BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Gcina Mhlope
Nokugcina Elsie Mhlophe (born 1958) is a well-known South African freedom fighter, activist, actor, storyteller, poet, playwright, director and author. Storytelling is a deeply traditional activity in Africa and Mhlophe is one of the few woman storytellers in a country dominated by males. She does her most important work through charismatic performances, working to preserve storytelling as a means of keeping history alive and encouraging South African children to read. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.
Contents
1 Life and career
2 Collaborations
3 Documentary appearances
4 Awards
Life and career
Mhlophe was born in 1958 in KwaZulu-Natal to a Xhosa mother and a Zulu father. She started her working life as a domestic servant, later working as a newsreader at the Press Trust and BBC Radio, then as a writer for Learn and Teach, a magazine for newly-literate people.
Several experiences inspired Mhlophe to turn to a career as storyteller. She credits her storytelling ability to her grandmother, who brought her up in Durban. Mhlophe says, "My grandmother taught me everything about telling stories. When I was growing up, half the kids in our neighbourhood would come and spend the evening at home so that they could listen to izinganekwane (tales)."[citation needed]
She began to get a sense of the demand for stories while in Chicago in 1988. She performed at a library in a mostly-black neighbourhood, where an ever-growing audience kept inviting her back. Still, Mhlophe only began to think of storytelling as a career after meeting an Imbongi, one of the legendary poets of African folklore, and after encouragement by Mannie Manim, the then-director of the Market Theatre, Johannesburg.
Since then Mhlophe has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London and much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili and Japanese. Mhlophe has travelled extensively in Africa and other parts of the world giving storytelling workshops.
Mhlophe's stories meld folklore, information, current affairs, song and idiom. The realisation of her dreams is a visceral motivator for her and she is passing on her infectious enthusiasm by developing young talent to carry forward the work of storytelling through the Zanendaba (Bring me a story) Initiative. This initiative, established in 2002, is a collaboration with the Market Theatre and READ, a national literacy organization.
Mhlophe currently serves as the patron of the ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.
Mhlophe focuses on making books available to poor South African rural communities by making sure that libraries are built, and making sure they are stocked with locally and culturally relevant books[citation needed]. Mhlophe currently serves as the patron of ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.
Selected works
1983, took the lead in Umongikazi: The Nurse, by Maishe Maponya
1984, acted in Black Dog: Inj'emnyama
1986, Place of Weeping (film)
1986, Have You Seen Zandile? (autobiographical play, at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, Mhlophe as Zandile)
1987, Born in the RSA (New York)
1989, storytelling festival at the Market Theatre (there have been many since then)
1989, performed a praise poem in honour of Nokukhanya Luthuli, 1961 Nobel Peace Prize winner
1990, performed Have You Seen Zandile? at the Edinburgh Festival
Toured Have You Seen Zandile? through Europe and the USA
1989–1990, resident director at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg
co-ordinator at READ, a national literacy organization
1991, Ashoka Fellowship (social entrepreneurship innovator)
1993, Music for Little People (CD)
1993, reader voice Not so fast, Songololo (videorecording), Weston Woods, Weston CT, Scholastic [1]
1994, The Gift of the Tortoise (contributed to the Ladysmith Black Mambazo album)
1997, Poetry Africa, presenting poet
1999, guest speaker at the Perth Writers Festival
Philharmonic Orchestra (London)
Royal Albert Hall (London)
Cologne Philharmonie, Africa at the Opera
Honorary doctorate from the London Open University
Honorary doctorate from the University of Natal
Lectureships at various universities
2000, performed in Peter und der Wolf at the Komische Oper (Berlin)
Wrote music for her SABC TV series Gcina & Friends
2002, Fudukazi's Magic screened in Durban at the African Union Film Festival
2002, The Bones of Memory (performance, history-telling from the old and new South Africa)
2003, lectured on storytelling at the Eye of the Beholder seminar
2003, Mata Mata (performance, family musical)
2006, FIFA World Cup South African handover ceremony, Germany
Collaborations
Pops Mohamed, musician and tribal music preservationist
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, choir group, The Gift of the Tortoise (CD), 1994 and Music for Little People in America (CD), 1993
Bheki Khoza, guitarist, Animated Tales of the World (TV series for Right Angle in the UK and for the SABC)
Anant Singh, video producer, Fudukazi's Magic (CD and video for German audiences)
Biblionef South Africa, a children's book donation agency, supplies book packages for Mhlophe's workshops, 2003
Documentary appearances
Acted and narrated in Travelling Songs
1990, performed poetry in Songolo: voices of change (how aspects of culture in South Africa have become part of the anti-apartheid struggle)
1993, The Travelling Song (the contemporary process of story gathering)
Appeared in Literacy Alive
Appeared in Art Works
Awards
Nominee for the Noma Award for Queen of the Tortoises, 1991
Book Chat Award for Molo Zoleka
OBIE Theatrical Award (New York) for Born in the RSA[1]
Fringe First Award (Edinburgh) for Have you seen Zandile?
Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress (Chicago) for Have you seen Zandile?
Sony Award for Radio Drama from BBC Radio Africa for Have you seen Zandile?
