joy, Hymns reads like a song

Zakes Mda Loot.co.za (R215) UMUZI

ZAKES Mda is one of the most brilliant writers, but he is more than that, he also writes plays, is a poet and an artist.

In Wayfarers’ Hymns he takes us on a journey from a village in Lesotho to Johannesburg, the City of Gold, with a stopover in the Free State.

Boy-child, the main protagonist, is a wandering singer of hymns, hymns in this case not to be confused with church music, but rather the stuff of Famo music, a genre that communicates the very stuff of life.

Boy-child has a concertina and aims to become a kheleke, a master of the genre, a revered one. His hymns are dedicated to his sister “Moliehi, child of my mother”, a woman who lives in the family village and homestead in Lesotho.

His mother is dead, and his father has died in the mines of South Africa, and right from the start Mda links lyricism with fact. The manner of his father’s death is known as having the table fall on him, and his bones still lie within the mine.

Boy-child has aspirations to raise his status in the Famo music world by acquiring an accordion and being mentored by a great kheleke. When one of the most famous of all khelekes, Famole, dies, Boy-child travels to his funeral.

And death is a large character writ or sung over this astounding novel. A character from one of Mda’s earlier books, Ways of Dying, makes an appearance. Toloki the professional mourner arrives in the village with his partner, Noria. The dramatic tension of a man who lives to mourn and Noria, as his manager, causes friction and then gives the story an unexpected twist.

The world of the famo musicians is one filled with gang violence, the waning of the power of the MaRussians, and the fight for control of old gold mines.

When Boy-child becomes a wellknown and beloved kheleke, it is with a new grouping, the Men of the Arum Lily, who are taking on the Men of the Train.

Wayfarers’ Hymns reads at times like a song, and then there are explosive interjections, some of which are so shocking that they send thrills down the reader’s spine.

Mda has taken an age-old tradition and questioned some of it, while paying tribute to the past in a mesmeric manner.

The story of the colours worn by the Basotho and how they define which groups one belongs to is a history lesson in its own right, or will be for many readers, but it is presented as a compelling story.

It’s also a story about what fame can do to a person, when the thing you want most becomes the thing that might cause you the most pain. Issues such as loyalty, same-sex partnerships, loss, laughing, food and guns merge to form a novel that is amazing in its scope, and deeply, deeply moving in its humanity and beauty.

While honouring the past it looks to the present and future with compassion and understanding.