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Virginia Arts Festival: Soweto Gospel Choir “Soweto is an acronym for Southwestern Townships, a sprawl of black suburbs just outside Johannesburg, South Africa, the city of the proverbial gold. Like the city, Soweto is a melting pot of cultures that attract men, women and their young as they come searching for that elusive fortune believed to line the streets.” (Don Makatile, DVD notes). Historic First Baptist Church, Norfolk was filled to capacity by people gathered to celebrate our common humanity. Peace and freedom were highlighted at this concert where the choir celebrated the100th anniversary year of Nelson Mandela's birth. Mr Mandela is the George Washington of South Africa. ”The world of African music is vast and endlessly varied, an enchanting universe of rhythms, melodies and sounds” to quote a CD booklet. “South African music features magnificent singing, especially lush, sophisticated harmonies.” It is one thing to read these words and an altogether different one to experience the music live. By western standards their use of instrumental music is spare though a drum often gave the beat and there were occasional flute lines but it was the complex interplay of voices and bodies moving in dance and mime that was unique. The singers created vocal clusters that dissolved and reformed often as a melody unfolded with choreography of bodies in motion on the rather small stage. Formed in 2002, the Soweto Gospel Choir presents the music of the struggle of the black South African majority to take power from their white overlords. Turning the pain of a racist past into songs is a way of truly overcoming that experience. One example early in the program was Mama ndiyalila, composed by Miriam Makeba with a text urging young people to wake up and fight to own their homeland. My first contact with South African music was two LP records in 1965, one by Ms. Makeba and the other South African instrumental music by trumpeter Hugh Masakela. Masakela gave us the beat and Makeba gave us the words for the issues of apartheid, both in spoken dialogue and song. As she said, she was an expatriate because she wasn't allowed the freedom in South Africa to sing the truth in her country. She made a deep impression on me both emotionally and intellectually. Freedom Songs Medley: Jikijela and [Nelson] Rolihlahla mandela opened with a shout and raised fists. The piano played offstage and a solo female voice, backed by a mighty choir, sang “May his soul dwell within us...to freedom in this land of Af-ri-ca.” It took time for the international community to wake-up to South African's human rights abuses of its black citizens. Two songs speak to this. Asimbonanga/Biko, Johnny Clegg's (British born South African) beautiful chant to Nelson Mandela, is a haunting tribute to the man who at his 90th birthday concert was able to dance to this music. After being released from prison he was elected President of South Africa. Biko is a song by Englishman Peter Gabriel memorializing the life of Stephen Biko the South African political activist who died in police custody at age 31. He had been arrested again and again for exercising his freedom of speech and movement. (The 1987 film Cry Freedom tells his story). All the choir's early songs were connected to aspects of fighting for and achieving their freedom from apartheid. These songs were a valuable part of the struggle, just as were American spirituals in the U.S. We heard Wade in the Water/Bawo thixo which included “Rock-a My Soul” with wailing high voice that electrified the audience. The energy revved-up even more in tribute to Aretha Franklin—Natural Woman (King,Wexler, Goffin) which followed with piano. Two sopranos took turns singing the verses in Aretha's style but then continued with their own joyous musical variations while the choir had its say. Honoring the holiday season, Amazing Grace, O Holy Night, Silent Night and other favorites were offered in new arrangements of beauty and power. The deep, bass voice in We Wish You a Merry Christmas with drum and stunning harmonies opened the set. Following this was a song made famous by James Brown—I Feel Good—which riveted the audience into a unified feeling of human love—standing, dancing in place, sharing smiles with strangers, unified by a sense of our common humanity, black and white together. They capped the evening honoring peace and liberation with Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. We felt greatly privileged to be included in this evening of powerful creative expression. This was truly an experience of a lifetime. The CD, Freedom by Soweto Gospel Choir was available for purchase there as well as online, with about half of the singers we heard live, on the CD. A DVD, Soweto Gospel Choir Live at the Nelson Mandela Theatre, from 2008 is also available online. They capture fairly well the live experience.
The evening was a multi-layered, artistic collaboration of the Virginia Arts Festival, The Governor's School for the Arts, 13th Annual High School Dance Festival, Richard Alston Dance Company and American Evolution™, 2019. Let me explain. The timing of the event was planned to coordinate with the 13th Regional High School Dance Festival. Deborah Thorpe, Assistant Director of The Governor's School for the Arts (GSA), started the Dance Festival in 1995 to give the students an opportunity to engage with college recruiters and work with master teachers. From a beginning in Norfolk at Old Dominion University the festival moved to Goucher College, in Baltimore (1997), and returned to Norfolk in 2007 “when we decided we had enough space to host it here. The festival happens every other year.” This year there were guests from 23 states, 56 colleges from around the country, students from 55 East Coast high schools—some 1100 participants altogether and most were present in Chrysler Hall for the premiere of a new work with GSA and Regional High School Dance Festival as co-hosts. Ms. Thorpe says that the collaboration made a bigger name company possible and the VAF commissioned the work and provided education outreach to the community. On past visits by Richard Alston Dance Company (RADC), Sir Richard taught master classes at the GSA and was so pleased with the students he asked to work with them for his new piece, Arrival, and spent two weeks teaching his new choreography to twenty GSA dancers. RADC was founded in 1994 and has become a part of the United Kingdom's art scene. In 1968 Mr. Alston choreographed his first work as one of twelve students at the newly formed London Contemporary Dance School. On leaving four years later he formed the U.K.'s first independent dance group, Strider. Three years later he came to New York to study at the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio. Two years later, back in Europe, he began a very successful and prize-winning company as choreographer and teacher. The program opened to music by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Hungarian Dances for solo piano, simply titled Brahms Hungarian. The brilliant percussive playing was by pianist Jason Ridgway on a Steinway grand piano. You could hear the Gypsy influence on some of these traditional folk tunes danced to racing bursts of acceleration and sudden stops. Alston has said of this dance “it is raunchy and aristocratic, speedy bucolic gallops combined with haughty grandeur.” This balance treads a fine line which he captured well with nine dancers— five females in light-as-air, elegant filmy skirts over flower printed dresses and four men in vests and long pants in dark hues. Their dancing offered “amazing speed, explosive power and linear grace.” Proverb, “How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life” (text by Wittgenstein), is set to music by contemporary composer Steve Reich (b. 1936). The vocal style is influenced by the harmonics and dissonances of medieval singing with vibraphones creating a sense of urgency. A tribute to the courage and commitment of the skilled craftsmen who built Europe's early cathedrals, the dance relates to their teamwork carried out in blind faith reflected by the images created by the choreographer for his nine member troop. The dance seemed to flow directly from the music. Alston created this work for Reich's 70th birthday and re-staged it for his own 70th year. The third dance, titled Detour, was choreographed by Martin Lawrance who is the company's rehearsal director. He danced with the company for twelve years and had twenty-five works created on him in those twelve years. As Mr. Lawrance was creating the dance his idea changed—hence the title. “Michael Gordon's resonant score, Timber, remixed by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, inspired me to make a very fast septet. The music builds in pace and drives the dance forward.” Seven dancers gave a visceral, intense performance that matched nicely Manta Percussion's musical intensity. Virginia Arts Festival commissioned a new work by Mr. Alston, simply titled Arrived, to be premiered on this night through a grant by the American Evolution™ 2019 Commemoration, honoring the 400th anniversary of the arrival of women and Africans to Jamestown and the establishment of representative democracy, “events which continue to define America.” The world premiere of Arrived, completed an evening of dance. The nine members of RADC were joined by twenty students of the GSA Dance Department, “integrating their wonderful talent with that of my own Company” said Sir Richard Alston. The music from 1619 was composed by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). It included Madrigals from Books 6, 7 and 8 and Sinfonias from Orfeo, his often performed opera. This music, that so openly expresses human feeling, led to the birth of dramatic opera. Sir Richard says the dance celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the rich diversity of the American people. It was a most enjoyable evening, enhanced by sitting between my friend Wendy Lucas and Ms. Antoinette Westphal of the Department of Performing Arts at Drexel University. Would that I could have had a class from her on how to describe more effectively the performance I experienced. |