Would Beethoven raise any objection if he found himself in the company of Enoch Sontonga and Jeanne Zaidel Rudolph? I guess not!

In fact, Beethoven might spend most of his time complimenting the two composers for giving South Africans the kind of National Anthem that we’re all likely to sing with greater enthusiasm in 2010 than we’ve ever done before it was massacred by Ras Dumisane in Paris last year.

Beethoven might perhaps even be quite surprised that he has a music studio in Grahamstown named after him whilst these two talented South Africans whose names are attached to the composition of South Africa’s national anthem go without even a light pole named after them in the city. The Beethoven Room is an intimate music studio in the music department at Rhodes University.

Eastern Cape born composer Enoch Santonga was a choirmaster and a photographer when he composed Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. Little did he know at the time that the humble and rather obscure origins of his composition would more than 100 years later become a rallying song of peace and healing for South Africa’s Rainbow Nation.

Nkosi Sikel’ iAfrika first gained popularity when Sontonga’s choir made a strong impression on its audiences and with other choirs around the country soon learning to also sing it. On 8 January 1912, at the first meeting of the South African Native National Congress (the forerunner of the ANC), Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika was immediately sung after the closing prayer. In 1925 the ANC officially adopted it as a closing anthem for its meetings. The song spread beyond the borders of South Africa and has been translated and adapted into a number of other languages. It is still the national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia.

In 1995, South African music composer and academic, Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, was invited by government to serve on the Anthem Committee to rewrite Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and to incorporate elements from the former anthem, Die Stem, as part of government’s commitment to reinforce nation-building and reconciliation. Zaidel-Rudolph was also given the honour of producing this new composite version, as well as a full orchestral setting. At her suggestion, the English words that she composed were incorporated at the end of the Anthem. The trilingual anthem sung in isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English is now the official version that is sung today.

If any credit could be given to Ras Dumisane after he raped the South African National Anthem during his rendition in Paris last year, it is that South Africans had never before been more patriotic of this trilingual composition than they’ve become after his embarrassingly atrocious performance. There is no doubt if we haven’t learnt to sing the anthem to date, we are more likely to do it properly now in 2010 when the World Cup fever takes over our lives.

Perhaps, if Beethoven was alive today and was able to attend the World Cup, he might surprisingly have proclaimed that the beautiful hymn was music to his deaf ears. However, if Beethoven visited the music department at Rhodes University, he would probably have paid a graffiti artist to spray paint the names of Enoch Santonga and Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph somewhere in the corridors of the music department.

As a citizen of the Eastern Cape who composed one of Africa’s most popular compositions, Santonga’s name should be engraved and stand proudly alongside that of Beethoven in the University’s music hall. The music department at Rhodes University needs to position itself at the core of reclaiming and celebrating the legacies of Enoch Santonga and that of Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph.

Zaidel-Rudolph’s name should be embraced as an inspiration for any student of music walking through the corridors of the institution. She is an internationally acclaimed professor who in 1979 became the first woman to obtain a Doctorate in Music Composition in South Africa. Her name must be written alongside that of another Eastern Cape composer icon, Michael Moerane, who was the first Black person to graduate in South Africa with a degree in music. Last year was the centenary of the birth of this giant of African music.

Students and academics of music at Rhodes University should be at the core of activism to ensure that Enoch Sontonga’s and Jeanne Zaidel Rudolph’s names echo through the corridors of the music department during 2010.

As South Africans bellow out the National Anthem during 2010, it is appropriate to reflect on the history of the anthem and whether it has achieved its goal of uniting in song and patriotism a previously divided nation. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the trilingual version composed and arranged by Zaidel-Rudolph. It is also the 75th anniversary since the original song composed by Santonga was adopted by the ANC as its official anthem. There can be no better place for a re-examination and /or a re-affirmation of the anthem to take place than locating a colloquium in the music department of Rhodes University and at the International Library of African Music in Grahamstown.

Apart from drawing on a wide range of musicologists, political commentators and academics who could be drawn to the city to participate in such a colloquium, it could have enormous spin-offs for the city through the national media who would be certain to cover such an event. This in itself translates into a stimulus for the city’s marketing profile and its hospitality sector. The fervent patriotism that is synonymous with the anthem could also create opportunities for local bead-workers to increase their sales of the South African beaded flag lapel badges. Musicologists participating in the colloquium would be more than likely to discover another one of Grahamstown’s hidden gems, the International Library of African Music.

Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph is also celebrated for being amongst a list of other South African musical divas that have been conferred with National Orders by the Office of the Presidency. Perhaps an enterprising music student may want to record and publish an anthology of the National Anthem and other songs played on piano by Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph and sung by the two other divas that have received the National Orders, Abigail Khubeka and Sibongile Khumalo. The latter is no stranger to Grahamstown or to Rhodes University. Khumalo is the Chairperson of the National Arts Festival Committee and also a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Rhodes University.

If such a recording were to be made, perhaps the enterprising student might even want to include another National Orders recipient, Christian Ashley Botha who directed the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School to international acclaim. Botha could be engaged to direct a choral rendition of the anthem. There is no reason why all this with its potential of boosting cultural tourism cannot happen in Grahamstown. Even Beethoven will agree that it’s time for the city which celebrates his legacy to grow up and to stop behaving like a shy and sweet little virgin when it comes to taking advantage of opportunities in the cultural tourism sector.

Currently, Beethoven is incredibly lonely on the corner of Bathurst and Somerset Streets in Grahamstown. He could certainly do with the company of South African musical giants whose fame and acclaim could give that quiet street corner in Grahamstown a new sense of relevance, a vibrancy and a strong living musical tradition.

(Ismail Mahomed is the Director of the National Arts Festival. He writes in his personal capacity)

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