MBONGENI NGEMA & HUGH MASEKELA / “Mama”

In 1983 when Hugh Masekela was in exile in England he hooked up with playwright, composer, arranger and producer Mbongeni Ngema with an idea for a musical about the anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa with a focus on the youth.
 
Hugh Masekela recalls, “I saw [Mbongeni] in Woza Albert in 1983 when I first signed to Jive Records - or Zomba as it was then. ‘Woza Albert' started with my song Stimela - and I went backstage and I asked who had done that brilliant arrangement and it was Mbongeni. Ever since I was in King Kong I've always wanted to do a musical, and I asked Mbongeni if he would be interested in working on one and he said yes straight away. The result was Sarafina. ”
 
The play and most of the music were written and arranged by Mbongeni Ngema. Sarafina went on to tour internationally and become both a major Broadway hit and eventually a Hollywood feature. “Mama” is a track from one of a number of Sarafina albums.

This track is an interesting confluence of two very different but nonetheless similar cultures: African American and South African with gospel being the nexus. While we in America think of gospel as uniquely ours, similar conditions prevailed in South Africa with Protestant missionaries introducing their liturgy and the resultant South African transformation of those Christian songs. The soaring and swooping Zulu based-choral harmonies give the song a distinctive South African flavor distinguishing it from the related shout, stomp and sway of it’s distant cousin across the Atlantic, African-American gospel.

The theme of the Black mother overcoming poverty, discrimination and general hard times to show love for and raise her children is beautifully expressed in this inspirational performance.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

 
       Overcoming...to show love      

For some inexplicable reason, this tune reminds me of Funkadelic's "Cosmic Slop" (the title track of 1973's Cosmic Slop LP). Well, maybe it's not the tune itself, maybe it's the the theme of the lyrics: "a Black mother overcoming poverty, discrimination and general hard times to show love for and raise her children." (As Kalamu put it.) "Cosmic Slop" is about a mother who gave all—and I do mean all—for the sake of her children. Fitting in with this week's theme, it's depressingly blue yet perversely optimistic. The upbeat tempo of the groove, the soaring tone of the lead guitar and vocal chorus and defiant pride of the narrator offset the dark nature of the mother's hellish reality.

—Mtume ya Salaam

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 12:08 am and is filed under Contemporary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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