Nokugcina Elsie Mhlophe (born 1958) is a well-known South African freedom fighter, activist, actor, storyteller, poet, playwright, director and author. Storytelling is a deeply traditional activity in Africa and Mhlophe is one of the few woman storytellers in a country dominated by males. She does her most important work through charismatic performances, working to preserve storytelling as a means of keeping history alive and encouraging South African children to read. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.
Contents
1 Life and career
2 Collaborations
3 Documentary appearances
4 Awards
Life and career
Mhlophe was born in 1958 in KwaZulu-Natal to a Xhosa mother and a Zulu father. She started her working life as a domestic servant, later working as a newsreader at the Press Trust and BBC Radio, then as a writer for Learn and Teach, a magazine for newly-literate people.
Several experiences inspired Mhlophe to turn to a career as storyteller. She credits her storytelling ability to her grandmother, who brought her up in Durban. Mhlophe says, "My grandmother taught me everything about telling stories. When I was growing up, half the kids in our neighbourhood would come and spend the evening at home so that they could listen to izinganekwane (tales)."[citation needed]
She began to get a sense of the demand for stories while in Chicago in 1988. She performed at a library in a mostly-black neighbourhood, where an ever-growing audience kept inviting her back. Still, Mhlophe only began to think of storytelling as a career after meeting an Imbongi, one of the legendary poets of African folklore, and after encouragement by Mannie Manim, the then-director of the Market Theatre, Johannesburg.
Since then Mhlophe has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London and much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili and Japanese. Mhlophe has travelled extensively in Africa and other parts of the world giving storytelling workshops.
Mhlophe's stories meld folklore, information, current affairs, song and idiom. The realisation of her dreams is a visceral motivator for her and she is passing on her infectious enthusiasm by developing young talent to carry forward the work of storytelling through the Zanendaba (Bring me a story) Initiative. This initiative, established in 2002, is a collaboration with the Market Theatre and READ, a national literacy organization.
Mhlophe currently serves as the patron of the ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.
Mhlophe focuses on making books available to poor South African rural communities by making sure that libraries are built, and making sure they are stocked with locally and culturally relevant books[citation needed]. Mhlophe currently serves as the patron of ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.
Selected works
1983, took the lead in Umongikazi: The Nurse, by Maishe Maponya
1984, acted in Black Dog: Inj'emnyama
1986, Place of Weeping (film)
1986, Have You Seen Zandile? (autobiographical play, at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, Mhlophe as Zandile)
1987, Born in the RSA (New York)
1989, storytelling festival at the Market Theatre (there have been many since then)
1989, performed a praise poem in honour of Nokukhanya Luthuli, 1961 Nobel Peace Prize winner
1990, performed Have You Seen Zandile? at the Edinburgh Festival
Toured Have You Seen Zandile? through Europe and the USA
1989–1990, resident director at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg
co-ordinator at READ, a national literacy organization
1991, Ashoka Fellowship (social entrepreneurship innovator)
1993, Music for Little People (CD)
1993, reader voice Not so fast, Songololo (videorecording), Weston Woods, Weston CT, Scholastic [1]
1994, The Gift of the Tortoise (contributed to the Ladysmith Black Mambazo album)
1997, Poetry Africa, presenting poet
1999, guest speaker at the Perth Writers Festival
Philharmonic Orchestra (London)
Royal Albert Hall (London)
Cologne Philharmonie, Africa at the Opera
Honorary doctorate from the London Open University
Honorary doctorate from the University of Natal
Lectureships at various universities
2000, performed in Peter und der Wolf at the Komische Oper (Berlin)
Wrote music for her SABC TV series Gcina & Friends
2002, Fudukazi's Magic screened in Durban at the African Union Film Festival
2002, The Bones of Memory (performance, history-telling from the old and new South Africa)
2003, lectured on storytelling at the Eye of the Beholder seminar
2003, Mata Mata (performance, family musical)
2006, FIFA World Cup South African handover ceremony, Germany
Collaborations
Pops Mohamed, musician and tribal music preservationist
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, choir group, The Gift of the Tortoise (CD), 1994 and Music for Little People in America (CD), 1993
Bheki Khoza, guitarist, Animated Tales of the World (TV series for Right Angle in the UK and for the SABC)
Anant Singh, video producer, Fudukazi's Magic (CD and video for German audiences)
Biblionef South Africa, a children's book donation agency, supplies book packages for Mhlophe's workshops, 2003
Documentary appearances
Acted and narrated in Travelling Songs
1990, performed poetry in Songolo: voices of change (how aspects of culture in South Africa have become part of the anti-apartheid struggle)
1993, The Travelling Song (the contemporary process of story gathering)
Appeared in Literacy Alive
Appeared in Art Works
Awards
Nominee for the Noma Award for Queen of the Tortoises, 1991
Book Chat Award for Molo Zoleka
OBIE Theatrical Award (New York) for Born in the RSA[1]
Fringe First Award (Edinburgh) for Have you seen Zandile?
Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress (Chicago) for Have you seen Zandile?
Sony Award for Radio Drama from BBC Radio Africa for Have you seen Zandile?
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