Collapses & Defences is a performance in three parts – a traditional concert performance, an interdisciplinary performance lecture, and a collective choral concert. As a combined performance programme, Collapses & Defences does well to capture the kinds of interests, processes, and collaborative, cross-disciplinary ways of working that have become a hallmark of The Centre.
In part 1 of the Collapsed Concert, film composer and pianist Kyle Shepherd, and percussionist Angelo Moustapha, perform five compositions in collaboration with bassist Zenzele Mthembu, guitarist Joel Rabesolo, and percussionist Micca Manganye.
‘Maintsoahitra’ serves as the opening composition, establishing the group’s synergy, before they move into ‘Family Love’ which carries a refrain from one of Shepherd’s earlier compositions.
Shepherd and Moustapha lead the ensemble through each composition with a deliberate playfulness, allowing each musician to indulge in their respective solos, and leaving room for a few conversational moments between them all.
‘Liberation Movement’ is characterised by a steady percussive momentum, like a short, dedicated march. ‘Shark Teeth’ follows, opening up room to play, and giving way to a driving, charged, open-hearted composition through collaboration. Manganye’s solo, here, is slow and steady, building to a fever pitch. ‘Less Good Idea’ opens with shimmering keys by Shepherd and is demonstrative of some of The Centre’s ways of working – a set of core, key collaborators who open up their process to outside collaborators in order to play, experiment, and see what emerges from the process.
‘Lydia’ closes the performance. A composition by Moustapha dedicated to his mother, the song allows Rabesolo to indulge in a passionate solo. The concert’s conclusion, a resounding applause, gives way to A Defence of the Less Good Idea.
CREDITS
COMPOSERS | Kyle Shepherd & Angelo Moustapha
MUSICIANS | Kyle Shepherd (Pianist), Angelo Moustapha (Percussionist), Micca Manganye (Percussionist), Zenzele Mthembu (Bassist) & Joel Rabesolo (Guitarist)
COMPOSITIONS | Family Love, Liberation Movement, Maintsoahitra, Less Good Idea, Lydia & Shark Teeth
“What does it mean to give the image the benefit of the doubt? To see what the process of making tells us, rather than our clear plan, our first good idea giving instructions to the image? Firstly it implies a confidence in our audience – a confidence to make sense of what is shown. Not simply to receive information, but to be complicit in the making sense of what is shown. This is of course a metaphor for how we understand the world.” – William Kentridge.
This is also, of course, one of The Centre for the Less Good Idea’s central methodologies – the act of creating, collaboratively, and without fear of failure, and allowing the work to meet the world halfway.
In many ways, A Defence of the Less Good Idea is one of the defining performances of The Centre for the Less Good Idea. Here, Kentridge delivers a performance-based lecture that, in its subject and its form, serves as a window into the processes, strategies, and interests of The Centre.
As he goes on to outline The Centre’s inception, its progression, and the many ways of making art in the world, Kentridge is accompanied by a team of performers – a dancer, a percussionist, and a musician. These interventions serve both as a performative translation of the lecture, and a disruption of its flow and logic.
The lecture’s collapse is signalled by a single musician, Vérushka Engola, who gives way to the greater chorus. This roving chorus moves into a series of compositions, driven by composers and arrangers Sbusiso Shozi, Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Corinne Sahraoui. They end in the audience, disappearing into the greater choral swell.
CREDITS
A Defence of the Less Good Idea
CONCEPTUALISER | William Kentridge
PERFORMERS | William Kentridge, Angelo Moustapha, Thulani Chauke, Zenzele Mthembu, Luc de Wit, Anathi Conjwa & Bronwyn Lace
CHOIR | Anathi Conjwa (soprano), Dikeledi Modubu (alto), Asanda Hanabe (alto), Vérushka Engola (soprano), Fanny Denni (soprano), Nora Sandal (soprano), Coco Mbassi (alto), Valérie Lorentz (alto), Géraldine Feuillette (alto), Andrée Grise (alto), Corinne Sahraoui (alto), Isaac Luyindula (tenor), Nhlanhla Mahlangu (tenor) & Sbusiso Shozi (tenor).
Collapsed Concert Part 2
ARRANGERS | Sbusiso Shozi, Nhlanhla Mahlangu & Corinne Sahraoui
CHOIR | Anathi Conjwa (soprano), Dikeledi Modubu (alto), Asanda Hanabe (alto), Vérushka Engola (soprano), Fanny Denni (soprano), Nora Sandal (soprano), Coco Mbassi (alto), Valérie Lorentz (alto), Géraldine Feuillette (alto), Andrée Grise (alto), Corinne Sahraoui (alto), Isaac Luyindula (tenor), Nhlanhla Mahlangu (tenor) & Sbusiso Shozi (tenor).
COMPOSITIONS | Mbolo, Alleluia Le, Duvha La Hone, Iwiye, Nyoni, Phambili – Joina, Mbolo & Mangebezana
All text by David Mann