ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY
MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI, MP
CHAIRMAN, THE HOUSE OF TRADITIONAL LEADERS (KWAZULU NATAL)
MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND
PRESIDENT, THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
MIDRAND : MAY 3, 2002
It is indeed for me a great pleasure and honour
to receive this posthumous accolade on behalf of my mother, Princess Magogo ka
Dinuzulu. This award means a lot to me, not only for the eternal love which I
bear for my mother’s memory but also for the significance it has in my own
life. My mother played an enormous role in my life in terms of guidance,
support and constant encouragement. However, in addition to this, she bestowed
upon me a gift of incommensurable value. She taught me an appreciation for
music and enabled music to be all around me for the rest of my life.
Since I was a child I remember music being the
very essence of my mother’s life. Now that she is no longer and music has
remained such an important part of my own life, whenever I hear music I
continue to feel my mother’s warm support and encouragement. Princess Magogo
loved music because she loved life. For her, music was the full appreciation of
life at its best. She composed and sang to express the full measure of her
God-given talents and to fulfil the best of her human potentials. Her
composition, her daily songs and the love for music which she infused in so
many of her long-time or even occasional pupils, were indeed a reflection of
the best in her. Her inner beauty was outpoured in her composition. The
generosity of her heart and the greatness of her soul found their expression in
the love which she brought into educating people all around her in the
appreciation of music and singing.
I remember her love for church hymns which
carried so much solemnity and hope in the eternal quest for the redemption of
the soul. I think, more than anything else, these hymns had an enormous
influence on her musical make-up. They were also very close to the African
choral tradition. Within the framework of choral pathos she found the merging
of the European tradition of church music with the sounds of our own people’s
best musical expressions. In so doing she succeeded in portraying the musical
pathos of Africa at its best. I feel therefore that it is proper and fitting
that one of the first operas ever completely written and produced in Africa,
should be dedicated to celebrating her life’s journey as an example of Africa’s
own renaissance.
The opera, "Princess Magogo ka Dinuzulu",
will have its first world premier tomorrow in Durban, being simultaneously
broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Therefore,
I find that there is great serendipity in this important accolade being awarded
to my mother’s memory this evening. I must thank the organisers of this event
for their timing and for the great recognition they have bestowed
not only on my mother’s memory, but indeed on
our own African musical tradition and heritage. This is an important
recognition that African music has come to maturity, not only in respect of its
powerful messages and underlying emotional texture, but also as far as the
complex phraseologies and technique of its structure is concerned. I am very
proud that my mother’s life’s work has been recognised as an important
milestone in this evolution.
She sang to affirm her personality because she
was indeed a strong and proud woman who felt that, as a woman, she would not be
second to anyone, even though she was the daughter of a King and the wife of a
Prime Minister. She found her own realm in which to express the strength of her
character and the nobility of her heart, and in so doing she made a statement
that survived in dignity alongside those of the great men who surrounded her
throughout her life. For this reason, I feel that if she were here with us
tonight she would rightly regard this accolade not only as a recognition of her
musical skills, but indeed as an attestation of the role that women may play in
any context in which they find themselves operating. It is therefore for me a
great pleasure and most touching to receive this accolade on her behalf.
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