Theatre and television fraternity, family, protégés, mentees and peers gathered at the Soweto Theatre on Sunday, February 26, to celebrate one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time, Ntate Gibson “Bra Gib” Kente.
The iconic Soweto Theatre honoured Bra Gib’s passion for theatre, music and performance by renaming one of its theatre auditoriums from The Red Theatre to Gibson Kente Theatre.
Industry giants Peter Sephuma, Nthati Moshesh, Dieketsng Mnisi, Sello Maake-kaNcube, Nathaniel Ramabulana, Hamilton Dhlamini, Thulani Mtsweni, Thembisile' Matu and Harriet Manamela joined the community of Soweto in witnessing the historic renaming ceremony, to honour and preserve the memory of Bra Gib.
The launch programme consisted of an inaugural Annual Gibson Kente Lecture and Gibson Kente curated gallery that is dedicated to the legacy of this prolific librettist and playwright.
The long-anticipated renaming ceremony coincided with Black History Month.
From seasoned broadcaster Brenda Sisane, who was the MC, to old friends and former students of the institution of Gibson Kente, each speaker hailed Kente for his contribution to the fight against the apartheid through music and theatre.
“I've been dreaming and wishing for this day for many years because I'm aware that at my age, I might also be forgotten one day,” said veteran actor Sephuma.
“That said, I thank God I'm here to remind all of us of the importance of documenting the history of our people.
“It is not too late to do it when someone is gone, but it's better to do it while someone is still alive.
He continued: “Gibson Kente’s works were like Shakespeare's works. I know many of you don’t know Shakespeare, but you know Gibson Kente.
“Gibson wrote about our daily lives. He wrote about people around him. He wrote about love stories among us, the challenges around him, and most of his plays were touching because you could see yourself in the characters.”
Sephuma added that his friend and mentor was a jack of all trades and mastered all of them.
“Experimental theatre didn't start with Gibson, it started with African Theatre, but Gibson made it better. The characters, make-up, costumes, set design, music, choreography; he did all that on his own, and he excelled in everything he did.”
Taking to the podium to pay tribute to the “Father of Black Theatre”, the artistic director of the Joburg Theatres, James Ngcobo, said it was Kente's humanity that set him apart from his peers.
“The bravery of Gibson Kente blows my mind. One of the things I was thinking about is how is Gibson Kente able to tour theatres around the country when we had one of the worst apartheid laws, which was the law of influx control, the law that determined the number of Africans that were in the cities, and Bra Gibb was a lover of story and narrative,” said Ngcobo.
“The one thing that is very visible in all the works that he created was his love for humanity. He was able to dissect the idea of humanity in the characters he presented in the productions that he did.
“In all the productions on television, it would be a very rare thing that you’d go into production or to acting and not find someone who was touched by Gibson Kente.
“As a young actor, I had the joy of being directed by some of the finest directors of this country who were trained by bra Gib.
“We tend to locate Gibson Kente just on the productions that he did because he was a giant. He composed amazing music as a librettist, and he was a great storyteller.”
Ngcobo, who is an advocate for youth development, said one of the powerful traits that he shared with Kente was their passion for nurturing young talent.
“There’s one part of bra Gib that is never mentioned, that of mentorship. He mentored so many people.
“This cohort of amazing people that were trained by this man are everywhere, and you start seeing the footprints of this amazing man.
“The palette of his music was amazing, and years ago, I am reminded of a story I created with Hugh Masekela called ‘Songs of vibration’.
“Hugh left this country very early. He was not aware of a lot of music. I played three songs, and he asked whose music it was, and I told him it was Gibson Kente.
“He took a breather and said: ‘had this man left the country, he would have been a Broadway god’. This is just a mark of who bra Gib was.
One of the keynote speakers, multidisciplinary artist and actress Sibusisiwe Gugu Manqele, spoke to Kente’s brilliance and his immense contribution to the arts.
“I reckon the honouring of Gibson Kente is about tending to black brilliance in the arts and making sure that black histories are recognised,” shared Manqele.
“When I went into archives and research, I kept on being regurgitated that there was a fire at Bra Gib’s house, where he lost most of his work. The work was important in documenting black histories in the creative arts industry.
“One can ascribe this to Andile Xaba’s article and writing 'the inclusive narrative of the Soweto-based community theatre invokes,' when he says 'the lack of record keeping by the playwright and the absence of formal theatre structures for township based playwrights is a hindrance for black history in South Africa.’
“With that said, it is important that we name the works Bra Gig even if we do not have the text we must remember. Remember, we must.
"Creating archives is essential. And the gallery that has just been launched by the Soweto Theatre is a commendable act. South Africa is moving in the right direction by honouring our giants.“