HOW | SHOWING THE MAKING: REUBEN T. CALUZA, THE B-SIDE
“In the music repertoire that students go into in South Africa, there is very little about Caluza. But then at places like the University of Texas, there are musicologists and professors who teach whole courses on Caluza. It’s extraordinary. Hopefully, this [The B-Side] might bring some awareness back.” – Philip Miller
Reuben Tholakele Caluza was once a household name in South Africa. Yet for decades, explains the team behind Reuben T. Caluza, The B-Side, his legacy lay buried and forgotten in the archives of South Africa’s musical history.
Thus, The B-Side, composed and rearranged by sound artist and composer Philip Miller, and singer and musical scholar Tshegofatso Moeng, celebrates original songs written in the 1920s-30s by one of South Africa’s most accomplished, but unsung composers.
On Thursday 21 September 2023, The Centre for the Less Good Idea hosted HOW | Showing the Making: Rueben T. Caluza, The B-Side featuring Philip Miller, Tshegofatso Moeng & Marcos Martins.
Having taken place ahead of the staged concert version of the album at The Market Theatre from 22 to 24 September, this HOW saw Miller, Moeng and Martins, along with soprano Nokuthula Magubane, and bassist Ayanda Eleki, discussing the evolution and background of the work.
Archives and origins
Tshegofatso Moeng (right) takes audiences through some of the origins of the project.
The search for Caluza, explains Miller, began during South Africa’s first hard lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was during this time that he came across an article linking the Spanish influenza epidemic with the COVID-19 pandemic, with brief mention of a South African composer by the name of Reuben T. Caluza who wrote a song titled ‘Influenza (1918)’. So began Miller’s hunt through the archives.
“Because of COVID, this was a digital hunt, not a physical one, but it took me as far as Texas to a musicologist by the name of Professor Veit Erlmann,” explains Miller.
Erlmann managed to give a digital copy of Caluza’s album to Miller and the rest is history. Miller and Moeng teamed up to put together an ensemble of twelve South African singers to record ‘Influenza (1918)’ remotely, raising awareness of the plight of artists who were struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.
The Brazilian video designer, Marcos Martins, joined the project, creating an accompanying video using mostly cellphone footage from the singers in lockdown. The response to the project was so successful that the team continued to explore more of Caluza’s repertoire.
“It was something that could keep my creativity going, something that could keep me sane, keep me singing. It was a really dark time… it really felt like we were all isolated and alone. So what the project did was it found a common thread for us all,” explains Nokuthula Magubane.
Towards a living archive
Accompanying video by Marcos Martins (left) was a central part of the project.
Central to the project, explain Miller and Moeng, is the notion of a living, growing archive. “I had no knowledge of Caluza, and I studied music,” says Moeng. “I must have come across his name maybe once or twice, but he didn’t form a part of the curriculum in a meaningful way.”
The B-Side was the first step in addressing Caluza’s relative absence in academic curricula and contemporary imaginations, but the team’s work soon became about making the project as accessible and open source as possible.
Here, collaboration and collective listening is key. While Miller cites the unique timbre of Caluza’s music as a point of interest, Moeng explains that it was the unique percussive quality of the language in Caluza’s work that drew him in. So it went – each musician on the project focussing on their unique perspectives and readings of Caluza’s musical archive, giving way to a collaborative effort of different languages, cultures, and musicalities.
“To recreate Caluza’s sound is to recreate a living archive,” explains Miller. “You surface the sheet music, all of that information, your own interpretation of the archive, and you encourage others to reinterpret that archive, too.”
To this end, the album as well as its sheet music have been made publicly available. The recording of the 2023 live concert version of the album at The Market Theatre will also be made available.
— David Mann
PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi
CREDITS:
COMPOSERS | Philip Miller & Tshegofatso Moeng
MUSICIANS | Nokuthula Magubane, Ayanda Eleki & Tshegofatso Moeng
VIDEO DESIGNER | Marcos Martins