By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The commemorative tribute concert “Honouring the Legacy of Tiyo Soga,” organized to celebrate former South African President Thabo Mbeki’s 84th birthday, is officially sold out.
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation (TMF) and Classics on Turf restores Soga to the African Renaissance at the Wits Great Hall on Saturday, 20 June.
It is more than a performance. It is an act of recovery, linking Soga’s 19th-century vision to the present while marking the 84th birthday of the Foundation’s Patron, President Thabo Mbeki. Instead of placing Mbeki himself at the centre, the Foundation honours the mission that has animated much of his public life: the belief that Africa’s renewal begins with the recovery of its memory.
In lifting Soga, whom Mbeki regards as something close to a father of the African Renaissance, the concert turns commemoration into restoration.
Mandisi Dyantyis directs the evening — a musician whose deep feel for the African idiom brings 19th-century hymnody into a contemporary hall.
Kutlwano Masote conducts, leading the Chamber Orchestra of Johannesburg and the Renaissance Singers through careful (re)interpretations of music woven into our consciousness for over a century.
The concert is made possible by WIPHOLD and supported by SAfm.
TMF CEO, Max Boqwana said, “We are deeply grateful for their partnership in helping bring this important cultural tribute to the public stage.”
“For the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, the evening also points towards the work of the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre, whose mission is to reclaim Africa’s memory in order to build its future. For one night, the Wits Great Hall becomes a temporary house of memory. Soga’s hymns return not only to be performed, but to be heard again as part of the long conversation about who we are, where we come from, and what we still owe the future, said Boqwana.”
“We thank everyone who secured a seat. The response to this concert affirms the deep public hunger for cultural work that treats African memory with care, excellence and imagination.”
“To those who were unable to secure tickets, we are grateful for your interest and support. The Foundation will continue to create platforms that bring the African Renaissance into public life through music, history, archives, dialogue and education, added Boqwana.”
Born in 1829, Soga became the first black South African to be ordained as a church minister. He was also a translator, essayist and composer of more than 30 hymns.
In August 1862, he founded a Xhosa-language newspaper titled Indaba. Writing as Nonjiba Waseluhlangeni, the Dove of the Nation, he used the paper’s opening issue to explain the paper’s purpose. He called it a container.
Soga’s hymn, Lizalis’’idinga lakho, began as a prayer, but now stands as a summons. He offered his wisdom to the future, trusting that those who came after him would act.