Songololo

What is the artist's role in the fight against apartheid? Songololo, a non-narrated look at two popular South African artists--writer, performer, and storyteller Gcina Mholpe, and musician/poet-activist Mzwahke Mbuli--offers one uncompromising answer to that question. Each seeks to enlighten the people through art--whether it be poem, play, story, or song. Mbuli says: "I am the drum of change in Africa," and his performance poetry cuts straight to the soul like a hot knife: "I am the conscience of the nation/I and money do not mix/I and the truth do not collide/Inside me the spirit of resistance never diminishes." Though much of his poetry is banned, and the Soweto-born Mbuli has spent many days in jail cells, his spirit remains strong and clearly inspiring to his legion of listeners and admirers. Mholpe, too, is a vibrant performer who regales us with the lovely poem "Praise to the Women of Africa," and the more sobering ode "Funeral Dancer." A resident of Johannesburg, Mholpe has written children's books and currently serves as the director of the Market Theatre, where she is seen conducting rehearsals. Songololo is a refreshingly different look at the problems of South Africa--it is not the rhetoric of politicians, nor the visual litany of horrors that have plagued this tragic land. Instead we see the wisdom of art, which we too often forget is wiser than politicians could ever hope to be. Highly recommended. (See COMING TO TERMS for availability.)