In observance of Martin Luther King Day, IZulu Dance Theatre & Music will present Thuli Dumakude in songs of South Africa, along with the guitars, keyboards and drums of Bayeza. The free concert will be in Kingsbury Hall on Thursday, Jan. 11, at 7:30 p.m., as part of the University of Utah's King Day events.
Thuli's songs will cover diverse feelings and experiences - a mother's prayer, a traveling song, a melody of the Xhosa people, a girl's lament at the loss of her love, and other music - which reflect the everyday joys and sorrows of blacks living in the townships of South Africa."The program I sing is a combination of church, political and traditional songs," said Thuli, speaking from her New York City home,"for all three elements are closely intertwined in South African life.
"Politics press in on the black from the time he wakes up until he goes to bed. Yet 85 percent of South Africa's people are spiritual, and 50 if not 60 percent of them are Christians, with the other 40 percent devoted to their traditional culture."
Thuli was a teacher in Durban, singing with the classical Durban Adult Choir, when she met her future husband, playwright and director Welcome Msomi. He had founded the IZulu Dance Theatre & Music in Durban in 1965, to perform indigenous dance, music and drama. "I sang in Welcome's choir, then moved on to acting and dancing, and even to choreography," she said.
From 1965 to 1979, the Theatre performed throughout South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, in the United Kingdom, Italy, Israel and the United States. Its biggest hit was Msomi's "Umabatha," known as the Zulu "Macbeth," based on the legend of Shaka, the Zulu king whose life held parallels to Macbeth.
With its company of 53 performers, "Umabatha" was the hit of the 1972 and 1973 World Theatre Seasons in London, sponsored by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It went on to the Spoleto Festivals in Italy and Charleston, S.C., tours of the United Kingdon, and New York City.
In 1979 the Msomis moved to New York City. There Welcome Msomi began to organize the American edition of his IDTM, which has performed with great success in such congenial venues as BAM, Riverside Church Theatre, Hunter College, Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Series, numerous African Festival situations, and several productions off Broadway.
Msomi continues to write plays, and direct and produce them throughout the city and the country. Many tours have taken them to such cities as Detroit, Boston, Washington, D.C., Oberlin, Ohio, Houston and Dallas, Paterson, N.J., Los Angeles, Chicago, Albany and Buffalo.
Meanwhile, Thuli has worked in several plays and musicals. She won the 1984 Sir Lawrence Olivier Award for best actress of the year in London in the title role of "Poppie Nongena," with further awards as a soloist in the film "Cry Freedom." She has worked frequently Off Broadway, where she's appearing in "Juan Darien," a South American puppet play for which she furnishes background vocal music. and she often tours with another IZulu component, Thokoza (meaning "happiness"), four women who sing the music of South Africa a cappella, with percussion.
"When people love and praise our music, we realize that we have something beautiful and unique," said Thuli. "But there are similarities as well. For example, the rhythms and harmonies we use often remind me of American southern spirituals. And people will tell me, that sounded like a jazz tune. Then we realize that the musical link between Africa and America remains strong."
"Though I feel very much a part of American life after 10 years, I can't really detach myself from South Africa," she said. "Our most pressing reason for coming here was our children, three boys and a girl. We wanted them out of a system that prepares you to be hateful and judge people by their color.
"I like the sense that we are all in this melting pot together - we are one big world family. We can rejoice in the freedom of the individual asserting itself in eastern Europe, no matter what our color. I want my children to enjoy and accept what is good for them in this country, and at the same time not forget where they came from. That's why we go to South Africa during the summer vacation each year."
Welcome Msomi looks forward to a couple of teaching sessions in Utah schools. will be working in Salt Lake schools. "I will be talking about the history of South Africa and the origin of its music - how the traditional music has blended with elements brought in by others to form a new music," he said. "I will also teach the South African national anthem, "God Bless Africa,' written by Enoch Sontonga, which is very popular in many African countries."
Msomi has greatly enjoyed the challenge of coming to America. "South Africa is a small place, and the political situation did not allow me to grow as a human being, a playwright and director," he said tactfully.
"My production of `Umabatha,' a big hit in London, at Spoleto and on tour everywhere, did not pose a threat to the establishment. But productions I wanted to do depicting the life of everyday people involved politics, and were damaging to the government, so they wouldn't be staged and it was of no use to push in that direction."
Msomi feels that America has worked so well for him because he has been willing to put forth the necessary effort. "Anyone in a new country must be prepared to work hard. It takes time for people to really know you, and what you are about. But once they accept you, once you have shown what you can and will do, the support will be there.
"I have shared with people, not only my own culture and experience, but theirs as well. People born and raised in a place come to take it for granted, but I can tell them that they don't see the richness they have all around them, and what they can accomplish. That means all people, not just blacks.
"When I began to work in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district, I stressed the idea that if God created human beings, he created in them the greatness of himself, and you can experience that greatness within yourself if you look for it, poverty must not stop you.
"When we proposed starting a theater company there, people said, you don't have to go into that area, you can be based in Manhattan. But I knew what I was looking for, and I found people, especially children, who enjoyed acting. We created a show similar to Broadway in that depressed area. If you give people a chance and don't listen to others, it's amazing what you can accomplish, without funding, through the greatness of the human spirit.
"Many whites who had never been to Bed-Stuy came out to see what was happening and they were amazed, they enjoyed it. So there is always a way of bringing people together if you know how to say, look, I am only sharing with you, not preaching to you."
Conversely, Msomi has done classes in predominantly white areas where he has brought blacks to join in, with "fantastic" results. `Many people have been taught to believe that whatever happens in another part of the world, that's none of our business; that there are countries and boundaries. But we are all one. We must comprehend what is happening, what people are thinking in other areas; not that we want them to be like us or us like them, but it's important to know where they are coming from.
"America has such potential for sharing, but you cannot build walls around yourself or your neighborhood, and expect to experience all the wonderful things that God has given us. It's time to reach out to friends and neighbors, and music and the arts help us to do that," he said.