Musical show sings praises of democracy
Freedom Charter is the inspiration for a new multimedia performance
NELSON Mandela’s birthday on Thursday marks the world premiere of a musical work celebrating the Freedom Charter, one of the most important founding documents of democratic South Africa.
Credo is a multimedia oratorio that features acclaimed singer Sibongile Khumalo, as well as Otto Maidi and Monika Wassung. They are accompanied by the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gauteng Choristers.
“Singing in Credo promises to be a special experience,” said Khumalo. “Generally, learning new music always stretches one. Learning modern music stretches one even further.”
The creative team behind Credo is award-winning South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen, writer Brent Meersman and multimedia artist Andrew Black.
The work was commissioned by the University of South Africa to celebrate its 140th anniversary.
“We wanted to create a piece that emphasised the unifying aspects of the Freedom Charter,” said NdodanaBreen.
The Freedom Charter was adopted on June 26 1955 in Kliptown, Soweto. Its key points — equality, dignity and unity — form the cornerstone of the constitution.
Ndodana-Breen, a former Standard Bank Young Artist award winner and composer of the short opera Hani as well as Winnie the Opera, said Credo used the oratorio form.
It features an orchestra, choir and soloists and is a concert performance as opposed to a theatrical piece.
Ndodana-Breen chose the oratorio form because “South Africa has a rich and wonderful choral tradition”.
“It is more commonly heard in performances like The Messiah,” he said. “There is a dearth of indigenous operas and oratorios, but we are starting to fill this vacuum.”
In putting together Credo , Ndo- dana-Breen collaborated with Meersman and Black to create a storyboard — a series of sequential images that illustrate the narrative.
“We got together in Darling [in the Western Cape], where we broke down each of the 18 sections in the work and planned what we wanted to do. The most challenging part was marrying all the narratives.”
The basis of the work lies in an original poem written by Meersman that is a “poetic distillation of the essence of the Freedom Charter”, as Ndodana-Breen described it.
Black then put together 65 minutes of footage, including archival photographic stills and contemporary movie clips, which will be screened during the performance.
“The most incredible thing is that he will be manipulating these images live and following the conductor,” said Ndodana-Breen.
The composer’s contribution is “traditional elements filtered through a contemporary lens”.
Although he paid homage to South African musical history, NdodanaBreen said the work had to be judged for its present contribution.
“This isn’t a walk down memory lane with the obligatory kwela break. I don’t do that,” he added.
Ndodana-Breen’s style has been called “Afro-minimalism” and he is known for his skilful blend of indigenous and classical styles.
Most recently, he was composer-inresidence for the fifth Johannesburg International Mozart Festival last year. He has received commissions from across the globe, including the Miller Theatre at Columbia University in New York and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.
The New York Times referred to his music as “delicatelymade . . . airy, spacious, terribly complex but never convoluted”.
The newspaper said NdodanaBreen “has a lot to teach the Western wizards of metric modulation and layered rhythms about grace and balance”.
Khumalo is one of South Africa’s best-known and most popular singers. She performs in both classical and jazz styles.
She said she had enjoyed getting to grips with the new work.
“It has been fun applying my mind to Credo . I look forward to sharing it with all who will be there.”
‘Credo’ will be performed at the ZK Matthews Great Hall at the University of South Africa on July 18, 19 and 21. Book through Computicket