This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

24th May 2008

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The Johannesburg City Hall is one of those architectural gems largely unknown to most residents of the conurbation that is greater Joburg. Built in 1915, it has survived – like a handful of other fine buildings in ‘the dodgy part of town’ – our local developers’ obsession with demolishing any building over half a century old. (This is, by the way, a well-established habit; in an essay titled “Old Joburg is Vanishing” that is itself more venerable than most of the buildings in ‘new Joburg’, Herman Charles Bosman wrote: “I sorrow for the buildings and the people who have gone. People and things that have vanished like hopes. All gone into the unremembering dust ...”)

Although there are businesses that continue to thrive in the city centre, and despite the fact that large numbers of immigrants ensure downtown residential levels are rising rather than falling – and, moreover, even as faltering urban regeneration projects are underway – the prevailing narrative associated with the ‘old town’ is one of departure: those with the means to do so have left for the northern parts of Johannesburg. This is, of course, part of a greater national perception that ‘people are leaving’; and, as the South African diaspora grows, emigration and homecoming become increasingly resonant themes.

Thus, it is perhaps fitting that Isak Roux’s Coming Home debuted at the City Hall last weekend. Roux (who is based in Germany) has mapped the Biblical story of the prodigal son onto a broadly ‘African’ context, infusing the narrative of departure and return with South African musical motifs.

Billed as a “jazz gospel cantata”, Coming Home was commissioned specifically for this year’s MIAGI (Music Is A Great Investment) Festival. The festival, now in its eighth year, has included concerts and events in Cape Town and Johannesburg that aim to fuse classical, ‘indigenous’ and jazz music. MIAGI is also based on a strong educational imperative; it aims not only to “vitalise cultural awareness” amongst adults, but also to “raise the profile of music and music education for children and youth as an effective tool for positive social development.”

If these are ambitious goals, then Roux’s composition is an appropriately ambitious multi-genre piece. It includes an orchestra of classical and contemporary instruments, a massed choir, three soloists and spoken narration, combining original orchestrations (inflected with kwela-style township jazz) with arrangements of African-American ‘negro spirituals’.

This sounds unusual, and Coming Home certainly is that; but it is a carefully modulated work that straddles these different musical styles with both sophistication and gusto. The Chamber Orchestra of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Choristers, conducted by Kutlwano Masote, embraced the challenge and this once-off performance – although there will presumably be a demand for the work to be put on elsewhere – was received enthusiastically.

The soloists were given the most difficult task: matching their classically-trained voices to the brassy vocal demands of gospel music. Even the redoubtable Sibingile Khumalo had some difficulty here, although as the cantata grew to its climax her mezzo soprano was glorious in “Evening Song”. Robert Brooks (who, when not fulfilling his duties as Executive Director of the festival, is a tenor of international standing) had fun with the syncopated rhythms of “The Gospel Train” and sang a powerful “Sweet Hour of Prayer”. Thinus Maree’s baritone was, at times, more country’n’western than gospel’n’soul, but he brought a lively confidence to the stage in the few moments when his fellow-performers (including, surprisingly, Khumalo) seemed uncertain.

Sibongile Mngoma’s multi-lingual narration – mostly English, with patches of Afrikaans, isiZulu and seSotho – was evocative (albeit, at times, a little overdone) and her story-telling was accompanied by Roux on the piano, creating gentle segues between each number.

A highlight was “Déjà vu / Rock of Ages”, in which the brass section of the orchestra was able to show off its individual and collective jazz virtuosity. Equally rousing was the finale, which ranged from “Onward Christian Soldiers” to “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika”.

The opening bars of the latter had a curious and comical effect. When performed as part of a piece like Coming Home (with its religious overtones and its emphasis on spiritual as much as geographical pilgrimage), Enoch Sontonga’s famous song is restored to its original status as a hymn. A number of patriots in the audience, however, thought it inappropriate to sit during the singing of a hymn that is also the national anthem, and so stood; slowly, the rest of the crowd followed suit, and soon everyone was on their feet. Bathos descended when it became evident that there was more to come and everyone sat down awkwardly, only to stand again a few bars later when the finale was over to applaud Roux and his colleagues.

The standing ovation was, however, well deserved. The musical scope of this “jazz gospel cantata” is impressive and it is to be hoped that Coming Home will be performed again soon – perhaps even at the Johannesburg City Hall once more, to draw a few more music lovers back to the city centre.