THE MUSIC OF MZILIKAZI KHUMALO, language, culture, and song in South Africa
287pp., hardback, Bloomsbury Academic, New York, 2024
ISBN: 9798765113264
Biographical essays on Mzilikazi Khumalo's major works, including those for choir, orchestra, and opera; contextual studies of his compositions and arrangements, and reflections on his roles as editor, conductor, and music director.
Contributions include:
"'UGqozi': A Biography of J.S. Mzilikazi Khumalo (1932 – 2021)" by Thomas M. Pooley
"Nation Building Massed Choir Festival: Collaboration between Professor J. S. M. Khumalo and Maestro Richard Cock" by Richard Cock
"The Use of Tonic Sol-fa Notation by Professor Mzilikazi Khumalo" by Ludumo Magangane
"The Music for A Cappella Choir" by David Smith
"Sigiya Ngengoma: Music Dancing History and Politics in UShaka KaSenzangakhona (1996)" by Innocentia Mhlambi
"'Walking in Thorns': Nested contexts in the creation of Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu" by Donato Somma.
"A trailblazer for Indigenous music, Mzilikazi Khumalo triumphed as a composer, reimagining what can be called 'classical music.' Integrating various art forms in his musical works, this publication illustrates that for Khumalo music was life, life was art, art was poetry, poetry was song, and together it was so much more." Hilde Roos, Africa Open Institute for Music, Research, and Innovation, Stellenbosch University
"The book is a collection of riches. In a multitude of ways, the authors pay tribute to one of South Africa's great contemporary composers: linguist, teacher, lover of history and visionary, path-breaking musician, Mzilikazi Khumalo. The breadth of the essays here sets new trends in music scholarship and changes our understanding of music, story, magic in 'Mzansi,' South Africa." Liz Gunner, Visiting Research Professor, University of Johannesburg
Thomas M. Pooley is Professor of Musicology and chair of the Department of Art and Music at the University of South Africa. He is the author of The Land is Sung: Zulu Performances and the Politics of Place (2023) and is Editor-in-Chief of Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa, and founding managing editor of the open-access journal, Analytical Approaches to World Music.
Naomi André is the David G. Frey Distinguished Professor in the Department of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, and Professor Emerita at the University of Michigan, USA, in Afroamerican and African Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and the Residential College. Her books include Black Opera: History, power, engagement and the co-edited collections African Performance Arts and Political Acts and Blackness in Opera.
Innocentia Mhlambi is Associate Professor of African Languages at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is the author of African-language Literatures: Perspectives on isiZulu fiction and Popular Black Television Series and co-editor of Mintiro ya Vulavula: Arts, national identities and democracy.
Donato Somma is a senior lecturer in Music in the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand.