Prof. James Stephen Mzilikazi Khumalo
SundayWorld
July
9, 2012 | MZWANDILE kaBIZOKWAKHE
MZILIKAZI is a revered Zulu name that carries with it a great history and the mystery of the founding of Zimbabwe.
....
On June 20 1932,
James Stephen Mzilikazi Khumalo was born - he would later drop his
first and second names to use Mzilikazi almost exclusively.
....
"It was only
when I was older and I composed my first work of music that I started
using Mzilikazi exclusively as my signature on my work.
....
Khumalo has in the
80 years of his rich life gone on to inspire a second glory to the
name. As a choral music
composer, Professor James Stephen Mzilikazi Khumalo has achieved all
the honours there are including the Samro award he received in Joburg
last week.
Born to deeply
religious parents, Andreas and Johanna, Khumalo imbibed a
spirituality he has transferred to all his musical compositions from
his first work Ma Ngificwa Ukufa in 1958 to his current composition
Hallelujah Mdumiseni Nonke - written in the rondo style.
Deeply influenced by
such greats as Joseph Haydn and Friedrich Handel, his choral style
resembles theirs but doesn't reflect the flavour of the baroque era.
"When I was
born, my parents were trainee priests with The Salvation Army and my
father played The Salvation Army instruments," Khumalo says.
"He taught all
of us, his kids, to play an instrument. I could play
euphonium (a wind instrument similar to a flugelhorn) from the age of
eight." Khumalo has composed
more than 50 epic choral works and an Afro-opera uShaka
kaSenzangakhona which has received international acclaim.
"I knew I had
talent when my first work was prescribed for a teacher choral
competition in 1961," says Khumalo. "The
choirmaster appointed me as his assistant. I would help him teach
songs to the choir but I considered myself just another pupil. He
wanted me to do more, he even allowed me to conduct the choir for
competitions.
He says he has found
work he composed way back in 1962, that he didn't even know existed
and is now working to get it published. "There is a
song I composed on the occasion of the birth of my first daughter,"
he says. "I found this piece just a few weeks ago. If it didn't
have my signature, I wouldn't know I wrote it."
Khumalo, a high
school teacher by training, and his wife, Ditlhare, have four
children who he says are not that musical. "My third son
has a degree in music but is a church minister and my first daughter
sings but is a medical doctor," he says. Khumalo, like the
mystic man he's named after, has reached the dizzy heights of
recognition.
....
Khumalo has ensured
that he now stands at least side-by-side in greatness with the
Mzilikazi who was king of the Matebele, the founder of Matebeleland,
and the man after whom he was named.
[J.S. Mzilikazi Khumalo was born June 20, 1932 and is featured at AfriClassical.com]
[J.S. Mzilikazi Khumalo was born June 20, 1932 and is featured at AfriClassical.com]
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