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Arts Reporter
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe has added to its national art collection a unique artwork that is also a film of the world-famous ‘Skokiaan’ song composition by Zimbabwean August Musarurwa which also attracted the attention of Louis Armstrong in 1954.
The gallery normally collects paintings, sculptures, mixed media pieces, and other installations.
This is probably a first and quite significant.
In an interview with The Herald Arts, prominent curator and the executive director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Raphael Chikukwa, said video art is a new art form and we are very grateful as a National Gallery of Zimbabwe adding to our permanent collection.
“Skokiana by Penny, a South African contemporary artist, joins other South African artists in the National Gallery permanent collection that includes Selby Mvusi, Lino Davies and others,” he said.
“We appreciate this donation from Penny and her gallery Michael Stevenson.”
“Skokiaan” is a song originally written for The Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm band by the late August Musarurwa from Zimbabwe, usually identified as August Msarurgwa on record labels) in the tsaba-tsaba big-band style that succeeded marabi.
Skokiaan (Chikokiyana in Shona) refers to an illegal home-made alcoholic beverage.
The tune has also been recorded as “Sikokiyana,” “Skokiana,” and “Skokian.”
Within a year of its 1954 release in South Africa, at least 19 cover versions of “Skokiaan” appeared.
The Zimbabwean version reached number 17 in the United States, while a cover version by Ralph Marterie climbed to number three.
All versions combined propelled the tune to number two on the Cash Box charts that year.
According to history, its popularity extended outside of music, with several urban areas in the United States taking its name.
Artists who produced their own interpretations include Louis Armstrong, Bill Haley, Herb Alpert, Brave Combo, Hugh Masekela and Kermit Ruffins.
The Wiggles also covered this song on their Furry Tales album.
The music itself illustrates the mutual influences between Africa and the wider world.
The ‘Welcome Visitors’! based on the story of Skokiaan. Mixing archival material from Armstrong’s tour of Southern Africa in 1960 with anonymous home-movie footage travel, the film associates the migration of the melody with real and imagined imagery connecting Southern Africa and the American South.
The particular mix of words and imagery, speaks to larger questions of origin and source and the nature of syncretism.
The piece is structured by three versions of Skokiaan: a contemporary jazz cover by South African Kevin Davidson, which opens and closes the film; Musarurwa’s original recording, in which he plays the saxophone; and Louis Armstrong’s instrumental vocal cover, nicknamed ‘Happy Africa’
The film made in 2017, is a single-channel digital video of 10 min 17seconds duration.
It can be shown either as a projection or on a television screen. The edition would be number 1 of 3 + 2 APs.
However, the film was commissioned in 2017 as part of an installation for Prospect.4, the New Orleans triennial, titled ‘The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp’.
It also formed a key part of Penny’s solo exhibition, ‘Moving Stories and Travelling Rhythms: Penny Siopis and the journeys of Skokiaan, at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2019.
Online Reporter