A woman of many talents
SIBONGILE KHUMALO: SOUTH AFRICAN MUSICAL ICON DIES THIS WEEK
Blessed with a bubbly personality, eloquence and a hearty laugh.
It was with her interpretation of the highly complex Zulu classical music of Princess Magogo kaDinizulu (Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s mother and Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s sister) that Sibongile Khumalo confirmed to any Doubting Thomases how her vocal range can be suited to any music style.
The mezzo soprano, who died on Thursday after a long illness at the age of 63, did superbly well in Western opera, excelled in jazz vocals – modern and from the Sophiatown era – and did wonders with her rendition of traditional African folk songs and choral music compositions.
So versatile was her voice that she was equally at ease with jazz pianist Moses Molelekwa’s Mountain Shade as she was with JP Mohapeloa’s classic U Ea Kae, which was written in tonic solfa notation.
Khumalo was destined for music greatness. As a little girl growing up in Orlando East, Soweto, music surrounded her.
She was the daughter of Grace and professor Khabi Mngoma, a highly respected musicologist who contributed a great deal to the preservation of (South) Africa’s musical heritage – founding the Ionian Music Society in 1960 and establishing the music department at the University of Zululand, and the Ford Choirs in Contest in the mid-1970s.
“… so I presume it was inevitable that I would end up with music in my world...” she said in her acceptance speech in 2009, when she was conferred with an honorary doctorate by Rhodes University.
Unisa and the University of Zululand
were later to do the same.
Khumalo was indebted to her parents for the life lessons they, particularly her father, taught her. “I salute him, and thank him for the gift of music passed on from his ancestors... I thank him for cultivating in those of us who had the privilege to be in his luminous presence...” she said.
Khumalo, who was awarded the Order of Ikamanga (in silver) in 2008, followed in her father’s footsteps, also becoming a music scholar and teacher and an outspoken cultural activist.
She studied music at UniZulu and holds a BA (with honours) from Wits University.
At 24 she was head of music at the Fuba Arts Academy and served as coordinator at Soweto’s Funda Arts Centre and a music tutor at UniZulu, among her many academic pursuits.
Not only did she pack a powerful voice, Khumalo also owned the stage during her live performances. A great violinist she was, but her first instrument – other than her voice – was the piano, which she started playing at the age of eight.
When Gauteng radio station Kaya FM was launched in 1997, she, together with Hugh Masekela, hosted a show where they played some incredible music from South Africa, the continent and the African diaspora.
Her bubbly personality, musical knowledge, eloquence, sense of humour and hearty laugh – and her pan-African political outlook – came out in these Sunday afternoon shows.
Her death is a big blow to the arts and music industry.
Khumalo may be no more, but her legacy and golden mezzo soprano will remain for generations to come.
Her musical genius is kept for posterity in her beautiful albums: