Burswood Theatre
“The drums of Africa are powerful,” says Hope, the narrator
of Umoja. “They speak with your blood, your heart and your soul.” As he
reflects on his life as a musician he recounts the story of South African music
from girls in grass skirts to African hip hop via jazz, gumboot dancing and
gospel. It is a story of a peoples’ struggle and the irrepressible power of
music
As the drums begin to pound on stage men dressed in skins
and feathers crash spears onto shields as they dance. Multiple costume-changes
later the stage is strewn with beads and drum stick splinters and the
high-energy pace hasn’t slowed. The singing is gutsy and soulful and when they break
into harmony spine-tinglingly good. The dancing isn’t graceful but it is
whole-hearted, tightly choreographed and infectious. High kicks and somersaults
punctuate a sexy belly-dance style of gyrating. The performers are all ages,
shapes and sizes and they can all dance the house down; they come mostly from
the townships of South Africa and this is their own story.
Dark themes including the brutality of apartheid, the
exploitation of the mine workers and the threat of HIV sit alongside idyllic
songs from village life and church meetings. The boot slapping gumboot dance (a
method of communicating while mining) rivals Tap Dogs in its masculine athleticism.
Equally impressive is the technical skill of the marimba players and the centipede-like
use of long lines of arms and legs in the Venda Snake Dance.
A five-piece jazz band sets the scene for the illegal
drinking bars of Sophiatown and Soweto. Tribal clothes are swapped for sneakers
and bikini tops for Kwaito, the African version of hip hop which became popular
around the time Nelson Mandela took office as president. The joyful exuberance
of the performers as they danced to it was the greatest testimony that this
music and its history is in their blood and heart and soul.
Umoja runs Tuesday 19th - Sunday 24th June at Burswood. Tickets through Ticketek.
This article is copyright The West Australian 2012.
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