Uhambo, Imizwa Nomsindo! is a musical and physical exploration into spirituality through song.

Conceptualised and directed by Sibusiso Shozi for The Centre for the Less Good Idea in March 2021, and performed by Dikeledi Modubu, Musa Mboweni, Freedom Mswane, Volley Nchabeleng, Micca Manganye, and Shozi, the performance employs varying interpretations of music and song through embodied performance and physicality as lived experience and culture.

While Uhambo, Imiza Nomsindo! (loosely translated as Journey, Emotions, and Sound or Noise) is chiefly an attempt at tracing the journey of sound across cultures, genres, languages, and geographies, it also takes the shape of an experimental, metaphysical journey. Structurally, this is told through the slow layering of sound and music – the gradual introduction of music, vocals, and later, the chorus – while interludes come in the form of whispers, pauses, and more ponderous moments, allowing for a marked transition into the next genre, emotion, and site of performance. Thematically, the cast traverse the vast terrains of joy, madness, innocence, abstraction, logic and more through sound and movement alike.

Though much of the complex and far-reaching refrains in Uhambo, Imiza Nomsindo! are held and communicated through its cast, the use of minimal set design and choice props provides its performers with the space and tools required to bring the work’s journey to life. Brooms serve practical and musical functions in equal measure, while hats become baskets, bowls, masks and more, allowing for rich moments of play and interpretation.

For all of Uhambo, Imiza Nomsindo!’s free-spirited performance, play, and instrumentation, a sober conceptual underpinning reminds us that “this is not child’s play, it’s deeper than it looks.” It is this balance of performance and instrumentation, play and labour, and tangible and intangible forms of language that propels the performance through its immense and compelling journey.

– David Mann

CREDITS:

CONCEPTUALISER & DIRECTOR | Sbusiso Shozi
VOCALISTS | Sbusiso Shozi, Dikeledi Modubu, Musa Mboweni & Freedom Mswane
PERCUSSIONISTS | Volley Nchabeleng & Micca Manganye