| Sarafina! | |
|---|---|
| Music | Mbongeni Ngema Hugh Masekela |
| Lyrics | Mbongeni Ngema Hugh Masekela |
| Book | Mbongeni Ngema |
| Basis | A concept by Mbongeni Ngema |
| Productions | 1987 Johannesburg 1988 Broadway |
Sarafina! is a South African musical by Mbongeni Ngema and Hugh Masekela depicting students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to apartheid. It was also adapted into a 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Leleti Khumalo. Sarafina! premiered on Broadway on 28 January 1988, at the Cort Theatre, and closed on 2 July 1989, after 597 performances and 11 previews. The musical was conceived and directed by Mbongeni Ngema, who also wrote the book. He wrote the music and lyrics alongside Hugh Masekela. The play was first presented at The Market Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 1987. The cast included Leleti Khumalo as Sarafina.
Leleti Khumalo received a Tony Award nomination, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, as well as a NAACP Image Award for her Broadway theatre portrayal of the title character. The production was also nominated for the Tony Award for: Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography, and Best Direction of a Musical.
The show presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on 16 June 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the schoolgirl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when policemen shoot several pupils at the school. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of the second act.
The production of the play was chronicled in the documentary film Voices of Sarafina! . The Album of Sarafina includes the following songs:
1.Sarafina!
2.Lord's Prayer
3.Nkonyane Kandaba
4.Freedom is coming tomorrow
5.Sabela
6.Sechaba
7.Safa Saphel' Isizwe
8.Thank you Mama
9.Vuma Dlozi Lami
10.Lizobuya
11.One more time
Leleti Khumalo is a South African actress known for her leading role in the movie and stage play Sarafina! and for her roles in other films such as Hotel Rwanda, Yesterday and Invictus, as well as the soap opera Imbewu: The Seed where she plays Nokubonga "MaZulu" Bhengu and on Uzalo as MaNzuza. In Sarafina!, she struggled for freedom for black people during Apartheid. We know her as a song called ' Freedom is coming Tomorrow ' which is sang by Khanyo Maphumulo
Hugh Ramapolo Masekela was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for writing well-known anti-apartheid songs such as "Soweto Blues" and "Bring Him Back Home". He also had a number-one US pop hit in 1968 with his version of "Grazing in the Grass".
Mbongeni Ngema is a South African writer, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer and theatre producer, born in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal. He started his career as a theatre backing guitarist. He wrote the multi-award-winning musical Sarafina! and co-wrote the multi-award-winning Woza Albert! He is known for plays that reflect the spirit of black South Africans under apartheid.
Gibson Mthuthuzeli Kente was a South African playwright, composer, director and producer based in Soweto. He was known as the Father of Black Theatre in South Africa, and was one of the first writers to deal with life in the South African black townships. He produced 23 plays and television dramas between 1963 and 1992. He is also responsible for producing some of South Africa's leading musicians. Many prominent artists, including Brenda Fassie, owe their first opportunities on stage to him.
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The Soweto uprising was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa under apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976.
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Voices of Sarafina! is a 1988 American documentary film about the anti-apartheid musical stage play Sarafina! directed by Nigel Noble. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.
Crossroads Theatre is a theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey, located in the city's Civic Square government and theatre district. Founded in 1978, it is the winner of the 1999 Regional Theatre Tony Award.
Sarafina! is a 1992 musical drama film based on Mbongeni Ngema's 1987 musical of the same name. The film was directed by Darrell Roodt and written by Ngema and William Nicholson, and stars Leleti Khumalo, Miriam Makeba, John Kani, Ngema, and Whoopi Goldberg; Khumalo reprises her role from the stage performance.
Sduduzo Ka-Mbili aka Nunu was born in Engonyameni, a rural area of Durban, South Africa. In 1989, he first attended a Shell Corporation sponsored Dance and Drama Program at the University of Natal, where he first learnt about professional performing. He joined Phenduka Dance Theatre, where he received contemporary dance training from Alfred Hinkel from Cape Town.
"Soweto Blues" is a protest song written by Hugh Masekela and performed by Miriam Makeba. The song is about the Soweto uprising that occurred in 1976, following the decision by the apartheid government of South Africa to make Afrikaans a medium of instruction at school. The uprising was forcefully put down by the police, leading to the death of between 176 and 700 people. The song was released in 1977 as part of Masekela's album You Told Your Mama Not to Worry. The song became a staple at Makeba's live concerts, and is considered a notable example of music in the movement against apartheid.
Voza Rivers is an American producer and co-producer of theater, film, music, and live events, born in Harlem, New York. Rivers’ work as a theater producer, music executive, event producer, and documentary filmmaker has been presented in the United States, Japan, South Africa, Togo, Nigeria, Cuba, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
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Ndaba Walter Mhlongo was a South African actor and choreographer best known for his role of Mshefane in the 1977 production Inyakanyaka. Ndaba is widely regarded as one of South Africa's most prominent comedians. Joe Mafela, himself an established comedian, described Ndaba's comedy as effortless.
Nomvelo Makhanya, is a South African Award winning actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in the television serials Isibaya, Soul City and Scandal!. Now recently joined a Netflix film, I am All Girls
