South African Choral Music (Amakwaya): Song, Contest and the ...

358 Westem Repertoire
group's commitment to the mastery of staff notation and Western classical music".44 In order to
accustom his choristers to tempered pitch intonation, Mngoma started every rehearsal with scales
and exercises using a keyboard to train listening SkillS. 45 The Ionian Choir had socio-political underpinnings
that derived from Mark Radebe's conception of a National African Culture. This becomes
especially clear in Mngoma's ambition to exert "an influence on African choral singing in general,
not only in terms of performing Western music so that it sounds Western, but also in terms of performing
African music in such a way so that it sounds recognisably 'African",.46
With the establishment and training of this choir, he intended to make a statement that counteracted
the prevailing idea that "although African choirs are able to sing African songs, Blacks cannot
. Wi . ,,47
Sl1lg estern music .
In the early 1960s, when it became illegal for blacks and whites to collaborate in cultural activities,
Mngoma could no longer draw on white musicians to support his training and performance
projects. He had to rely on his own ingenuity to create forums for development, and in 1959
founded the Jubilee Orchestra as part of the Ionian Music Society. Khabi Mngoma's ultimate aim
was to start an orchestra, with a full string section comprising violins, violas and cellos, that would
be proficient in the performance of symphonic music. In addition, this orchestra would perform
with other African choirs who wished to gain experience in performing large-scale choral works.
Violin classes, consisting at first of six students, had already started in 1957 in Soweto, where
Mngoma had initiated the Soweto Music Education Programme at the Jubilee Social Centre. The
Jubilee String Players or Jubilee Chamber Orchestra was the first black instrumental ensemble ever
to be established in South Africa. In the early 1960s, the Ionian Music Society comprised the Ionian
Ladies' Choir, the Ionian Male Choir, the Ionian Mixed Choir, and the Ionian Junior and Senior
orchestras. 48
From 1964 Mngoma's choir and orchestra started to perform extensively in the Johannesburg
area and became well known in the following years for the impressive range of repertoire - mainly
oratorios and cantatas - that it presented, including: 49
•
• •••••••
1961: Bach
1962: Mende1ssohn
1963: Mende1ssohn
1963: Brahms
1964: Spohr
1964: Hande1
1964: Hande1
1965: Bach
1966: Hande1
Four Seasons (Cantata No. 206);
Hymn of Praise;
HearMy Prqyer,
Alto Rhapsoc!Y, with Grace Mngoma as soloist;
The LastJudgement;
Judas Maccabaeus, Festival Choir, Johannesburg City Hall;
samson, St Mary's Anglican CathedralJohannesburg;
Christmas Oratorio 1&2, Uncle Tom's Hall Orlando West;
Israel in Egypt, St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg;
44 Khabi Mngoma quoted in 1. M. Burger, 1990: 134. Mngoma regarded the diatonic major scale as the central intona­
tion basis of tempered pitch. He chose the term "Ionian" for his Choir, "since the Ionian model is in fact the diatonic
major scale". (K. Mngoma, 1998): 44.
45 K. Mngoma, 1998: 44.
46 Khabi Mngoma, interview with Inge M. Burger, May 9, 1985; quoted in 1. M. Burger, 1990: 134; see also K. Mngoma
"The Teaching of Music with Special Reference to Instruments". Pedagogue (No.3, 1980): 5.
47 Khabi Mngoma, interview with Inge M. Burger, August and September 1985; quoted in 1. M. Burger, 1990: 134.
481. M. Burger, The Life and Work of Khabi Mngoma, Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Univer­
sity of Cape Town, 1990: 107,109,131-2; see also Y Huskisson, "Bantu Musical Corporations of Johannesburg 1949-
1976", in South African Music Enryclopaedia, Vol. I, 1979: 108. .
49 The information about the various ensembles Khabi Mngoma established at Johannesburg and the select list of performances
was given to me by his son, Linda Mngoma; see also The Rand DailY Mail (October 10, 1962) and (August 7,
1964), and The Star (October 04, 1968).