The beauty of the songs. The passion of the youth. The cruelty of apartheid. Expressions of living and dying. In school, at the market place, in the townships and in church. Joy and fear. Laughter and tears. Emotions mingling. Nerves tingling. Life under oppression. The fight for freedom. The songs of freedom. A walk down memory lane. Nostalgia.
The Tamasha Auditorium at the M-PESA Foundation Academy (MFA) in Mang’u, Thika played host to a rendition of the world-famous musical, Sarafina! 36 years after its first performance at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is as relevant today as it was in 1987.
The musical, a creation of Mbongeni Ngema, who also wrote the music and lyrics alongside jazz maestro Hugh Masekela, is a depiction of the Soweto uprising that occurred in 1976 led by black students that resulted in bloody confrontations with the police.
During the three-day run of Sarafina! in November 2023 that featured a Friday cocktail show and two weekend matinees, the MFA students put their best foot forward as they took the audience on a somber yet humorous two-hour journey deep into Soweto and into the fight against apartheid in South Africa.
Zennah Zawadi played the lead character, Sarafina. Tiny of stature but with a magical voice and a huge personality, she gave a performance that would have made the original Sarafina, Leleti Khumalo proud.
With no prior acting experience, this was a step into the unknown for Zennah: “It was my first time to try acting. I didn’t even know how to have intonations in different places, how to have emotions when you speak. I didn’t know much about anything but I just decided to try.”
It is said heavy is the head that wears the crown but for Zennah, being the lead character fueled her on stage. “Carrying the name Sarafina is more of a privilege for me, because everyone is talking about Sarafina, Sarafina, Sarafina the play, and the first character they even know is Sarafina, me. It feels nice, it feels special and it gives me a push, I feel like I’m carrying the whole thing. I have to push myself,” she said.
Zennah, who has already written and published songs, has for long harbored dreams of a stellar musical career. With the lessons picked from the Sarafina! musical she hopes she can in future combine acting and singing and earn a living from the arts. “Playing Sarafina has pushed me out of my comfort zone. I’ve learned how to be a risk taker, how to be confident, how to be strong for the sake of the team and how to boldly express myself,” she reflected.
The Sarafina! musical at MFA is produced by Judith “Koki” Chepkirui, who is the music teacher at the academy. A lifelong fan of Sarafina, producing the musical was a dream come true for the music teacher with a bubbly personality.
Boasting of over a decade experience of teaching music, Koki understands its power. “Music can create change in the world. We are currently doing a unit with my students, ‘The power of art’. We’re learning how we can use art – music, visual arts and theatre – to create change. For local artists, we are looking at Sauti Sol and how they use their music to create change. Like in the song, ‘Tujiangalie’ which the students are doing right now, how they sensitise people of corruption or political injustices,” she said.
Naomi Wangari is the ICT Manager at the tech-intensive academy, where students use tablets and a lot of the learning is digital. For the duration of the Sarafina! musical, Naomi doubled as the production manager and assistant producer, roles she had never done before.
Thrown into the deep end, Naomi was grateful for the transformational lessons picked. She handled the stage, props and costumes and she was full of praise for the students who stepped up and delivered to make the production a success.
Like with many people, Sarafina evokes nostalgia for Naomi, “I love the music in Sarafina. I’m a lover of music. I remember when I was younger, I used to watch Sarafina quite a lot and at one point, I could sing all the songs from beginning to end.”
As the Creative Director, Andrew Tumbo was in charge of the entire artistic vision and his drive was evident during rehearsals as he demanded the best from his young cast.
“I’m very passionate about Afro-centric art, and us telling our own stories with our own mouths with our own abilities. Africans telling African stories, and specifically African stories that have historical context, things that happened, that should never happen again. This is a story that we need to keep telling, telling, and telling,” Tumbo said when asked why he chose the Sarafina musical to be the academy’s annual stage offering.
For the three adults in the room, Koki, Naomi and Tumbo, over and above the beautiful performances by the MFA students, the staging of the play served a greater role.
“The student’s transformation has been quite encouraging; the cast has really grown up. The production has also made the younger ones want to join the Performing Arts department and see what more they can do for the school apart from books and sports,” said Naomi, the Production Manager.
“The reason we are staging Sarafina is to create awareness about the music programme so that it can be self-sustaining and hence support more students as well as help students discover themselves. Perhaps, the future director of Sarafina could be in this cast. So, helping a dream is my biggest take away from this,” said Tumbo, the Creative Director.
“The Performing Arts department is the heart of the school. We have students coming from different communities, and we want them to use the art to tell us who they are. We want wholesome kids. Not kids who get A’s, while they cannot express themselves, communicate, enjoy life. So, supporting the M-PESA Foundation Academy music program is supporting these children showcase what they can do,” said Koki, the Producer.
