Around this time, exactly nine years ago, jazz maestro Gloria Bosman, gospel royalty Rebecca Malope, vocal coach to the stars Malie Kelly and gospel sensation Ntokozo Mbambo, were hard at rehearsals for a one-of-a-kind Easter-themed music spectacular at the Joburg Theatre.
And what a show it was.
At Bosman’s invitation, whom I had interviewed for a daily newspaper I was working for at the time, I attended the dress rehearsal.
Daughters of the King: An Easter Gospel Extravaganza was a breathtaking production, retelling the Easter story from the point of view of the women who played a key role in the story of Jesus. It was a music, dance, and multimedia feast with the powerful performances by these four women, who were telling their stories of their own encounter with Jesus at the centre.
Bosman, who passed away on Tuesday after a short illness, was a versatile all-round musician with a penchant for curve balls. Remember her kwaito track? Trained in opera, Bosman enjoyed the freedom of experimenting with different sounds and genres to define her own unique voice and style of music that cannot really be put in one category.
One of my fondest moments was watching Sibongile Khumalo freaking out and being a super fan singing along at the launch of Bosman’s third album Stop and Think at the Market Theatre in 2002. On that night, Bosman shared the stage with two other artists, including Musa Manzini, who was also celebrating one of his albums.
Khumalo was not in the front row, or a conspicuous seat. No, she was in one of the middle rows, exactly a row before me. And it was like watching two shows at the same time.
The world-renowned musical superstar, lost herself and had a lot of fun watching a young musician celebrate her third album. If you didn’t know it was the multi-award winning opera singer, you would have mistaken her for one of the people who had come to enjoy a good concert.
When Bosman belted out her renditions of old-time South African classics Lizzy and Ntjilo Ntjilo from the album, Khumalo was in musical heaven.
When I listened to the full album one day, I was gobsmacked to hear Bosman’s rendition of Cindi Lauper’s classic, Time After Time.
Bosman was not afraid to take risks with her music and in the process revealed a vulnerability in her powerful voice that will forever remain in our hearts. It is the same magic that she gave us when she performed jazz standards while taking us through the range of instruments that were essentially her voice. It was her ability to belt out mbaqanga-inspired tunes such as Mkhize and enchanting, shouldering-shaking sounds of the Xhosa people in her famous song Amaqwati.
Thanks for the love you gave us through your music.
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