Credo, Music
Venue: Guy Butler Theatre
Next Performance: 29 June 11:00
Preview
By Benevolence Mazhinji
Seventy years ago, in the winter dust of Kliptown, ordinary South Africans gathered to sign the Freedom Charter, a vision that dared to imagine a country built on equality, dignity and hope. This year, composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen’s monumental oratorio Credo returns to remind us of that audacious act of imagination and its enduring resonance.
Originally commissioned by Unisa and premiered on Mandela day in 2013, Credo sets to music a libretto by writer Brent Meersman, whose poem weaves historical text with a deeply personal longing to reconnect with the Charter’s spirit. Written for orchestra, mass choir and soloists, the work unfolds in a series of hymns that trace a journey from struggle to a hopeful vision. Meersman calls the Charter “an act of extraordinary imagination”. In Credo, that imagination is made audible through layered choral textures that invoke both the collective voice of a nation and the convictions of individuals determined to believe in a better future.
This year’s performance, arriving as the Freedom Charter marks its 70th anniversary, feels less like a historical commemoration and more like a reminder that democracy is not guaranteed but it must be reimagined, renewed and sung into being. In a time when the promise of equality can feel unfinished, Credo stands as both an elegy and an anthem, music that dares us to listen, remember and believe again.
