The Music of Mzilikazi Khumalo

"Biographical essays on Mzikilikazi Khumalo's (1932-2021) songs, arrangements, and major works for orchestra and opera are contextualized and sit alongside reflections on his many roles, including that as guide for a cultural transition from Apartheid to democracy in South Africa. Of primary focus are uShaka kaSenzangakhona (1996), an African epic, and Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu (2002), one of the first indigenous African operas, to which Khumalo's artistic collaborators provide insight. This volume addresses a lacuna in literature on South African art music that has historically focused on works in the classical tradition and demonstrates that Khumalo is a peerless composer"--

Thomas M. Pooley is Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Art and Music at the University of South Africa. He has published widely on African art music, and on Zulu music, language and culture. He is Editor-in-Chief of Muziki, Journal of Music Research in Africa and author of The Land is Sung: Zulu Performances and the Politics of Place (2023).
Naomi André is the David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, and Professor Emerita at the University of Michigan, USA. Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement, is published by the University of Illinois Press. She is John E. Sawyer Fellow, National Humanities Center, 2022-2023.
Innocentia Mhlambi is Associate Professor in the Department of African Languages at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She is the author of African-language Literatures: Perspectives on isiZulu Fiction and Popular Television Series, and co-author of Mintiro ya Vulavula: Arts, national identities and democracy in South Africa.
Donato Somma is Senior Lecturer and Head of Music at the Wits School of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Somma has published on African operas and on music in Italian prisoner of war camps in South Africa.