Nongoma - Renowned Zulu music composer, Mbuso Khoza, has been roped in to help fine-tune all the traditional songs to be sung on Saturday when Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini takes the final traditional step before he is coronated next month in Durban.
Khoza is known for his passion for preserving traditional songs and modernising some of them to the extent that they are now given airtime by local radio stations and in social clubs.
Confirming to IOL that he has been roped in to prepare for the big day, where King Misuzulu will publicly perform the ritual of entering the kraal at Kwakhangelamankengane palace in Nongoma, Khoza said the traditional hymns are a variety.
He said every traditional ceremony is prepared according to its stature, and the songs are selected accordingly.
He said there are songs which are sung to celebrate certain occasions. Some songs are sung to mourn, while others are sung to highlight certain painful occurrences.
“The Prince of KwaPhindangene (Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the monarch’s traditional prime minister) noted the workshops I was conducting on traditional songs and fell in love with them.
“He then sent Prince Ntuthukoyesizwe, his son who is also from KwaPhingangene and Professor Otty Nxumalo to get in touch in with me and come close to help prepare hymns that can be sung.
“I then met with other members of the royal family and izinduna to look at what hymns will be used on the day. We then looked at hymns about past Kings, according to their succession and why they were sung.
“Some of the hymns were about war, victory, and some about incidents about the monarch and the pains that came with it. Some hymns were about family disputes,” Khoza said.
The entering of the kraal ceremony by King Misuzulu has drawn public attention after a handful of members of the royal family convened a parallel one on Saturday at eNyokeni palace, also in Nongoma.
During that parallel ceremony, Prince Simakade Zulu, the first-born son of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini, who was born out of wedlock, was ushered into the kraal and later declared the “King of the Zulus”.
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