THE BIG SING AND ITS CAUSE

Our performance in August 2024 advocated for ACU students and others experiencing insecure housing or homelessness. It was the culmination of a decade-long journey. Street Requiem for those who died on the street premiered in 2014. It was created with the aim of bringing a sense of peace, remembrance and hope to communities struggling to come to terms with street violence, war and a loss of safety on our streets. It is a highly accessible, contemporary work including English, African and Persian lyrics alongside a modern setting of the traditional Latin texts. While at times deeply moving, the work is essentially optimistic and uplifting. As composers we utilized gospel, Celtic, neo-Romantic, neo-Baroque, Indigenous and contemporary genres and instrumentation to reflect the multicultural and multi-faith traditions of modern city living.

From the outset, we endeavored to create an inclusive work to which people from various backgrounds and traditions could relate. Although it is anchored in the Latin of the traditional requiem mass, we incorporated English texts relevant to a modern-day context. Street Requiem is deliberately neither secular nor religious, intended instead to be deeply spiritual, allowing listeners to find their own faith or meaning in the context of the words.

The first movement completed for Street Requiem was the Gloria. In early 2014, I travelled to South Africa, seeking inspiration. I made recordings of live performances and learned from native artists about their music and its cultural meaning. A guide named Neo, around my own age, showed me around Johannesburg and the neighboring city of Soweto. I was profoundly moved by a visit to Soweto and the Hector Pieterson Museum. As an educator, the story of police killing 12-year-old Zolile Hector Pieterson and many other children on the 16th of June 1976 was confronting. Neo, who was himself a 13-year-old boy on the streets in 1976, was present at the shooting and the ensuing 18 months of school strikes and police brutality. He introduced me to the song “Senzeni Na” and explained the deep meaning the words meant to him, to South African people, and to this tragic moment in history.

He entreated me to share this important story with others as a way of adding meaning to his life and to help prevent such tragedies. “Senzeni Na” is traditionally performed at funerals and became as important to South Africa as “We shall overcome” became in the Civil Rights movement in the United States.

Shortly after returning to Melbourne, I composed the African-inspired Gloria.  “Senzeni Na” from Zulu and Xhosa languages, means “What have I done”? The choral singing represents children rising up against oppression, while a solo voice – exclaiming “Amandla” – represents Winnie Mandela inciting the masses to take action during her husband Nelson’s incarceration. The Gloria includes African instruments: djembe (drum), shekere (shaker), and agogo (bells).

Not usually part of a requiem setting, Gloria, remembers those who have suffered while offering empowerment to street children everywhere. It begins with a jubilant chorus of praise in the Latin text. As the movement progresses, we hear the Zulu word “Akanamandla” (translated as “evil has no power over us”) interposed with the Latin text. Two of the beatitudes, “Blessed are the meek” and “Blessed are the poor”, form a bridge to the reflective “Senzeni na?” - “what have we done?” first as a gentle hymn, then sped up to suggest reclamation, with swaying, clapping and ululations. The movement concludes with a joyous return to the original theme, symbolizing hope in the face of tragedy. The Gloria ends with choir members raising their fists defiantly, in the manner of Winnie Mandela.