kagablog

How glad I was to have been privileged to witness this event even though circumstance conspired against me to get there on time!! In spite of the fact that the programme was curtailed (poor audience response/turnout?) it was never-the-less an inspiring evening.

Mantombi Matotiyana now about 70 years old, is one of two last surviving bow players (the other being Madonsini) in South Africa. Mantombi started playing the bow when she was four years old and the tradition appears to have died out due to lack of interest from the youth. The extraordinary lightness of her instrument was the first contrasting feature of this project that hit this viewer/listener like a ton of bricks! It is so luminous and airy, so exceptional in tone and resonance, and so much of the earth, the playing of it so organic and effortless, that one immediately feels weightless. Mantombi’s voice is so perfectly pitched, the intonation clear and ‘perceptive’, the cadence so well honed and deceptively simple, the synergy between the repetitive sound and voice so much in intricate harmony and toned nuance. Aurally healing: penetrating pores, a balm for the skin, a tonic for the soul.

While soaring to extraordinary heights, she sinks deep deep into the earth.

As above, so below.

It was fascinating then, to experience what for me was ultimately a striking spiritual distinction, laterally, across a cultural spectrum: a juxtaposition of aligned worlds continents apart yet demonstrating the equality and quality of value of culture and cultures that span this spectrum.

The undoubted expertise and virtuosity of the Nightingale String Quartet (Denmark) aside, I was struck and mesmerised by the comparative physical harshness, tautness and ‘bovver bootness’ of the violins, the viola and the cello. The complexity and intricateness of the basic construction of these instruments which I had previously seen as ‘refined’ suddenly took on a new dynamic compared to the uhadi bow. The angles of attack of the performers bows towards their stringed instruments and possible differences of resonance that each individual player manifested took on a new dimension. At some point in one of the final pieces of the evening (Blakes String Quartet No. 3 (Nofinishi) 2009) it suddenly felt as if I was listening simultaneously to each musician separately! It was an astonishing experience and I wondered if this was somehow intricately wound round, into and from the presence of Mantombi - she certainly responded with her arms and body! Four individuals bound together by an entangled weaving of musical notes contributing along a time-stream of precision and fluidity. And this was where the second ‘magic’ of the evening took on a zest all of its own!

As next to, so along.

And I think I suddenly understood the Bow Project!

(The taxis in Durban are shocking and with 2010 just around the corner I foresee a huge transport problem emerging. I eventually had to walk.)

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