There is a vastness to the story of the people we know and the world in which we find them. Running infinitely deep and wide, that story carries everything from the thrill of adventure, the peculiarity of chance, right to the hallmarks of pain.
Across continents, those stories of humankind take on different narratives, with each one no less urgent than the other. Charged with curiosity and an eagerness to bring these perspectives into the open, SAA-uk and Foxglove dreamed up Travel Light.
The 21st century is no stranger to a deeply interconnected world, squeezed into even closer proximity with the rise of an ever-advancing internet. But stepping back a few hundred years to a distant time before Instagram and TikTok, it was curious, inventive minds that ignited a deeper desire for travel and discovery that contributed enormously to our globalised world.
Leeds born Civil Engineer, John Smeaton, was amongst those influential changemakers. Fearlessly committed to working for the public good, his groundbreaking work on lighthouses, bridges, canals, renewable energy sources and flight, to this day, exist as a blueprint for modern day advancements.
In 1756, 28-year-old
John Smeaton built the legendary
Eddystone Lighthouse, which became a mighty emblem in the history of maritime trade routes, connecting Great Britain to Europe, Africa, and India. Calling on the creativity of 12 UK-based artists with cultural and musical heritages that spoke closely to the countries that fell amongst those trade routes, Travel Light illuminated centuries old stories of people, power, and change that tell us so much about our present day.
Letting us into the microcosm of music making and storytelling that was created by the team behind the project, South African vocalist and multi-disciplinarian Thandanani Gumede (Thanda) generously shared his experience of bringing Travel Light to life.
Carrying upright and tall his dual Zulu and Xhosa heritage, Thanda reflects on the inseparable existence between his culture and music. He shares, “Music is not something that is just for entertainment. It is something that is at the heart of our traditions. Through music, dance, and poetry, our information, knowledge, and history of our people is relayed from the older generation to the younger generation. For instance, my surname is Gumede. To know my genealogy, I would not find it on ancestry.com. Instead, I've got to memorise my clan names which have been turned into poems. As I sing this poem, if there is a line in it that is similar to somebody else's poem, then that means we are related. So, I grew up surrounded by music. It's not something that I saw as separate to myself.”
If you were amongst the audience at the live premier of Travel Light, or you experienced the recorded broadcast on YouTube, you would agree that Thanda's performance style radiates a comforting calmness. It is uniquely wonderful to watch as the music and Thanda seem to share a kinship of trust that appears to span across years.
Asking him about his poised demeanour on stage, it was unexpected to learn that his effortless confidence is utterly deceptive. Reflecting on his performance he reveals, “On the day of the Travel Light performance, I was too nervous to eat anything. Whenever I've got to go on stage, I am incredibly nervous; petrified even. So that it is less overwhelming, I've got to trick my mind into thinking that I just have to sing the first note, and I just have to get that right.
Then I will make sure that my breathing technique is appropriate to be able to sing that first note and then the next one will fall in line”.
The terror of stage fright is found alive in some of Thanda's earliest memories. Resurrecting a scene from when he was 12 and a half years old, Thanda remembers his family going through a difficult time. Finding solace in music, he would quietly sing to himself, unsuspecting that his mother was his quiet audience. “She asked me to sing a little bit louder,” he recalls. “From there, she started teaching me her favourite hymns so that she could hear them in my voice.” That hushed, private moment ballooned unsuspectedly in importance, with Thanda citing it as the experience that encouraged him to explore what more music could offer.
We often assume that creativity is an unquestionable necessity, but growing up for Thanda, the liberty to dabble and play, experiment, and learn, took the form of an unlikely privilege. He shares, “Whenever you sing, especially as a male, you are always discouraged. If you sing the war chants, sure. If you're singing traditional songs, great. But the moment you start singing something like American gospel music, people would say things like ‘why are you crying' because it is a very emotional genre, and I am quite an emotive singer. That expression of emotion was seen as something to be discouraged.”
While disapproving voices were loud, strength and affirmation from Thanda's loved ones was welcomingly booming. From the very many individuals Thanda extends his gratitude to, he speaks particularly warmly of his friend who welcomed him into a whole new world of music. “Before I joined the choir,” he says, “I only accessed music through my best friend who would buy CDs and play them for me because I could not access American music. He became a very important figure in my life because he encouraged me and continually influenced my sound. I'm grateful that I was surrounded by people who shared their knowledge, extensive hours of it, even when I could not afford formal education.”
It takes a village to grow an artist, and those reflections of Thanda's beloved community peek through his multi-dimensional character and artistry. Stepping into Travel Light, Thanda crossed paths with yet another opportunity to discover music and storytelling through the eyes of his co-creators. Though having worked with countless musicians from different sound worlds and genres, Thanda shares that the collaborative spirit that was deeply embedded throughout the process of making of Travel Light was not something he had experienced during past projects. He explains, “I've worked with artists where elements from my culture were fused with something from their culture. Fusion is just a combination off two different things, but with Travel Light, it wasn't about fusion, it was about amalgamation, where you take two different things and turn them into one essence. That was what was idiosyncratic with this collaboration. It meant that we had to find the perfect equilibrium between being true and authentic to your culture while allowing other people to also offer themselves without compromise.”
Thanda recounts how initially, stepping into unfamiliar territory was frightening, though the generosity of his co-creatives and the mindful facilitation of Travel Light's musical director, Christella Litras, quickly offered a safe space to begin creating differently.
At first, the artists' conversations echoed the labels often used to summarise the cultural and musical heritage they were to represent. Thanda tells me, as soon as stories began trickling into the room and the artists slowly let one other into their worlds, the creative process became driven by humanness, rather than a focus on genre and the differences that existed in the music.
During that time of listening, Thanda became acquainted with the Yoruba and Ogun Chant through Christella and Temmykeys (Temiloluwa Abiodun-Ade), an extraordinary multi-instrumentalist and Travel Light artist. He tells me how he learnt that the Yoruba chant is a reflective ode to those we have lost, while the Ogun Chant speaks of a way maker.
Having come face to face with the anguish of loss after the passing of his beloved aunt, the Yoruba chant resonated deeply with Thanda. He shares, “When I heard the news, I was not in a position to grieve because I knew that if I did, I would break down and not be able to finish the tasks at hand. I tried to step up and sort of help the family in this time of need. And so, I sort of bottled that up and that stayed with me.”
That dormant heartbreak awoke on stage at Travel Light, though Thanda explains that grief could not lay complete claim for his tears.
He tells me of a tortured time when singing was forbidden. After 15 years of life and work in the UK, Thanda was entangled in gruelling legal battle with the Home Office. On a visa which allowed him to do no more than sing, and even then, restrictively, Thanda countlessly attempted to apply for a visa that would not limit him to 20 hours of work a week. After a mistake on the Home Office's part, it suddenly became Illegal for Thanda to sing, rent, and remain in the country. He reflects, “I was in a place where I thought there was no way out. But as I was there on the stage, I started reflecting on what it took for me to even be there and the people from across all walks of life who have made a way for me. I was really grateful because I didn't think I would sing again.”
There are chapters of Thanda's life where hardship seizes most pages. Despite that, he maintains the ethos, “Darkness is not real. Darkness is just the absence of light.” That philosophy is one that Thanda and his co-creatives steeped into the heart of Travel Light's message. Wading through time and space, uncovering painful truths of colonisation and its impact on the world, Travel Light was determined to celebrate beauty that emerged despite the tragedies. He explains, “The music we created was not accusatory, nor was it wallowing in self-pity. The music was one of recognising history with no delusion, whilst acknowledging we might not have crossed paths if it weren't for this.”
Thanda believes passionately in the power of music to encourage listening and education, where otherwise messages can feel defensive and hostile. It is a belief we at SAA-uk echo.
We are immensely grateful for all that Thanda has shared of his inspiring life and music. Here's hoping Thanda's story illuminates that light exists even in the darkest of times.
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Follow more of Thanda's journey and work-Watch the
full Travel Light performanceHuge thanks to our Travel Light Partners, Foxglove, ChapelFM, and Music House who have helped make the project possible.
Written by Dimple D'Cruz, SAA-uk's Marketing and Communications Assistant
