(Composer Phelelani
Simon Mnomiya)
Programme of impressive indigenous music delights big
audience. (Review by Michael Green)
The stage of the Durban City Hall was crowded with about 400
people for the most extraordinary concert of the summer season of the KZN
Philharmonic Orchestra.
The performers were the 70-strong orchestra and about 350
singers from six choirs, gathered to present a programme of impressive
indigenous music.
Six conductors took the orchestra and this massive chorus
through nine items, to the delight of a very big audience.
I am not sure whether this music was known to many of the
listeners. Quite a large number of the usual symphony concert patrons were
absent (partly because of the Jewish religious holidays), and I would guess
that there was a substantial proportion of complimentary tickets among those
present.
No matter, they were there, on the seats, they greatly
enjoyed the concert, and perhaps some of them will return on more conventional
musical occasions.
The composers represented were: Michael Mosoeu Moerane
(1909-1981); Qinisela Sibisi, born in KwaMashu in 1963; Todd Matshikiza (1921-1968),
who achieved international fame 50 years ago with his musical King Kong; Mzilikazi Khumalo (born
1932); and Phelelani Simon Mnomiya (born 1960), who lectures at the University
of KZN.
Their music was in general a fusion of European and African
melodies and styles, with subject matter ranging from a setting of a psalm to a
tone picture of the Valley of a Thousand Hills. It was all admirable and
enjoyable, and a refreshing insight into the creative abilities of South
Africans.
The singers came from the following groups: Clermont
Community Choir, SA Singers, African Chorus, Prince Mshiyeni Choir, Durban
Serenade Choral Society and Gauteng Choristers. They were obviously well
trained, they sang with good balance and discipline, and by sheer weight of
numbers they produced an imposing volume of sound.
The six conductors were all people who had been involved in
the coaching of the choirs. They were Griffiths Khanyile, Mongi Mzobe, Sidwell
Mhlongo, Monty Manamela, Vumile Nomanyama and Sibusiso Mkhulisi. Some of them
had had little or no formal training, but they all showed basic skills and
enthusiasm and a good rapport with the orchestra as well as the singers.
The evening opened with 15 minutes of lively music from the
60-piece KZN Youth Wind Band, another rewarding illustration of musical
activity among young people.
After this came the main work of the evening, Dvorak’s
Symphony No. 9, From the New World, conducted by Naum Rousine, the Russian-born
conductor-violinist who joined the KZNPO 22 years ago.
This great work, written during Dvorak’s two-year stay in
the United States in the 1890’s, has been an international favourite since its
first performance in New York in 1893. Our orchestra gave a resonant performance,
with the brass and woodwind sections revelling in the important roles assigned
to them. - Michael Green
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