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Medu-Nakeng returns to the State Theatre in Tshwane
In Partnership with the City of Tshwane
At The Drama Theatre , State Theatre,Tshwane, from 1 & 2 October 2010,
All performances at 7 pm Saturday matinee show at 2 pm
The Show
Medu-Nakeng is a unique concept based in the diversity of South African indigenous cultural music. The concept, now in its fourth year of production demonstrates how indigenous culture can be repositioned to have a meaningful contribution not only to the music industry here at home and abroad, but also to the local economy.
The Medu-Nakeng shows have grown from strength to strength since the first performance in 2003 which used Sepedi culture as point of departure and featured a 37-piece ensemble combining both rural village music practitioners and professional musicians. The show grew to a 52 piece ensemble of Bapedi and Batswana rural and professional musicians in 2004 and to an 85 piece including Bapedi , Batswana and the Khoi-San in 2005.2006 saw an introduction of tshi-Venda through Malende and Tshigombela . We are now introducing in 2007 , Tshikona , an all male vha-Venda ensemble to the different indigenpus cultural musics that are already an integral part of the production . Ninety percent of the ensemble hail from the rural villages of our country making the shows truly unique, with the other ten percent of the ensemble made up of professional musicians playing anything from pianos to saxophones.
Combining dance, a variety of traditional costumes, and music, the show is a vibrant and living reflection of the different South African cultures, dancing to the same music at the same time but in their respective different dance styles.
A nearly 100 piece strong ensemble creates a breathtaking and groundbreaking South African sound unlike anything else you have heard or seen. This production has been described by the Sunday Times as “the most potent African-Funk spaceship out there” and is not to be missed.
The Background
Medu-Nakeng is a concept of SAMA Award winning Tlokwe Sehume, one of the country’s most diverse of and accomplished musicians. His music is spiritual with a focus on African indigenous cultural music and instruments. Composer, arranger, producer, director, poet, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Tlokwe combines his musical skills with the natural talent that is showcased through his playing of a myriad of classical and contemporary instruments, mostly indigenous.
Tlokwe is adept at playing dipela (mbira), lekope(jaw-harp), mvet, meropa ya Afrika , percussions, guitar, flute, and keyboards—all instrumental in bringing his socially aware messages to life, through song. Sehume also goes around schools in Gauteng and parts of North West teaching students to craft indigenous music instruments.
Influences for Tlokwe’s work all stem from the rich land that is Africa –music of Bapedi, with West African influences with a selection of dialects including Sepedi, Setswana isiZulu, xiTsonga, Sesotho, isiNdebele and ki-Swahili. Always an artist with a bold approach, Tlokwe is not afraid to address political and social topics through his music, confronting the oppressors and guiding people more to enlightened opinions. His first two albums spawned hits that reached the very core of mankind—songs with handsome depth and flowing rhythms.
He says of his music “its music of the day before yesterday for a people of the day after tomorrow”—Mmino wa thaba ---Music of the mountains.
Tlokwe has traveled the world, having toured India, Cameroon, Hungary, France, Italy and recently Germany as part of the recent 2010 launch celebrations.
Tlokwe Sehume also is the founder of the Medu-Nakeng Foundation, which is an organization dealing with the development and revitalization of South African indigenous cultural music. The organization regularly organizes live performances in which various rural cultural music styles are integrated into a new and unified sound. These performances integrate different indigenous musics of Bapedi, Batswana, Khoisan, vhaVenda, vaTsonga, amaNdebele, Basotho, amaSwati, amaXhosa, amaZulu, Afrikaners and the English cultures using indigenous music instruments fused various western instruments.
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| Naga Ya Fsa |
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| Ba Utlwile |
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| Mmino Wa Thaba |
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| Serunya |
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