at the Bhambatha and Ghandi Choral Music Eisteddfod, at the University of
Zululand
23 September 2006
Greetings:
Today is an important day in the calendar of heritage events in the province
of KwaZulu-Natal. We have assembled to celebrate our music, our heritage in
line with the national theme for the Heritage Month of September. This weekend
will see all our nine provinces staging events to celebrate national heritage
of music. Tomorrow will see the national government staging an event with
similar themes in Cape Town.
It is expected that programmes highlighting this heritage of music in its
diversity will continue for the next few months until a new national theme is
advised for 2007. We are grateful to those who lived before us for nurturing
this form of expression which today gives us our identity.
We are also assembled to commemorate and celebrate our heroes through this
heritage of music .As we rebuild our collective memory in terms of how this
region and its people looked like in 1906, some 100 years ago, we have come to
remember that there are two important events that took place then. The first
one was the Poll Tax Uprisings led by Inkosi Bhambatha ka Mancinza Zondi and
the second one was Mahatma Ghandi deciding to give the name Satygraha, meaning
âfaithful to the truthâ to his passive resistance movement.
Both men suffered tremendously for believing in a just cause. It should be
remembered that in the case of Poll Tax Uprisings there were many preceding
events, mainly since 1879, all of which were aimed at dehumanising and
completely dispossessing the black people of any of the dignity they might have
had left. Bhambatha, Zondi, Sigananda Shezi, Meseni Qwabe the Bhengu brothers
and many others could not take this abuse anymore. They decided to defend the
dignity of the oppressed by engaging the colonial forces who were backed by
Britain.
The suffering that black people had endured during 1906 had changed Mahatma
Ghandi's outlook to life and he decided that peaceful resistance should be
institutionalised through Satygraha.
At around the same time Dr JL Dube, later the first President of the African
National Congress (ANC) was busy building Ohlange Institute. Among his students
and later teaching staff members was Reuben Tholakele Caluza. This teacher was
an entertainer and musician of note. He assisted with fundraising for the
school through choral activities.
Caluza composed about everything that he head experienced and saw and became
a musical icon during his lifetime. In 1933 he was awarded the bachelor of
music degree by Hampton University in the United States of America. It is in
this context that he composed extensively about the 1913 Land Act and its
devastating effect on the economic, social and political lives of black people.
The Act turned Africans into slaves and pariahs in their own land.
Caluza also composed about the successes of John Dube, Ohlange, Amanzimtoti
as well as the ANC and the politics of the time. His songs are perfect examples
of how the heritage of music can and does record our history, telling a long
story in a few words and beautiful melodies and harmonies.
Not only will you find this in well composed choral music but you will find
it in jazz, amahubo, maskandi, isicathamiya, mbhaqanga and in the liberation
struggle songs. We have a rich history and our music carries this history for
us. We salute our music, our heritage.
Our choirs, the cream of the province and the cream of South Africa and
Africa and part of the cream of the world are assembled here today to sing
about our heroes, their lives and their achievements. Our composers have
composed choral music songs on Bhambatha and Ghandi. Our choirs are singing
these songs. As we join the rest of South Africa to pay tribute to our music
our heritage we realise that indeed we are living in the best of times.
I salute our composers, our conductors and our choirs for the effort you
have put in understanding this complex concept of heritage of music in general
and heritage of choral music in particular. I salute you for understanding that
it is African to celebrate life through song and dance and that it is African
to commemorate the past through song and dance and even more so that it is
African to engrave our history in the musical memory. Our music is a history
record and our history is in our music.
The presentation of amahubo songs in this Eisteddfod is a necessary step in
the recognition of the role of music in African history and South African
heritage. Amahubo songs are the oldest Zulu music living today. Their
preservation is more important now than at any other stage in our cultural
history. This Eisteddfod can only grow well into the future a catalyst for
those dispossessed of their history to reclaim it.
It is also good that at inception of the Eisteddfod we came to the
University of Zululand. This university is well known for its history and track
record of choral and African music. Over the years it has produced many
luminaries in the field .The rector, Professor Gumbi, management, staff and
students are always receptive to the initiatives of the provincial government
of KwaZulu-Natal. This university is strategically well positioned to play a
critical role in the renewal of heritage in the province.
The African Renaissance initiative in the province of KwaZulu-Natal is an
on-going process .It is not an event. We are assembled here today to look at
what the African Renaissance can do for us and what we can do with the African
Renaissance if we apply our minds. We have the resources to engage in a rebirth
of the continent.
We have reached a stage where our cultural and heritage resources must work
for us, in relation to our province, our country, our continent and the world.
With the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup approaching we should remember that we have
a resource in our music, our dances and our heritage. The time to talk is over,
now is the time to work. We are determined to present all the heritage of this
province in a balanced and respectful manner that opens a space for all to
express themselves.
Tomorrow as we proceed to kwaDukuza for the King Shaka Commemoration Day, we
will do so with a full understanding that the heritage of music, which our
ancestors left us is in safe hands. In conclusion, I want to thank all of you
for coming here and to thank the staff in the office of the Premier for work
well done.
I thank you!
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
23 September 2006
