The man who brought Broadway ekasi

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter

WHEN he was a young man growing up in the mean streets of Makokoba in the 1990s, Raisedon Baya listened to the album, Magic at 4am by Mbongeni Ngema, religiously.

That album, featuring tracks such as Ali Bomaye and Unity, was merely the soundtrack to a musical of the same name. However, to Baya, who had already been bitten emphatically by the theatre bug, and his friends, that album was more than just another piece of music.

In it, they could locate their dreams and a hope that one day their own stories could be heard beyond the walls of the modest homes in Zimbabwe’s oldest township.

Makokoba was a different place in the 1990s. Gangs stalked the streets, evading police patrols while laying claim to street corners as their own. Anyone who hoped to acquire such prime real estate had to pay for it through the skin of their knuckles. This was before the age of social media, before all knowledge and entertainment were only the tap of a smartphone screen away.

In those days, Baya and his friends, huddled around a record player, had to imagine Ngema’s play in their minds, picturing the scenes and how all the pieces of a great production fell into place. They were merely wishful thinkers, dreamers that dreamt with their eyes open.

“With Mbongeni, most of the work he did were musical plays and quite a number of theatre directors from my generation were also influenced to go in that direction,” Baya told Sunday Life after the passing on, of Ngema following a car accident last week. “I know Nkululeko Dube of Iyasa, I know the late Mike Sobiko, who was with Siyaya, was largely influenced by Mbongeni. I remember quite some time when we were growing up, we used to have a tape by Mbongeni called Magic at 4am. There’s a play of his for which he had recorded an album, Magic at 4am, and I remember we used to play that almost every day with friends as an inspiration.”

When one watches a theatre production from Bulawayo, one is perhaps amazed at how dance and song are mashed into one explosive, entertaining body of work. A character can be afflicted by a bout of sadness in one instant and they can be in full voice in the next, singing their lungs out as they strut across the dance. All these are hallmarks of the musicals that took Ngema from South Africa to the glamorous stages of Broadway in the US.

Without social media or the internet, Baya and other aspiring thespians were virtually blind to all this. In the darkness of their ignorance, however, that there was a man, in the same neighbourhood where they grew up, that had been chosen by fate to be their eyes in a world that did not expect any theatrical ingenuity from Makokoba. That man was Cont Mhlanga.

“When I tweeted, I said Cont Mhlanga and Mbongeni Ngema were the biggest influences in terms of theatre in Bulawayo, this was because at that time there was no social media, it was difficult for people to see what others were doing so only those that could travel physically, either to South Africa or abroad, knew Mbongeni and some of this works. With some of us, we had to connect to the music because we had not seen the plays until we saw the published plays like Woza Albert.

“Cont travelling around probably allowed him a chance to see the work that Mbongeni did, probably meant he was influenced by his work. For example, Stitsha is one of the plays that had a great impact, as it saw Amakhosi touring a lot of countries but I want to believe that there’s play by Mbongeni Ngema, called Sheila’s Day from which he drew inspiration. It could have influenced the penning and production of Stistha. We also had Dabulap, which was one of the biggest and most engaging plays and I think it was influenced by Ngema’s Asinamali. If you look at the styles, the pictures, how it was structured, there are similarities there,” said Baya.

Ngema’s influence on Mhlanga was undeniable. For example, it was Mhlanga that suggested that the late Beatar Mangethe abandoned Khumalo, her real surname, for a made up one.

Mhlanga had seen how Ngema had unearthed his own gem in Lelethi Khumalo and did not want his own jewel, Beatar, to be overshadowed by a star that already loomed large in the world of showbiz due to the runaway success of Sarafina.

“Beatar Mangethe was a creation of Amakhosi. Her real surname was Khumalo but I decided that her real name would not work in showbiz because there was already a Lelethi Khumalo in South Africa and she would seem like a cheap copycat if she stuck to her real surname,” Mhlanga told Sunday Life in 2017.

As Mhlanga took lessons from the life and work of Ngema, the likes of Baya began to gravitate towards Amakhosi, which became a centre of artistic excellence in the country.

“It’s a sad loss but I think the most important thing is to take what he left us and celebrate his influence and inspiration he gave to a lot of artistes,” Baya said.

“I think my generation was largely influenced by Ngema. I would like to believe even Cont himself was inspired by some of Mbongeni’s work. There are one or two examples that might not be confirmed by in my personal opinion, show that Cont was influenced by Mbongeni.

