THE IMAGINING of a new world is imperative and is a revolutionary strategy that we must apply with vigour, according to composer-librettist Neo Muyanga.
Muyanga was addressing a Wits University audience in a presentation on July 7 about his operetta The Flower of Shembe. This mythic tale about faith and destiny, loosely based on the lives of various messiahs, made its Johannesburg debut on July 6 at the Dance Factory in Newtown, after opening in Cape Town in May.
Muyanga elaborated, in response to a question about funding: “Artists always think we are especially oppressed but physicists have the same problem. The response from business is often how will it feed the hungry and [its value is] not immediately apparent.” But this was no reason to stop imagining a new world. The Flower of Shembe even embraces a sort of ‘art povera’ aesthetic with a set that includes oversize flowers created from scrap. “How much money do you need? Shouldn’t it be different from a glitzy operatic tradition? The question of funding also impacts on [our] design, which is made from organic found objects,” he added.
Muyanga said he was fascinated by the link music establishes in the world, alikening notation to a kind of journalistic shorthand. He spoke about the storyline of the operetta, demonstrating the fusion of musical principles on which it hinges, aided by members of the cast.
“It’s a story about how difficult it is to love because we are wired to self-preserve, which is a barrier to love,” Muyanga said, in response to a question by Wits academic Liz Gunner. “We live in a very cynical time - this is both frightening and wonderfully open.” Referring to battles between the ruling party and the ANC Youth League about who should be directing policy, he added: “I do wonder whether we need a messiah so our messiah asks this question. The proposal is perhaps we can be the messiah - to transcend the self-preservation sense and to give to the world.”
Questioned by Gunner about what kind of leader might be proposed, Muyanga said: “We have become wired to expect certain talented erudite individuals to have answers so we give them a mandate. I don’t know what the new proposal is. My thinking is circumscribed by the environment. The process is trying to find a clearer question that leads to another paradigm.”
And why call it an operetta, came a question from the floor. “It’s a little bit tongue in cheek,” said Muyanga. “Opera actually started as a working class tradition. We’re interested in working in different styles and aesthetics and interested in allowing people to come along with us … So we give you this definition [as an appeal] to get you in the door and do the rest of the work with you in the situation.” Elaborating about composing between different genres and how discernible they were, Muyanga added: “If you’re not tuned to it, it’s invisible but it is proposed.”
Muyanga currently exhibits characterisation sketches created for The Flower of Shembe on ‘Sounding Out’, a group exhibition at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, which runs until July 18.