Print article   email story

This week South Africa's past was recalled in a poignant musical tribute to those who lost their loved ones in the struggle and who told their stories at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, writes JUSTINE REISINGER.

EUNICE Miya learnt her son was dead while watching television at work. One of the Guguletu Seven, Miya’s son, Jabulani, and six other youths were killed in 1986 in an ambush by apartheid security forces. He had driven her halfway to the station that morning. The next time she saw him was on TV.

Eunice, like many others, testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in search of answers regarding her son’s death.

“We who testified wanted to know what had happened to our children that they were killed like that,” she says.

Miya rarely talked about her son’s death; it hurt too much and she got emotional. But her testimony and those of other victims, resistance fighters and government oppressors, is remembered in Philip Miller’s REwind: A Cantata for Voice Tape and Testimony.

Instead of telling stories from the TRC as a narrative, Miller combined audio from the hearings with images and text over 17 original songs.

For Miya, seeing her testimony translated into this work of art provided hope.

“REwind gives me hope for the future, for our grandchildren. They will be able to see what happened in the past. It would be great for our grandchildren to learn something from our history,” Miya says.

Miller – a composer from Cape Town known for his work in film, television and live performance – was asked by friend and journalist Antjie Krog to create something in response to the TRC hearings she covered for 10 years.

“I thought why not do something in a choral way in response,” Miller says. “It is an important element of South African culture that gives voice to the people.

“Music is abstract and universal. The human voice carries such emotional signs; it’s an incredibly powerful way of connecting with people.”

Miller decided a cantata, a choral piece of music with soloists, instruments and a spiritual undertone, provided the best avenue to bring stories of life under apartheid to the public, just the way the TRC did. In order to create a theatrical piece for the tenth anniversary of the first human rights violation hearings, Miller spent six months listening to tapes of testimonies.

Miya’s testimony first gave Miller inspiration for the direction he wanted to take the piece. In reaction to seeing her son dead on TV, she said: “I wish this news could just rewind.” He found further inspiration in the natural sounds the tape made, like little squeaks and a gasp heard in storytelling.

“I knew I had to work with the recorded testimony and not something re-enacted,” Miller says. While soloists in the cantata sang some of the testimony, the actual TRC testimonies were used and the words appeared on the screen.

REwind was first performed at Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s St George’s Cathedral on December 16 2006 to rave reviews. Tutu, who served as chairperson of the TRC, was moved.

“The music is wonderful ,” Tutu said following the performance.

“My wife and I, and I believe all those present, were transfixed, especially those of us who had been close to the truth and reconciliation process.”

The performance moved to the US in July last year, with a performance at the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival and two at Williams College in Massachusetts in September. Only on April 26 this year, for a four-day run, did the cantata return to South Africa. The performances were all sold out.

Many of the individuals whose testimonies were used came to the premiere at the Market Theatre.

The audience sat enraptured for the entire performance, audibly gasping as the 70+ Gauteng Choristers appeared behind the screen covering the stage. Soloists Sibongile Khumalo, Kimmy Skota, Kaiser Nkosi and Arthur Swan were accompanied by an eight-member string ensemble.

Some of the performance’s peak energy moments were reached with Nkosi’s protest anthem, Siyaya, and Who’s Laughing, inspired by PW Botha’s interview for the TRC. The choir toyi-toyied through both songs and Nkosi spat fire.

When Botha stated that apartheid could be replaced by a “proper, positive term ... good neighbourliness”, he then asked “Who’s laughing?”. Nkosi pointed to the crowd repeatedly asking “Who’s laughing?”. To this, the choir responded with mocking laughter.

Khumalo, who sang the harrowing testimony of Ethel Nobantu Plaatjies remembering her son Luthando’s death, found bringing the humanity into song challenging.

“I try to get into their hearts and heads, try to capture what they experienced and remember that this is someone real,” Khumalo says. “It can be very difficult not to break down, especially because it’s still very real. It’s not distant history. This is history within living memory.”

In the song, Mrs Plaatjies, Khumalo sang of Plaatjies’ memory of her 11-year-old son coming home during his break from school for a snack, a daily activity, then of holding Luthando in her arms for his last breath.

While many have debated the effectiveness of the TRC, Khumalo believes reconciliation is still important for the healing of South Africa’s past.

“There have been debates on whether there was too much emphasis on reconciliation and not enough on injustice,” Khumalo says. “Perhaps they did overemphasise reconciliation, but it’s not for nothing ... It was cathartic on a very deep level and it was necessary. Rewind helps us appreciate the value of the TRC and what was done.”

Nomonde Calata, widow of activist Fort Calata and whose testimony was used in REwind, struggled to sit through the cantata but knew its message was important.

“It was very painful to watch. It brought back very painful memories and I had butterflies in my stomach,” Calata said the day after seeing REwind. “My body feels cold to think back on the bad things that happened to people.

“But I think this cantata will go very far and will also help the next generation to understand what happened in the past. Everyone who watches this will take away a message – the audience’s reaction was immediate last night.”

Subscribe to the print edition of City Press