‘Ngibambeni, ngibambeni bomama!’ Refiguring Princess Magogo - The Mail & Guardian

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The official historiography of Princess Magogo misses the nuances and influences of the many women in her life

around the figures he refers to as “Queen Nandi”, “Queen Monase” and “Princess Mkabayi Kajama” suggests, “official” historiography is a culprit in the marginalisation of the histories of women in the Zulu monarchy.

The absent presence of this community of women is especially peculiar because of Princess Magogo’s own admission of their contribution to her multiple expertise, which the entire globe celebrates. In 1964, the ethnomusicologist David Rycroft — evidently deemed as one of the “foundational” scholars of Princess Magogo’s music — interviewed her at her homestead kwaPhindangene, Mahlabathini .

“The mother is in [a] sense reciting the praise poem to and for her child, but she is also reciting it for the benefit of whoever else may be listening; if the persons referred to indirectly in the poem hear it, so much the better. The poem, however, is also recited long after infancy, on any occasion when a mother wishes to express, publicly or privately, the emotions of joy, pride or gratitude to her child”.

To conceive of this generational song as simply a dedication to the man Princess Magogo loved is a Hollywood-esque, couple-focused reading of this text. Although the songs found on her album are framed as “The Zulu Songs of Princess Constance Magogo KaDinuzulu”, it is critical to note that Princess Magogo herself admitted that she did not know the composers of some of the songs she sang, even though they had become primarily associated with her repertoire.

 

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