Sunninghill violinist to celebrate an icon with music and narration
South African composer and producer Dorothy Masuka’s songbook will be performed by a young violinist and other local artists.
Sunninghill violinist Neo Motsatse will honour the late South African composer and musician Dorothy Masuka who would be 87 this year.
Motsatse (22) will be at the Lyric Theatre in Ormonde on September 3 for a production sponsored by the South African Music Performing Rights Association.
The celebration titled Seasons: Dorothy Masuka’s Songbook in the Style of Vivaldi, is a musical production that weaves Masuka’s work with that of a well-known Italian composer, Antonio Vivaldi’s Seasons. The performance is set to be combined with an extramusical narrative that expands on Vivaldi’s accompanying sonnets to poetically incorporate aspects of Masuka’s musical journeys.
In the build-up to the production, Motsatse said she was excited and honoured to be able to pay tribute to two incredibly prolific composers.
“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 said.
Masuka, popularly known as Mam D by her South African fans had a career that spanned more than 60 years and had achieved early success with her chart-topping song Hamba Nontsokolo in the 1950s. She had penned compositions that were recorded by late South African artists Mirriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela.
Composer and producer JB Arthur will be part of the production that aims to highlight the fusion of classical and afro-soul genres brought by the ensemble of 16 musicians.
“I have enjoyed working on this work 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. It doesn’t often get more challenging than this, but we did it,” he said.
Other musicians to feature in the production include 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.
Motsatse concluded, “This is a celebration and a musical event not to be missed.”
Tickets are available online at Computicket and you can also get them at any of their outlet stores such as Checkers, Shoprite, Checkers Hyper, House & Home and Ok Foods.
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