Bonginkosi Ntiwane11/22/2018
MBUSO KHOZA’S performance at the Market theatre this weekend is akin to an adult meeting their former high school bully after years, for the first time. It’s life coming into full circle.
Having left home in 1999, to pursue his dreams in the City of Gold, Khoza found himself homeless for months. “As a young man around 2000, I would always sit outside the Market Theatre and see artists walk in there and I would dream of performing there one day,” Khoza tells me.
Nearly 20 years later, he will for the first time have his own show at the historic Joburg Theatre. “This is the most fulfilling thing for me” he says over the telephone.
His one man show this weekend will be the first time he headlines his own concert at the Market. “I performed here in 2013, doing backing vocals for Mam’Sibongile Khumalo, and it was around the same time of the year.”
I talk to him just after the completion of his first rehearsal, hours after arriving in Joburg from KwaZulu-Natal. “We left Durban at 1AM and got here around 6:00 in the morning.”
His band is based in Gauteng, while he’s down in the KZN, but this won’t affect his performance he says. He performed with the same band at this year’s Joy Of Jazz which received warm reviews. Comparing a performance at the Theatre to that of a festival he says “It’s [the theatre] more intimate and there’s no space for talking, but just the music.”
“Performing at festivals like the Joy of Jazz, is different because there are different artists there- it often feels rushed because you need to make way for the next artist. A show like this one this coming weekend is different because people specifically buy a ticket to see you- so the setup and preparation will be different,” Khoza says.
He has two supporting acts for his show this weekend, Zawadi Ya Mungu and Nandi Mzobe from the Legacy of KZN Mentorship Program who both have been performing with Khoza on his African Heritage Ensamble. Part of his performance this weekend will be him presenting research he’s done on heritage together with the Wits School Of Arts. “I’ll be narrating it myself, but a part of it will be music.”
His set will include jams from his critically acclaimed 2012 debut album Zilindile, together with some of his new compositions. The concert will take place for three consecutive days but Khoza says he’ll make some tweaks for each day.
