Todd Matshikiza

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Todd Matshikiza
Born7 March 1921
Queenstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Died4 March 1968(1968-03-04) (aged 46)
Lusaka, Zambia
EducationAdams College;
Lovedale Institute
Occupation(s)Jazz pianist, composer and journalist
Known forComposing the score of the musical King Kong

Todd Tozama Matshikiza OMSS (7 March 1921 – 4 March 1968) was a South African jazz pianist, composer and journalist. As a journalist, he was a contributor to the innovative South African magazine Drum, in which he wrote in a unique style that came to be known as "Matshikese". He is also known for his book "Chocolates for my Wife", an autobiographical account of his experiences in South Africa and England. As a musician, Matshikiza is celebrated for composing the score of the jazz musical King Kong, as well as numerous choral works in South African traditional style, notably "Hamba Kahle". His legacy was celebrated as a Google Doodle on 25 September 2023.[1]

Early life

Born on 7 March 1921,

Anglican Church.[3]

He graduated from St Peter's College in

then Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom at Bulawayo
in 1946, and for the Johannesburg Music Festival in 1950.

Career in Johannesburg

Matshikiza moved to Johannesburg in 1947, and married Esme Sheila Mpama on 26 December 1950. The couple had a daughter, Marian Linda, and son, John Anthony. He taught for a while and founded the Todd Matshikiza School of Music, a private music school, where he taught piano.[3] Jazz and composing remained his primary interests; however, in order to supplement the family income, he worked briefly for Vanguard Booksellers in Johannesburg. From 1949 to 1954, Matshikiza was a committee member of the Syndicate of African Artists, which aimed to promote the music of artists from the townships.[4]

In 1952, Matshikiza was invited to join

Bloke Modisane and others, became one of its early writers. His jazz column covered the township scene, particularly Sophiatown, where he commented on the likes of Kippie Moeketsi and Hugh Masekela, who both played for The Jazz Epistles. Matshikiza covered township life in his regular column "With the Lid Off". Amongst his close associates, his innovative writing style became known as “Matshikese”, and was characterised by a creative and playful use of syntax and musical style.[5] Drum editor Anthony Sampson, with whom he developed a lifelong friendship, observed later that "Todd transformed Drum. He wrote as he spoke, in a brisk tempo with a rhythm in every sentence. He attacked the typewriter like a piano".[6] Matshikiza also worked briefly for the Golden City Post,[citation needed] a sister publication of Drum with whom it shared offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town.[7]

His love of classical music inspired him to compose the choral piece Makhaliphile in 1953, which he dedicated to Trevor Huddleston, who had worked with less-favoured communities in Johannesburg. This was a combination of classical, jazz and traditional themes. In 1956, he composed Uxolo! ("Peace"), commissioned for the 70th anniversary of Johannesburg.[3] The 70th anniversary of this performance was commemorated with a Google Doodle on 25 September 2023.[1]

In 1958, Matshikiza composed the music and some of the lyrics of the jazz musical King Kong, which had an all-black cast. Portraying the life and times of heavyweight boxer Ezekiel Dlamini, popularly known as “King Kong”, the musical was a hit in 1959. It attracted multi-racial audiences, and was performed in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, before being staged at the Prince’s Theatre in London’s West End in 1961. Matshikiza’s interest in the boxer stemmed in part from his having been assigned to cover the trial of Dlamini. King Kong launched the international career of Miriam Makeba, who played the shebeen queen of the Back of the Moon, a shebeen (illicit bar) of the time in Sophiatown.

Matshikiza composed the music for Alan Paton’s play Mkhumbane, which opened in Durban on 29 March 1960. The musical, in a-capella form, recounts the trials of a grass-roots community whose daily lives are affected by forced removal and the actions of gangsters.

London

Frustrated by the apartheid system, and enabled by plans afoot to stage the King Kong musical in London, Matshikiza moved with his wife and two children to England in August 1960.[8] Matshikiza remained in London when most of the cast returned to South Africa. He found it difficult to break into the English music scene, but collaborated with other musicians, playing piano in London jazz venues. He gave lectures on African music and freelanced for publications, including a seminal article which highlighted the radical contribution of Black South African music, in the fight against apartheid. He continued to write for Drum magazine, to which he contributed a monthly column entitled "Todd in London", and worked for the BBC as a presenter and researcher.[9]

His autobiographical book entitled Chocolates for my Wife, recounts his experiences of life in apartheid South Africa and in Britain. The book touches on the black experience, and describes how he was affected by it. In the early 1960s he participated in an international competition to write a national anthem for recently-independent Nigeria, and in a festival in Oran celebrating Algeria’s independence. [citation needed]

Zambia

Missing Africa, in 1964, Matshikiza and his wife were invited to work in newly-independent Zambia, where he became a broadcaster and presenter with Radio Zambia. He took up a position in 1967 as the music archivist for the Zambian Information Service. In this capacity he travelled extensively throughout Zambia, building up the archival collection, and researching Zambian traditional music and instruments. Some of his later music drew inspiration from Zambian traditional songs. He was one of five South African Black artists to perform in the first Zambia Arts Festival, held at Luanshya in May 1965.

Matshikiza remained frustrated at being prevented from returning to South Africa, where his writing had been

ANC’s Oliver Tambo
, and a Zambian ministerial delegation.

Family

Todd is survived by a daughter, Marian Linda. His son John Matshikiza was a trained actor and worked in film and television; he died on 15 September 2008 in Johannesburg, aged 54. Todd's granddaughter, Lindiwe Matshikiza, is a theatre actress and director.[10]


Books

  • Chocolates for My Wife, Todd Matshikiza, Hodder & Stoughton, 1961. David Philip Publishers, 1982,
    ISBN 0-908396-83-X
  • With the Lid Off: South African Insights from Home and Abroad, 1959-2000, T. Matshikiza J. Matshikiza., M&G Books,
    ISBN 0-620-26244-3

References

  1. ^ a b Matshikiz, Marian (25 September 2023). "Celebrating Todd Matshikiza". Google. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  2. ^ Bulbul, Nuray (25 September 2023). "Who was Todd Matshikiza? Google Doodle celebrates South African jazz musician". Evening Standard. London.
  3. ^
    ISBN 1868281337
    – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Alexander Johnson & Chris Walton. "MATSHIKIZA, Todd Thozamile". Dictionary of African Composers. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
  5. ^ Cowling, Lesley (2016). "Echoes of an African Drum: The Lost Literary Journalism of 1950s South Africa" (PDF). Literary Journalism Studies. 8 (1): 7–32.
  6. ISBN 0340333839
    .
  7. ^ Pucherova, Dobrota (2011). "A Romance That Failed: Bessie Head and Black Nationalism in 1960s South Africa". Research in African Literatures. 42 (2). Indiana University Press: 105–124 – via JSTOR.
  8. ^ Thorpe (2021), p. 93.
  9. ^ Thorpe (2021), pp. 97, 111.
  10. ^ "Lindi Matshikiza – 2010". Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.

Sources

  • Thorpe, Andrea (2021). "Swinging City: Todd Matshikiza's Contrapuntal London Writing". South African London: Writing the Metropolis After 1948. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 93–139.
    ISBN 9781526148551
    .

External links

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