Marriage of classical and AmaMpondo
From wildly futuristic to Afro-mixed
SOUTH African musicians can seem to be branching off into a multitude of different strands, but two concerts at the National Arts Festival expose a common progressive thread.
Neolektra is a futuristic “postapocalyptic” theatre-driven show.
You’d battle to call it classical, but creator Naomi Tagg has married the classical wood and strings of violin (Tagg), viola (Kate Moore), cello (Ronald Davey), and double base (Viwe Mkhizwane) to the electronic world of super-nerd through DJ and synth (Matthias Bakker), while funked up percussion (Tlale Makhene) provides boom, rattle and roll.
It’s rocking stuff! The musos are in costume – black, flecked with bits of gold, some Afro-Goth black and, with smoke and strobing lights, we are led by the wavy, willowy Tagg in endless black tights, on an electronic journey carried on the wings of strings.
There is a theme of a heroine rising from the ashes of the wasteland who travels through Spain and Argentina, across the Arabian deserts and over the Scottish highlands to land up somewhere in Game of Thrones and finally in someone’s gaming software.
It’s a place where punk meets trippy meets geek.
It’s bold and expansive, almost big band, but played through the eyes of the next generation, where digital and dragons cavort and war is like rugby – there’s violence but nobody dies.
The audience was transfixed by this leather-clad groovy crew united by one thing: they are all South African music graduates drawn by the allure of Tagg’s super-hip vision of a world where all the artistic senses come together for a gallop through the techno-verse.
It was hilarious to see the members of the purple rinse generation exhorting the hipster generation to get up and give Neolektra the standing ovation they thoroughly deserve.
Downhill from the Monument, in the Rhodes chapel, Neo Muyanga’s months-long project of getting three composers to combine Western classical with African – specifically AmaMpondo – traditional instruments came to glorious moment. Dizu Plaatjies, described as the greatest living performer of the umrhubhe mouthbow, was mesmerising as she led Tsepo Pooe (cello), Kgaugelo Mpyane (viola), Jonathan Mayer (violin) and Waldo Alexander (violin).
The group played ground-breaking compositions by Prince Bolo ( More Za Tea), Lungiswa Plaatjies ( VumaEkhaya-Ndiyahamba) and Kingsley Buitendag ( When we are Together ).
In a panel discussion, guided by Muyanga, the musicians spoke about the dilemma of abandoning Western classical scores designed for noteperfect concert performances to the rhythms and harmonies of the mouthbow, where everyone takes part.
The point was made that despite hundreds of years of cohabitation, Western and African instruments had never really found each other.
Whether they are heading out to the world, or exploring inner African connections, Neolektra and the Re Mixing Music project are expressions of sublime progress and being made by adventurous, courageous and immensely talented South African musicians.