Co-opera Ibali Lomculo
Co-opera Ibali Lomculo was a community opera company (1994-2002).
Also sometimes written as Co-Opera.
Ibali Lomculo means “music stories”.
The company became known as EastCape Opera Company.
Contents
History
Inspired by the passion for Mozart and Verdi arias shown by her Xhosa-speaking singing students at Rhodes University, Gwyneth Lloyd launched the company with a performance in January 1995 of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. The company garnered the support of Eastern Cape MEC for Education and Culture Nosimo Balindlela, who attended the performance and subsequently suggested commissioning a Xhosa opera.
In December 1996, Peter Silva, the Grahamstown Foundation’s Director of Educational Projects, said: “The aim of the Co-opera Ibali Lomculo company is to demystify opera. The Grahamstown Foundation is exploring the possibility of obtaining sponsorship to enable it to take the company abroad as one of the Foundation’s ongoing projects.”
In 1996, company members ranged in age from eight to 50-plus, and were drawn from communities across the Eastern Cape. They included both amateurs and professionals.
"The company aims to provide these for South African communities through performance and workshopping activities. Because the company is a travelling one, costumes and sets are designed and made (by the singers themselves) to fit into a few cardboard boxes which can be transported in a single bakkie." Co-opera Ibali Lomculo also aim to promote singing as a medium of communication. For “the singing voice is common to all groups, and the creation of a performance with people from all culture groups can provide channels for constructive activity for both performers and audiences”.
By 2002, the company comprised 16 singers and the Ibali Lomculo Script Committee, which developed and workshopped the operas and was made up of singers from the company. Co-Opera stalwarts played major roles in company decision-making and training. In addition, Co-Opera had resident company status at the Guild Theatre in East London, following many successful joint ventures there — and a fundraiser to help save the venue.
At some point after 2002, the company was re-named EastCape Opera Company. For more information, see EastCape Opera Company.
Productions
1995: Amahl and the Night Visitors
1996: Temba and Seliba
1999: The Moon Prince
Sources
Denise Louw. 'SA’s first Xhosa opera'. Mail & Guardian. 13 December 1996.
Hleze Kunju. 2013. A Critical and Intercultural Analysis of Selected isiXhosa Operas in the East Cape Opera COmpany's Repetory. Unpublished Masters Thesis. Rhodes University.
https://antsmusic.co.za/about-me/
'Sound practice makes waves'. Mail & Guardian. 11 October 2002.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPn66e4_OUY&t=6s
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