Dear Diary

What an incredible time today has been for song in South Africa. I got a glimpse of the first of the Xmas Special bonus episodes of that most riveting local telenovela, The South Africa Show. So brilliant was the soundtrack, I had to press pause and jot down notes here quickly before I continued watching.

But first I must note that I think it is just absolutely brilliant of the show’s producers to focus the writing for the four-part Xmas Special on the show’s wild, fictional governing party’s national conference. That said, I must admit I’m a bit disappointed that they chose to write such a loooong speech for the president character. But I’m going to keep on watching because I suspect a twist ahead.

The plotline and musical score

Perhaps the plotline is to bore the president character’s opposition to death with that speech. Although judging by its content, it’s possible he was a bit confused and thought he was presenting the SONA speech of the fictional nation. Who knows? The guy does seem a bit distracted, if not over it. But I’m sure all will be revealed in the upcoming three episodes.

One thing is for sure: whoever wrote the musical score for the first episode was nothing short of inspired. As an arts and culture writer, I’ve been concerned of late that the soundtrack of recent seasons of The South Africa Show hasn’t quite lived up to highs of the Mshini Wam or Kill the Bore eras.

I needn’t have worried; the new episode was about music above all else. The hours-long extended intro was characterised by some of the best South African singing I’ve heard.

From sounds some might interpret as heckling outside the venue, to the heckling inside the venue, to the organisation’s choir dressed in their best money green doing a stellar rendition of that gospel classic Ikhon’ Ingubo as they bellowed “Nokuba ndinxib’ amanikiniki, I khon’ ingubo yiANC” [Even if I’m dressed in rags, there’s a blanket, it’s the ANC].

Phew! Considering the organisation’s financial woes, one can only hope that the blanket’s been checked for fleas, or at least laundered along with the cash some members of the organisation have been known to keep crisply clean.

Uncle Gwedemental’s turn

Better still, song was used brilliantly to illustrate the gap between the haves and have-nots; the billionaire president and the unfortunate poor he so selflessly leads, when he began his speech by telling the people to stop singing. In a masterful demonstration of the use of sound in film, we hear the show’s disciplinarian and occasional villain, Uncle Gwedemental, telling the president on a hot mic: “Bayeke aba bakusupportayo bacule ungabanqandi msinya” [Let the ones who support you continue singing, don’t try to stop them too soon].

To which the billionaire president, who suddenly has to speak to the poor and RET-infested, responds, “Bendifuna ukuthi bathule bonke” [I wanted them all to shut up].

Truly riveting stuff! I have no doubt that like myself, other viewers felt the emotional weight of that moment. An instant film classic. Taking the advice of Uncle Gwedemental, he leaves them to sing a bit more, before it all gets too much and he just starts speaking over the sweet sounds of their discontent.

I do hope that when the show’s producers release the original soundtrack on Apple Music or Spotify or something, they’ll include these hot mic interludes too. Anyway, let me watch the rest and see if indeed – as I suspect – the speech was no mere speech, but a proper weapon of mass destruction through the use of the advanced Stage 8 boredom technique. DM/ML