Reviews 2005
Reviews 2005
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created by Todd Twala & Thembi Nyadeni
Ysis Entertainment, Inc./Sting Music, Elgin Theatre, Toronto
September 20-October 30, 2005
Umoja, one of the most invigorating shows ever to hit Toronto, makes a welcome return as it kicks off its North American tour. Thirty multitalented performers, plus narrator and five-piece band present a deliberately upbeat survey of black South African music and dance from tribal rhythms to the kwaito craze of the present. Their energy and sheer joy in performing are infectious.
Umoja, from the Xhosa word for “togetherness”, emphasizes continuity in black culture despite change. The survey is chronological, but don’t go to Umoja to learn history. Indeed, the word “apartheid” is mentioned only once. Instead, the show is a celebration of the triumph of South African black culture over adversity. “Our music helped to keep us human,” says the genial but largely unnecessary narrator Penuel Bhekizitha Ndaba. When blacks are used as cheap labour in the mines, they invent gumboot dancing as a form of communication and entertainment.
From Zulu drumming, to the Venda women’s Snake Dance, a Xhosa a cappella competition, two men beating the pulp out of a marimba, a zippy HIV awareness number with pop can accompaniment, to the heartfelt gospel sequence, the show moves from one highpoint to the next with an overwhelming sense of vitality and power.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2005-10-06.
Photo: Tribal dancing in Umoja.
2005-10-06
Umoja: The Spirit of Togetherness