Episode Information

Ode to Mandela is a uniquely creative collaboration between a group of South African musicians working with Composer Jonathan de Vries. Together they have created a sequence of songs each expressing a different phase in the life of Nelson Mandela. The songs are joined together by a spoken word artist, S'phamandla (Maraza) Mhlongo, who uses the tradition of the Imbongi – Praise Poet – to tell the story of Mandela's life in a contemporary way. The genre’s shift seamlessly from traditional xhosa to kwela to choral to jazz to reggae as the Composer uses a full variety of South African musics to tell the story of its national icon.