Ekasi Lam’ is a ‘Kwaito Anti-Musical’ directed by Jefferson J.Bobs Tshabalala and was performed at The Centre for The Less Good Idea in August 2019 as part of the For Once programme.
Produced by Kiri Pink Nob and performed by Andisiwe Mpinda, Kopano Tshabalala, Gugu Dhlamini, Mathews Rantsoma, Lucky Ndlovu and Simpho Mathenjwa, Ekasi Lam’ – an ode to kwaito, un-owed to kwaito is, in a sentence, a play about kwaito music – it’s people, its memory, its fans and detractors – and its place in South Africa’s musical and socio-political history.
Set in a Soweto high school led by an idealistic and conflicted principal who dreams of placing the school on the country’s arts and culture map, Ekasi Lam’ follows the story of a group of students preparing for an upcoming school concert. They are led by Ms Feni, a former student and current teacher at the school who’s committed to establishing music, dance, iscamtho (or tsotsitaal) and, of course, kwaito, as legitimate forms of literature and storytelling in an academic setting. The refrain from TKZee’s ‘Izinja Zam’ sets the mood for much of Ekasi Lam’, courtesy of Musical Director and Composer Bernett Mulungo, who’s seated on stage and behind the keyboard for the entirety of the play. It’s a musical interlude that brings a slow and sobering edge to a performance filled with fast-talking, quick-footed characters.
As the students rattle through their ideas for the upcoming concert, riffing off of each other’s remarks and embarking on impassioned monologues about a specific track, moment, memory or composer in the communal history of kwaito, Ms Feni watches on, reflecting their conversations with the occasional frown, smile or shake of the head. When she does intervene it’s to remind her students that these musicians, these groups, and these moments need to be named, credited, cited and archived.
As such, Ekasi Lam’ is as much a play about the history of kwaito, its sub-genre’s, cross-pollinations and its people, as it is about the history of life in Johannesburg during apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. Through its affinity for, and deft reading of kwaito, the play traverses the mines, the nightclubs, the daily commutes, the playgrounds and the history books. Ultimately, it is a tribute to the poets, lyricists, musicians and players of kwaito, delivered through a compelling narrative that is equal parts playful and critical.
– David Mann
CREDITS:
PERFORMERS | Andisiwe Mpinda, Kopano Tshabalala, Gugu Dhlamini, Mathews Rantsoma, Lucky Ndlovu & Simpho Mathenjwa
WRITER & DIRECTOR | Jefferson J.Bobs Tshabalala
MUSICAL DIRECTOR & COMPOSER | Bernett Mulungo
SET & COSTUME DESIGNER | Shruthi Nair