Video by Mathew Pimental
At the precise moment that US President Donald Trump was accusing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of denying acts of racial persecution, the University of Michigan Orchestra began a five-concert tour of South Africa with a smashing two and half hour program at the University of Pretoria.
The main work on the program was a neglected American masterpiece influenced by Africa: William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony of 1932. The terrific performance, ignited by conductor Kenneth Kiesler, nailed the symphony’s rocketing syncopations — and drove the sold out audience to a ululating frenzy of acclaim.
But the concert’s peak impact occurred near the close, when the 100 musicians abandoned their instruments and stood to sing the beloved Xhosa song “Bawo Thixo Somandla.” Halfway through, they began to sway and gesture. They ambushed the sold-out audience into a condition of incredulous delight.
Six decades ago, cultural exchange between the US and USSR proved an indispensable foreign policy instrument, beginning with Leonard Bernstein’s 1959 tour to Soviet Russia with his New York Philharmonic. As the Cold War waned, however, so did soft diplomacy. Today, it is – at least for the moment – cancelled by a posturing toughness.
The University of Michigan orchestra next proceeds to Soweto and Cape Town — in counterpoint with exacerbated relations between the US and South Africa.
At a joint rehearsal earlier today with Michigan musicians playing alongside the University of Pretoria Orchestra, Kiesler told the group: “How moving it is to be all together, when our governments are not.”
To read a related article about the waning of soft diplomacy, click here.
Thank you, Mr. Horowitz. For me, there is nothing more wonderful than the music of the Continent with its unrestrained humanity, enthusiasm and physicality – stomping, swaying, waving. It’s designed to make the autonomic nervous system fall into the delightful state of “rest and digest.” Pure feel good, feeling connected. Thanks for sharing.