Qhama Zondani
Those who have lived long enough will know that the mention or thought of New Brighton almost always comes accompanied by a distinct audiovisual. Be it the frequent hustle and bustle, gunshots and screeching wheels even the black music which remains a celebrated feature. Whichever you immediately identify with New Brighton has always been a township that has given us much a history than we are prepared to reflect upon. From fashion to drama to black music, New Brighton remains a social and cultural nucleus in the Eastern Cape.
Today we reflect on one of the most potent gifts which came in the life of Zimasile Wilson Ngqawana. Nine years ago we learnt of Ngqawana’s transition, and exit from this realm, which I imagine would have been a peaceful one as he appreciated that someday he would have to “drop the body” and had made peace with the process. Having lived a life that has touched many in the way that he did this day must be a constant reminder that Ngqawana remains an important figure in the present. Having grown up in New Brighton and taken a very difficult yet principled decision to dedicate his life to music Ngqawana’s journey couldn’t have been an easy one; from not being able to complete school, to convincing his parents that he intended to pursue music full time, going to great lengths to polish his craft and eventually pursuing formal training.
. . .he appreciated that someday he would have to “drop the body” and had made peace with the process
This life came, as Ngqawana understood, with the responsibility of enabling others an avenue to reflect on the kind of society we live in through his own experiences. Perhaps transmitting to us through his music in the form of a personal philosophy now known as Zimology, the trials and tribulations faced by Ngqawana led to him to be deliberate about making sense of the world. An evident feature in Ngqawana’s music through all his albums was featuring hymns as means to connect to the universe. This spiritual feature in his music is what set him apart as a musician, it is almost difficult to listen to a Ngqawana piece and remain the same after that experience. Ngqawana for us could be that figure which Aime Césaire identifies as one who must be those great reserves of faith, those great silos of strength where people can draw the courage in critical moments to imagine their destiny and define the future.
Here we encounter a man who has properly contemplated society through his journey, many may not know but Ngqawana was not entirely happy with the outlook of formal education as it was designed to push him away from himself. It is only after his series of international scholarships and workshops that he had the opportunity to crystalize his own musical identity which he termed “Ingoma”. Ingoma may have many meanings for different people but for Ngqawana was the totality of his musical and life experience, from childhood to formal music education and the mastery of his musical genius.
It is then that Ngqawana went on a quest to dig deeper within himself with his debut album, exploring his “cultural” and African identity. He did this of course whilst appreciating its limitations and in fact, later in his life would admit that that stage of his life had passed, and he had moved into exploring new realms. In fact, for most of his life, he did not conform to the categories imposed by society, yet he was very observant and took up the task of making sense of society through his music with ease. In his Zimology album, for example, Ngqawana had a song named “Baby Angelina” which was composed in memory of a three-month-old baby who was brutally murdered on a farm just as South Africa was celebrating the advent of a democratic breakthrough. In this song, you can hear the anguish coloured by the dark and heavy piano sound and can’t help but wonder why such an innocent soul had to go in that way.
Equally important however was Ngqawana’s quest to empower fellow musicians. His “fellow travellers” as he dubbed them were perhaps part of an important part of his life, having reflected and criticized the estranging education system he took it upon himself to establish a platform for exploring more fulfilling methods of education. We must say boldly that here Ngqawana was practising a nonhegemonic pedagogy whilst we see many merely deploy this dialogue as a metaphor in recent times. You see what makes Ngqawana’s philosophy – Zimology – even more significant today is that it invites the individual to look inward find and make peace with the self before we ultimately sacrifice the self, into a terrain of selflessness.
Ngqawana was practising a nonhegemonic pedagogy whilst we see many merely deploy this dialogue as a metaphor in recent times
One undeniable fact remains, and it is that our society has not changed much for the majority. Therefore, with all the problems facing society today, maybe we could take the inspiration from Ngqawana’s musical expressions more literally and push to a less explored terrain of self-discovery moving towards selflessness. It is in the music, but we have to take it beyond and venture as Ngqawana would say “do the impossible” because the possible has not served us. We have to constantly question the ethics of the society we have created for ourselves and perhaps the invitation is to stay true to these teachings and make the fundamental changes that will gift us a new society.
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