Behind Sikelela, thirty years on
No space on this globe encapsulates a hope for what was promised more than South Africa. We should never downplay that hope as naïve as its insistence is for the South Africa that was promised.
In this exercise of Revisiting the Rainbow thirty years later, and still insisting on Sikelela, the artists on this line-up have consistently meditated on the persistence of iNkululeko through Sankofa in their work. In order to understand the chemistry of life and resistance, let us not forget why we were placed here. A reluctance to ever forget that you belong to the ones who feed you. Working with duos and trios is a curatorial homage to those formats and how our in our township and black artists have chosen them because of the constraints of existing in one of the most unequal nations on the planet. These formats support intimacy by bringing together practitioners who, via their art, capture the essence of a nation coming to terms with thirty years of freedom—a liberation Letta Mbuli aptly sums up as "Not yet Uhuru."
Glossary:
Sikelela - Zulu word for being blessed, be a blessing. The first word from Enoch Sontonga's anthem for God to Bless Africa.
Ingoma - Nguni word for song, and the root word for Sangoma who are our healers, who heal via the vibrational and the natural.
Rainbow Revisited - Thandi Ntuli's latest duo album with Carlos Niño released by International Anthem.
iNkululeko - Zulu word for Freedom, liberation.
Sankofa (SAHN-koh-fah) – A Twi word from the Akan Tribe of Ghana that loosely translates to, “go back and get it.” Its literal translation comes from the Akan proverb, "Se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenkyiri," meaning, "It is not taboo to go back for what you forgot (or left behind)." Sankofa is a phrase that encourages learning from the past to inform the future, reaching back to move forward, and lifting as we climb. Sankofa is also the current album released by Thandiswa Mazwai.
Uhuru - Swahili word for freedom and Independence.
