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Mayihlome/Aahwaan (2014)

Updated: Feb 5, 2020

Mayihlome/Aahwaan followed in 2014, with two performances at the

Homecoming Centre of District Six. (the CD was put out in 2015). Again, the music

captured the sufferings, struggles, dilemmas of our times in musically

revolutionary ways. Conceived as an oratorio, the work drew on the expressive

inflections of instruments from both sides of the Indian Ocean – the sarod and

sarangi from India; Nguni bows from KwaZulu Natal, and guitar, saxophone, bass

and drums, which are ubiquitous to both.


Musicologist Angela Impey described the performance as ‘an intimate exploration

of hope in the midst of violence and war’. ‘The 7-tracks take us into a world -

sometimes recognizably South African, sometimes more generally inferred - that

is at once harsh and chaotic, and follow a narrative that moves variously through

expressions of fear and defiance to a place of calm and ultimate joy”. Hove

concurred: ‘The atmosphere is rebellious, the words are harsh, the songs allude

to defiance.’ Different musical styles are seamlessly woven together and can be

African or Indian; after a while, you get lost about what is what.


All compositions by Ahsan Ali, Brydon Bolton, Jurgen Brauninger, Sumangala Damodaran, Sazi Dlamini, Pritam Ghosal, Ze Maria, Neo Muyanga, Vivek Narayanan, Malika Ndlovu, Paki Peloeole, Sabitha TP, Tina Schouw, Ari Sitas, and Mbali Vilakazi.



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