In this most recent volume of the African Theatre series, composer Neo Muyanga poses a question which shapes the text as a whole. Muyanga wonders if there is a ‘point to making “world opera” or new music theatre in our time of global financial and political precarity, climate change and protest?’ (17). At its core, this fundamental question drives this volume: what does opera mean in contemporary African (and diasporan) contexts? The long-running African Theatre series, which began with the publication of African Theatre and Development (M. Banham, J. Gibbs, and F. Osofisan [eds.], Oxford, UK, 1999), thrives on questions of this nature, interrogating the place of performance art in contemporary and historical understandings of the continent. Illuminating ‘the diversity of opera and music theatre across a variety of African and African diasporic contexts’, this volume rethinks the immediate Eurocentric implications of opera as a term and embraces a more wide-ranging conceptualization of the art form (1). With the field of African opera history still emerging with the popularity of texts like Naomi Andre's Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement (Champagne, IL, 2018), this text simultaneously shows the potential of this field study while also highlighting the difficulties in defining and historicizing this art form which encompasses both indigenous African art forms and European cultural transfers. With this in mind, in place of a singular notion of opera, the editors position the genre as part of the larger German musiktheater classification, recognizing not only ‘opera, musical theatre, musicals or film operas, but also other scenic performances . . . such as (Yorùbá) folk opera, new Yorùbá opera, African opera, “native air opera”, musical plays or (musical) street theatre’ as central to this conceptualization (4). This expansive focus carries over into the wide range of disciplines and approaches represented by scholars from the fields of musicology, anthropology, and literature, as well as the performing arts. Although the editors framed this diversity in terms of ‘draw[ing] attention to the relative scarcity of scholars working on these topics’, the wide range of approaches taken exhibit the strong potential for the development of the field (9).
Composed of ten articles, one playscript by Zainabu Jallo, and ten book reviews, Opera and Music Theatre presents case studies on South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Uganda from both academics, in fields ranging from musicology to international studies, and composers and musicians. Although this text is interdisciplinary in nature, several of the pieces bring historical analysis to the study of contemporary opera's relevance on the continent. For example, Nora Amin's article combines historical insights with powerful artistic interpretation to provide a new insight on the cultural history of Egypt; her piece is truest to the volume's aims in that she takes an expansive view of the art form, placing classic works of opera like Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in conversation with Egyptian cabaret traditions and contemporary protest music. Amin's insights on the role of bands Wust El Balad and Cairokee as ‘music of the people’ frame musical performance as ‘the art form closest to political protest and transformation’, especially in its capacity to create ‘a new sense of communication, togetherness and empowerment in Egypt and elsewhere in the world’ (102). Bode Omojola's examination of new Yoruba operas through close study of Chaka (1970) and Ìrìn Àjò (2018) challenges the readers to consider the potential of ‘music and dramatic narrative to perform and reflect on Africanist experiences in ways that are socially contingent and historically dynamic’ (108). Tobias Robert Klein builds on Omojola's insights in his own piece, ‘The Phantom of the West African Opera’, wherein he considers how the marginality of opera has allowed for greater cultural fluidity between pre-colonial heritage and contemporary musical developments by contrasting the compositional elements of Yoruba opera and Ghanaian concert party music. The insights into the work of composer George Ballanta and the ties between opera and the European-educated upper class in Sierra Leone highlights the underlying class politics often emerging in discourse over opera in an African setting. Similar issues connected to class and socio-economic status emerge in Fabian Lehmann's, Wilfried Zoungrana's, and Andrea Reikat's three perspectives on German director Christoph Sclingensief's ‘African Opera Village’ arts education project in Burkina Faso. Their multiple takes on this controversial arts development project illuminates the complicated interactions between European opera enthusiasts and the complicated politics between charitable giving and Western hegemony in the arts.
This volume is particularly strong in its coverage of the wide range of opera and musical theatre styles in contemporary South Africa. Contributions by Neo Muyanga, Paula Fourie, and Lena van der Hoven all highlight the ‘boundary-pushing developments’ that have taken ‘shape outside of the architectural conceit of the opera house’ (26). Fourie's article highlights how Capetonians rebuilt a ‘District Six of the Mind’ using musical performance as ‘a vehicle for popular representations of Cape Town's coloured population and, in particular, for exploring the forced removals and their painful legacy’ (46; 44). The insights from van der Hoven's interview with South African opera singers Musa Ngqungwana, Pauline Malefane, and Kobie van Rensburg build on Muyanga's critical question. The apartheid-era legacy of opera and its association with the white minority regime has shaped, and continues to shape, contemporary South African opera. Despite this past, Malefane, van Rensburg, and Nqungwane highlight the changing nature of the genre, and the obvious divides between opera and the racial realities of postapartheid South Africa; as Malefane noted, ‘I don't want to see myself on stage as just representing black opera. I want to see myself as representing opera’ (87). In van der Hoven and Liani Maasdorp's examination of South African opera as a vehicle for black empowerment, they spoke with Mandisi Dyantyis, associate director of Cape Town-based Isango Ensemble, who sheds light on the future of the term ‘opera’ in an African context. Opera is ‘a story told through singing, dancing and movement’, Dyantyis insists, ‘it's an art form for everyone . . . it is an art form for Africa as well’ (56).
The predominance of articles on South Africa is understandable given the socioeconomic contexts in which opera and other musical theatre performances have been produced, but these essays also betray a fundamental issue with the field of opera studies broadly. In the context of the deliberate attempts to expand the scope of the field of musical theatre studies in the introduction, the choice to focus so much attention on South Africa is confusing. Only Samuel Kasule's contribution on Ugandan folk opera and its challenges to the ‘cultural homogeneity of Ugandans’ brings in perspectives from the eastern portion of the continent (192). The robust historiography on music and popular culture in East Africa stands in contrast to its under-representation in this text. Additionally, though the editors aimed to consider opera and musical theatre in a diasporic context, only one contribution, by Christine Matzke, takes this global approach, examining the work of Afro-Brazilian composer Zainab Jallo, including her playscript We Take Care of Our Own, in the text.
Such limitations do not detract from the volume's critical questions about the importance of opera in the African context. Do we preserve the term? Do we throw it away? Is there an alternative that better captures African realities? Although this volume achieves much, it does not offer answers to these critical questions — meaning that there is much to look forward to in future scholarship that will help us better to understand what ‘opera’ means in the African context. As Neo Muyanga noted, opera from Africa has ‘the potential to open up vistas that were in the past – and continue to be today – denied to a vast part of the world predominantly due to considerations of race and class’ (27).
