MI(SA)
MI(SA) is a cboral triptych formed by Ariel Ramírez’ Misa Criolla, Guido Haazen’s Missa Luba, and Nuwe Verbond by Antoni Schonken and Antjie Krog.
Original texts
In 1963, after the Second Vatican Council authorized vernacular mass settings, Ramírez created his widely popular Misa Criolla on a Spanish translation of the traditional liturgical text, including folkloric interpolations such as the "lara, lara" passage in the Credo. Each movement of the compact mass is based on specific folk material, particularly dance rhythms: the austere vidala-baguala of northern Argentina for the Kyrie, the carnavalito and yaraví from the same area for the Gloria, the obsessive chacerera trunca from central Argentina for the Credo, the syncopated Bolivian carnaval cochabambino for the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei is composed in the characteristic style of the southern pampas.
The Missa Luba is a setting of the Latin Mass sung in styles traditional to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was composed by Fr Guido Haazen, a Franciscan friar from Belgium, and originally celebrated, performed, and recorded in 1958 by Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin (English: "King Baudouin's Troubadours"), a choir of adults and children from Kamina, Katanga Province. It would later become the partial basis for a Congolese usage of the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite Mass, the Zaire Use.
Krog incorporated personal stories from members of the CTO Chorus into her haunting text for “a scientific Mass that exorcises the damage we do to each other, and to our planet.”
Performance history in South Africa
2019: Produced by NATi at US Woordfees and at the Suidoosterfees at Artscape, MI(SA)’s creative team included Marthinus Basson (director), Pieter Bezuidenhout (conductor), Sifiso Kweyama and Ina Wichterich (choreography), Michael Mitchell (set and costume design) and Chris Pienaar (lighting design).
Sources
https://capetownopera.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/AR-Version-10.pdf
https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/2346/misa-criolla
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missa_Luba
Return to
Return to PLAYS I: Original SA plays
Return to PLAYS II: Foreign plays
Return to PLAYS III: Collections
Return to PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances
Return to South African Festivals and Competitions
Return to The ESAT Entries
Return to Main Page