Growing up in the village of
Sabhoza near Ulundi and the
city of Durban of the 1950s and
1960s, Thembi Mtshali
Jones listened to her beloved
gogo’s stories and marvelled at
the voices emerging from her
father’s gramophone, but she
could never imagine that, one
day, her own voice would be
enthralling audiences across
the globe. Or that she would
become so famous that Nelson
Mandela would thank her
personally for entertaining him
in prison where he watched
her perform on TV as Thoko in
the sitcom Sgudi Snaysi .
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My review
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 | Review
by: Breakaway R.
From domestic worker to diva – a truly South African story
To a greater or lesser extent all biographies, auto or otherwise, tell the story of the times as much as that of their subject. In Ms Mtshali-Jones case, her story reflects the anomalies and atrocities of apartheid as well as her own journey through theatre. But to begin at the beginning, young Thembi, born of a childlike ‘makoti’ (new wife) grows up in rural Kwa Zulu-Natal with her grandparents. Her early childhood is simple, honest and filled with old school love and care. Things change though when aged 13 she is put on a bus to join her mother in Durban where her eyes are opened wide - and she sees white people for the first time.
A bright young thing, the plan is for her to study to be a nurse, but fate had other plans and when she finds herself pregnant, to her mother’s chagrin, she is swiftly sent home from college. Like so many other young women, to put bread on the table Thembi is forced to take a job as a domestic worker. But the difference between her and so many others is that Thembi could sing! But really sing. Without giving away too much of the finely nuanced detail that scribe Sindiwe employs in the book, her voice is recognised by, of all people, the daughter of her Jewish employers. To cut to the chase, in the early 70’s Thembi ends up performing in the groundbreaking production of Ipi Tombi (Where Are The Girls). The bitter irony however, is that due to the segregation laws of the time, it played to whites-only audiences and none of Thembi’s family was able to see it. Such was the success of Ipi Tombi that it toured eventually going on to play in London and New York. For Thembi and the rest of the cast, this was a real taste of the free world.
But very soon protesters saw through the paradox of this production portraying happy, singing, dancing black people who in reality, were oppressed in their own country. The result was that the show was pulled but talented Thembi opted to stay on in New York. At this stage that she really has to come to terms with her own options. It wrenched her that her young daughter was growing up back home in South Africa without her – but a whole world of music, like-minded performers and exiled South Africans opened her eyes and her life further still. New York was far from plain sailing, but safe to say that she broke out of apartheids chains, and as a performer, her career brought her into contact with many celebrities of the time, not least the legendary Miriam Makeba, Mamma Africa and Hugh Masekela who became guiding lights in her life.
But this is just the start. Back in South Africa in the ’80s, she is confronted once again by crippling apartheid laws – but the cracks are beginning to appear, allowing Thembi’s light to shine through. Her performance in a one-woman autobiographical show called A Woman in Waiting was an overwhelmingly emotional piece of theatre, as was Mother to Mother – the play based on the book of the same name by literary legend in her own right, Sindiwe Magona, telling the story of the murder in a township of US Fulbright scholar Amy Biehl.
I won’t spoil the journey for the reader by telling more – but the unshackling of South Africa was a slow and painful process through which Thembi rose like a phoenix, becoming a multi-disciplined star and role model for anyone in the performing arts. This book was released just in time for Thembi’s 70th birthday - and what a story it tells of love and loss, challenge and achievement. Interesting to note though, that because both Thembi and Sindiwe (also a septuagenarian) are both so incredibly sought after and busy, it took almost a decade for them to complete!
Nancy Richards
Woman Zone Cape Town received a copy of this book to review, on behalf of Breakaway Reviewers.
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