Mbuso Khoza and the hymn for Nandi

There’s a need to revisit the story of Nandi, mother of Shaka, the founder of the great Kingdom of the amaZulu — there’s more to her than just the woman who accompanied her son on the path to greatness. These are the sentiments of supreme song stylist and cultural advocate Mbuso Khoza. 

Khoza recently joined the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra on its third national tour, themed “Rhythms of Hope”. The orchestra performed a repertoire that included a powerful adaptation of the uShaka iLembe Suite by Philip Miller in collaboration with Khoza, which first saw the light of day as the award-winning score for MultiChoice’s prestigious TV show Shaka iLembe. The performance with the national orchestra focused on the theme for Nandi.

Khoza, who has made a name for himself as a campaigner for the musical heritage of the amaZulu, was arguably the best candidate for the soloist role. In 2015, Khoza crafted a collaborative project called Amahubo Music Symposium, working with jazz pianist-composer Nduduzo Makhathini, the Afrikan Heritage Ensemble, and others to celebrate a unique tradition Zulu song form, amaHubo, which loosely translates to Psalms. It brings together the power of song with the art of storytelling. The project solidified Khoza’s standing as an able campaigner for and preserver of Zulu heritage and cultural history. 

Speaking following the orchestra's exceptional performance at the Cape Town City Hall, Miller notes that he was struck by Khoza’s talent at their first meeting. “He came in and I played him some of the music. He went into the booth and started harmonising lines to the contours of the music. I knew then that he was a perfect fit.”

Khoza’s work with other experimental composers prepared him well for this role, such as his collaboration with Carlo Mombelli and the Prisoners of Strange on the album Stories. Comparable to his current work with the orchestra, Stories brings Khoza’s unique vocal experiments into improvised dialogue with exceptional instrumentalists.

The performance with the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra also included the award-winning opera singer Ann Masina trading melodic lines with Khoza. The timbre of her voice kept the audience’s ear trained to the feminist implications of the music’s vision. 

The underlying ideas of uShaka iLembe Suite’s Nandi’s Theme shifts the narrative focus from epic heroism to tender biography. By centring the life of Nandi in the epic life of iLembe, we’re asked to see a heart-broken woman raising a son rejected by a famous father. We begin to imagine a protective mother, challenged to love and reassure a son wrestling with existential questions of rejection in a world where boys are defined by the heroism of their fathers.

It's a tale of personal tragedy relatable to many in contemporary culture. She was a young, unwed mother who had to deal with the stigma of a pregnancy that was initially denied by her partner, inkosi uSenzangakhona, who instead blamed it on iShaka, an intestinal beetle.  

The music of the uShaka iLembe Suite — and the performance by Khoza and the national orchestra — reinforces the resilience of Nandi’s commitment to her child, making it central to his becoming a great warrior and the ruler who shaped a kingdom out of a fledgling Zulu chieftaincy.