Cape Argus E-dition

Iconic composer who defied apartheid odds

THOMAS POOLEY Pooley is an associate professor and Chair of Department: Art and Music at Unisa. (This article was first published in The Conversation).

PROFESSOR James Steven Mzilikazi Khumalo (1932-2021), who has died at the age of 89, had a distinguished career as a linguist, which complemented a stellar career in music.

He was the leading composer and director of choral music to emerge from South Africa.

His opera, Princess Magogo, was the first by a black South African. Today he is among the most widely performed of all South African composers. He achieved international recognition for performances of his major works in Europe and the US.

This is especially remarkable considering he had no formal qualifications in music, and composed entirely in tonic sol-fa rather than staff notation. Khumalo worked to publish and popularise dual notation, which combined the do-re-mi of tonic sol-fa with the score based notations used by art music composers. This transformed the choral sphere. For decades composers and choirs had relied almost entirely on tonic sol-fa. His innovations in notation also opened up new vistas for choral works in African idioms and languages. This enabled choral musicians to work seamlessly with orchestras and opera companies.

Khumalo collaborated with important conductors, composers, librettists and opera companies to stage genre-defining works.

These included the epic uShaka kaSenzangakhona (1981/1996), the opera Princess Magogo (2002), and the song cycle Haya Mntwan’ Omkhulu (1999).

Khumalo spent most of his career teaching, first in schools, and then at the University of the Witwatersrand. In the 1980s he became the first black professor of African languages at the university. He was also its first black head of the department of African languages.

Khumalo studied first for a teacher’s diploma through the Bantu Normal College in Pretoria in 1954, before taking his Bachelor of Arts degree through Unisa in 1956. He later achieved the Bachelor of Arts Honours by correspondence, also through Unisa, in 1972.

He persisted with his studies in African languages and linguistics, achieving a landmark and highly sophisticated theoretical treatise on Zulu tonology – the study of linguistic tone and pitch – for his Master’s degree.

His doctoral studies were in phonology, a sub-field of linguistics devoted to the systematic analysis of speech sounds. This work included an important collaboration with Charles Kisseberth, professor of linguistics at the University of Illinois, US.

Khumalo was instrumental in advocating for Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika as the basis for a new anthem for the country.

It was his idea to join the new and old anthems for purposes of reconciliation.

In 1999, he was awarded the Order of the Star by President Nelson Mandela in recognition of his contributions to the nation.

Khumalo’s achievements in and out of academia – as musician, public intellectual, linguist, and administrator – were recognised with honorary degrees from five South African universities. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Literary Award from M-Net in 2007. He was Professor Emeritus of African Languages at Wits University at the time of death.

The fact that he achieved all of this against the odds is testament to his brilliantly original mind, and to the qualities of discipline, determination, and leadership that define his legacy.

OPINION

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2021-06-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

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