South African violinist Neo Motsatse (22) will celebrate and honour Dorothy Masuka, an iconic South African composer and musician, on what would have been Masuka’s 87th birthday, on September 3, at the Lyric Theatre.
The production is sponsored by South African Music Performing Rights Association (SAMPRA).
The celebration, titled Seasons: Dorothy Masuka’s Songbook in the Style of Vivaldi is a musical production weaving Masuka’s prolific work with that of the well-known Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi’s Seasons.
True to Vivaldi’s pioneering work on programme music, the performance will be interspersed with extra musical narrative, expanding on Vivaldi’s accompanying sonnets to poetically incorporate aspects of Masuka’s own musical journeys.
“I am truly excited and honoured to be able to pay tribute to two of the most prolific and truly iconic composers of their times, Mam Dorothy Masuka and Antonio Vivaldi,” said Neo about the production.
“As a classically trained South African musician, it is always my attempt to bring both elements in my music – classical training plus being South African. In this production we epitomise this duality, and the synthesis is something special,” she explained.
Sixteen of the best on stage
The importance of this work is highlighted by the fact that it brings an ensemble of 16 musicians on stage, representing a fusion of both the classical music and the afro-soul genres. The arrangements and some of the new compositional elements have been created by the legendary music arranger, composer and producer, JB Arthur.
“I have enjoyed working on this with its rich elements to work with. We have preserved the feel and integrity of each of the compositions, while attempting the difficult work of seamlessly fusing and harmonising works for totally different eras, genres, styles, cultures and continents,” commented Arthur.
“It doesn’t often get more challenging than this, but we did it,” he added.
Great reviews
The production was premiered at the arena of the National Arts Festival at Makhanda, formerly Grahamstown, in 2019 to great reviews and acclaim. “We are excited to be bringing this production home for both Neo and Mam D,” enthused Fezeka Motsatse, executive producer and director of Fezeka Motsatse Activations, the production company responsible for this work.
She continued to explain that she and Neo have assembled a top tier group of musicians, including one of the leading academics and artists, Dr Hleze Kunju, as a narrator, the lead guitarist and the founder of the Grazroots Project, Billy Monama, SATMA-award winner Aus Tebza on bass guitar, and internationally recognized pianist Avzal Ismail, to mention a few.
Dorothy Masuka, popularly known as Mam D to her fans in South Africa, was one of the leading African singer-songwriters whose career had spanned more than six decades.
She achieved early success and fame through her writing and recording her chart topping Hamba Nontsokolo in the early 1950s. This was followed by compositions that were recorded by some of her more famous peers like Mirriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela. Masuka was inducted into the American Hall of Fame in 2002 and four years later was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for “Excellent achievement in and contribution to music composition and performance,” by President Thabo Mbeki.
Masuka died on February 23 in 2019 on the 19th birthday of Neo Motsatse. It was also the year in which the compilation music production, Seasons: Dorothy Masuka’s Songbook in the Style of Vivaldi was written and premiered during the National Arts Festival at Makhanda.
The performance at the Lyric Theatre on Masuka’s birthday will be the first since being premiered.
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678 to 1741) was an Italian composer of the baroque era. He was also a virtuoso violinist, teacher, Roman Catholic Priest and an impresario who was regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
Among the many instrumental compositions he also composed a series of four violin concertos, each of whichgives an expression to one of the four seasons in a year. Vivaldi’s body of work has formed a basis for much scholarly work in addition to being performed widely the world over.
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