Working, Singing, Visiting, Remembering in South Africa

New Post -Here is core group of people working to develop the curriculum in music for a Bachelor of Arts Degree.  We are quite diverse, as we have a Theorist/Pianist, a Choral director, a Music Education specialist, a Saxophonist and a South African National Competitive Choral specialist. In small departments, everyone pulls together to get projects across the finish line and collegiality is critical to daily operations and happy successes.  The team is teaching me about accreditation and approval processes, meeting to arrive at agreements about curriculum content, solving course module problems by imagining alternatives and learning about each other and our various performance interests.  We are joined at meal times and occasional conversations by the dance and drama faculty, as well as the Dean of Arts, Teaching/Learning and Curriculum Approval representatives.


The UniZulu choir is is singing  the song "The Parting Glass" affecting Irish pronunciations and arranged especially for them by yours truly.  When you arrange music for such a choir, you don't really have to work hard, because the amazing singers have wonderful interpretation of a variety of musical styles and are quite flexible in trying out new musical passages as they are being written.

Our relationships begun in professional circles several years ago have now become rich friendships, counting each other among our respective loved ones.  Here's our longtime friend Gugu Gule, whom we first met as a University of Zululand Linkages Director.  She taught me a great deal about working internationally and taught Dennis and me both so much about living up to one's Zulu name and family.  So here we are, from left to right, Nozibusiso, Gugu and Kanyezi Sibusiso (Suzi, Gugu and Dennis), doing our level best to live up to this family and these names. 

 Yesterday was the 41st anniversary of the transformative event known as the Soweto Uprising.  On that date in 1976, South African youth marched in the streets to begin the process of making their voices hear throughout the world.  At choir practice yesterday, I asked the singers to sing something to commemorate the day and remember their fallen elders, who were youth at the time.  They sang me a the jam session of my lifetime.  I suggested a freedom song, or a protest song, and they sang a medley, complete with toyi, toyi (protest dance steps), moving formations, multi-part harmonies, calls/responses and meaningful memorable texts.  I had actually been a little concerned that the present day generation of young singers might not remember the old songs and struggle music, but I was dead wrong.  It was remarkable and I thank everyone who takes the time to teach the songs, stories and other details of historical events, the old fashioned way...by singing and remembering together in community.

In case you are wondering about wildlife in the rural areas, well we awoke to an invasion of the mongoose this morning.  Dennis had to search the internet for a little while to figure out what the animals were, as we are a little rusty on our mongoose identification.  Mongoose