Since a lot of us could not travel, indirectly, the influence that we drew from in Bulawayo became Amakhosi. That was also how impactful he was. One thing to also note is that a lot of us grew up wanting to go to Broadway. That is every theatre artiste’s dreamland and Mbongeni Ngema was able to show us that it was possible. He did this with plays like Sarafina,

Woza Albert and other productions. So, no one from our generation can say that they did not sing to his song, or want to be Lelethis or Crocodiles when they were growing up on stage,” said Baya.

Siyaya founder, Saimon Mambazo Phiri admits that Ngema was the man that most leaders in local theatre modelled themselves after.

Africa were inspired by him to the point of loathing. His production company, the Committed Artistes, was a prototype for many but no one could match his talent. Here in Bulawayo no one, and I mean no one, was immune to his impact. Sarafina, his stage musical, and later film, gave hope to a lot of us young artistes,” he said.

Later down the years, Ngema and Cont Mhlanga would link up with the intent of bringing Mzilikazi the Musical, a production about the founding Ndebele monarch, into life. Bogged down by financial problems and controversy, perhaps as an apt reflection of the two brilliant but sometimes explosive men at the helm of the project, the musical never saw the light of day while they were both still alive.

For Mambazo, the failure of that project to take flight is a blight on the city’s arts history.

“In later years via the late Mncedisi Shabangu I was privileged to meet the other version of Mbongeni. uBaba uNgema had all the wisdom but he didn’t look or behave like his legacy. I was lucky to see some of his work like Woza Albert and that left a mark on my own aspirations. The man had a lot of love for Bulawayo and had plans for his Mzilikazi the Musical which unfortunately never took off. A humble and giving man, the one takeaway from a conversation was when he said ‘wena jaha you were born in the wrong country’. Artistes never die and he is forever embalmed in his works forever. May he rest in power.”

“Cont’s travelling around probably allowed him a chance to see the work that Mbongeni did, probably meant he was influenced by his work. For example, Stitsha is one of the plays that had a great impact, as it saw Amakhosi touring a lot of countries but I want to believe that there’s play by Mbongeni Ngema, called Sheila’s Day from which he drew inspiration. It could have influenced the penning and production of Stitsha. We also had Dabulap, which was one of the biggest and most engaging plays and I think it was influenced by Ngema’s Asinamali. If you look at the styles, the pictures, how it was structured, there are similarities there,” said Baya.

Ngema’s influence on Mhlanga was undeniable. For example, it was Mhlanga that suggested that the late Beatar Mangethe abandoned Khumalo, her real surname, for a made-up one.

As Mhlanga took lessons from the life and work of Ngema, the likes of Baya began to gravitate towards Amakhosi, which became a centre of artistic excellence in the country.

“It’s a sad loss but I think the most important thing is to take what he left us and celebrate his influence and inspiration he gave to a lot of artistes,” Baya said.

“I think my generation was largely influenced by Ngema. I would like to believe even Cont himself was inspired by some of Mbongeni’s work. There are one or two examples that might not be confirmed in my personal opinion, show that Cont was influenced by Mbongeni.

Woza Albert and other productions. So, no one from our generation can say that they did not sing to his song, or want to be Lelethis or Crocodiles when they were growing up on stage,” said Baya.

Siyaya founder, Saimon Mambazo Phiri admits that Ngema was the man that most leaders in local theatre modelled themselves after.

“I knew two Mbongenis. One was the inspirational Mbongeni Ngema who I admired from a distance. He was the go-getter, a person I would refer to as uBaba uNgema from my vantage point. He was an icon, a positive influence and a pioneer of excellence. Growing up, all aspiring theatre practitioners wanted to be like Mbongeni. Many black performers in South Africa were inspired by him to the point of loathing. His production company, the Committed Artistes, was a prototype for many but no one could match his talent. Here in Bulawayo no one, and I mean no one, was immune to his impact. Sarafina, his stage musical, and later film, gave hope to a lot of us young artistes,” he said.

For Mambazo, the failure of that project to take flight is a blight on the city’s arts history.

“In later years via the late Mncedisi Shabangu I was privileged to meet the other version of Mbongeni. UBaba uNgema had all the wisdom but he didn’t look or behave like his legacy. I was lucky to see some of his work like Woza Albert and that left a mark on my own aspirations. The man had a lot of love for Bulawayo and had plans for his Mzilikazi the Musical which unfortunately never took off. A humble and giving man, the one takeaway from a conversation was when he said ‘wena jaha you were born in the wrong country’. Artistes never die and he is forever embalmed in his works forever. May he rest in power.”