Little-known composer takes ce
At last, a giant among musicians, Ndikho Xaba, has received the recognition he deserves
An abundance of recent documentary films offer viewers a reimagining of the “black” story and the complexities that come with intersection and subversive politics. Titles such as Jihan ElTahri’s Nasser, Lebogang Rasethaba’s The People versus the Rainbow Nation and web series such as Cecile Emeke’s Strolling reflect the African diaspora’s heightened zeitgeist.
Mind Your Head Films’ contribution to the conversation is Shwabada: The Music of Ndikho Xaba, a meditative inquiry into the musical achievements of an inventive composer. The film headlines the 18th edition of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival and offers thematic threads that deal with migration, lineage and a belief in the uncompromising role of art in life — all this using the enigmatic Xaba as the medium.
The festival focuses on documentary features and short documentaries and will include about 140 screenings in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Other attractions include Action Kommandant and Werner Herzog’s Lo & Behold. Nasser will also be screened.
In 1970, as the leader of Ndikho Xaba and the Natives, a band based in San Francisco, Xaba released a record of exceptional musicianship, steeped in the African and spiritual traditions of the jazz avant-garde.
Today, record collectors rank his music alongside masterpieces by greats such as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Sun Ra and others.
The story of Shwabada goes much further back than when the record was made. It goes back to Natal in 1934, when Xaba’s life begins.
The documentary, conceived, directed and edited by Nhlanhla Masondo, navigates the universe of theatre and jazz music. The essence of Xaba is embedded in Masondo’s stylistic register in the film, which is in the form of an essay. Its patient opening sequence melds the topography with Xaba’s place in the lineage of the people of that region.
According to Masondo, the subject of Xaba came about from his perpetual digging for records. After unearthing a rare Ndikho Xaba and the Natives record, he decided to explore the subject’s story.
Speaking about Xaba’s little-known exploits (locally at least), he says: “The reason that Ndikho Xaba is rated an enigma is because he’s way too hip — and that tends to go over people’s heads.
“And also the nature of his life was a life filled with struggle and sacrifice. With him it was always about the art of music first and not necessarily the music industry. His was the business of music and not the music business.
“Unfortunately, because of that he did not record a lot of music. He made a lot of it, did live shows, but not a lot in studio, and as a result there is not a historical record of it. Without a historical record, it’s hard to know about stuff. The film attempts to raise the veil via two hours of live performances, some done in Chicago circa the Nineties.”
Shwabada’s pace benefits from a brew of accounts by musicians who were around Xaba. They include Salim Washington, Sazi Dlamini and Madala Kunene, whose testament stops just short of making a deity out of Xaba.
But the account with the most gravity comes from Nomusa Xaba, his wife. Their union dates back to 1970, when the two met in Chicago. A writer and activist and, overall, a beautiful woman, Ma Nomusa was part of civil rights movement Congress Racial Equality (Core), which arose in the 1960s in Chicago alongside Black Panthers.
In the director’s view: “Ndikho’s story can’t be told without Ma Nomusa’s. Both are activists and artists. The sheer beauty of the two together not only inspirational but empowering when you are in the same space them.
“So you get to understand why Ndikho composed the song Nomusa for her.”
In Masondo’s words: “Shwabada