Life of the legendary Zulu king is the subject of `uShaka’

Chicago Tribune
By Michael Cameron
Special to the Tribune
Published June 10, 2006
original link

OPERA REVIEW

Ravinia took a risk opening its centennial season in 2004 with the American premier of “Princess Magogo,” billed as the first opera in the Zulu language.

Its rousing success prompted management to present “uShaka” Thursday, another American premiere by the same composer and librettist, Mzilikazi Khumalo and Themba Msimang.

But the 90-minute account of 19th Century Zulu King Shaka’s life demonstrates the perils of searching for a viable hybrid between African and Western classical music: What you choose to sacrifice from your own traditions is even more critical than what you decide to incorporate from the new.

The oratorio is a revisionist account of Shaka, generally viewed by historians as a formidable military strategist and brutal dictator. Khumalo and Msimang emphasize the former while tempering the latter, believing he was well on his way to unifying many warring tribes before his assassination in 1828.

The finest parts of “Magogo” were those that retained key components of South African music, including traditional percussion instruments. Inexplicably, those instruments and the vibrant, quasi-improvisational style associated with them were left out of the mix in “uShaka.”

The singing veers closer to Western operatic style than to the Zulu idiom, and while some of the nuance of the latter is missed, the solo and choral forces still were uniformly splendid.

The vast majority of the work is in a minor mode (including the entire first two parts), and without enough variation in other areas, a certain lethargy set in that was not justified by the sprawling libretto. A welcome exception was actor Bheki Mkwane’s narration, a kind of unpitched recitative accompanied by nothing more than a gentle timpani roll. Mezzo-soprano Sibongile Khumalo was back with a much smaller, but no less intoxicating, role than her earlier princess.

Bass Kaiser Nkosi and soprano Angela Kerrison would be the envy of many a conventional opera company.

Conductor Leslie Dunner led his forces confidently, and the Chicago Sinfonietta gave a vivid account of the score. One could hardly imagine a more powerful and authoritative reading than that of the Gauteng Choristers.