This celebration of South African music had everything. Great rhythm, nice beats (and breasts), humour, grief and great dance | By Chxta
And thus it was that on Sunday I went to see the Umoja play as the South African sensation swung by Lagos. This celebration of South African music had everything. Great rhythm, nice beats (and breasts), humour, grief and great dance. Umoja is a story of the development of black South African music from the pre-Boer days when the Zulu of Chaka held sway up until today, when contemporary hip-hop has a rather overbearing influence—as it sadly does—on most music genres.
To be honest, I was confused at first, because there was really no story being told, just a narrative that was expressed more in dance. The whole thing was more of a collage of black South African life, with an undue focus on the apartheid era. From my view point, the creators of the play were more music oriented. Whether that was because they did not have a story to tell is left to the imagination of the viewer, but credit must be given to them, their dance was a joy to watch.
The narrator, with his fake white hair, was a bit too cliche and I think he could have done a better job with that accent—but that would be racist of me wouldn’t it? The narrative (again) told no real story, just a mash of snippets. I can think of no memorable quotes to hold on to from this performance.
Again the idealism of the whole thing was a little distressing to me. I hope there were no impressionable minds in the audience, because in reality, retreating into their music was not what changed South Africa, but the fact that the black South Africans actually confronted the system over the course of decades.
One of the big things that I took away from Umoja, asides from the great dance routines, is that apartheid ate deeply into the consciousness of black South Africans, and it will take a lot more than having Mandela, Mbeki, and now Zuma, in office to ease that pain. However, for those who might want a more cerebral telling of the tale of that dark era of South African history which lasted unofficially from 1910 to ’48 and then officially from ’48 to ’93, then Umoja is definitely not for you.
Truth be told, I have seen a few stage plays in my time, and if you are looking for a little bit of brainless fun, then Umoja is right up that alley.
What I found interesting however, was the fact that the show attempted to give us an insight into the lives of black South Africans under the apartheid government. It was very restrictive. Ah, now I remember a quote, “Men had to go to the cities to make money, but under the rules of the government of the day, they were not allowed to take their women with them and so the countryside was filled with the song of lonely women”.
May Daniel Francois Malan and his co-racists burn in hell. Amen.
Chxta is a free-lance IT consultant with a keen interest in anything relating to Nigeria, Open-Source IT and Juventus FC. He is also known to have an irreverent posture and as such, DTN cannot be held responsible for the drivel he comes up with.
