Latozi “Madosini” Mphahleni, a renowned African singer, composer, and storyteller, passed away late in 2022. Everyone she encountered adored the cultural and indigenous music activist, who laughed as much as she played. She has left an extensive legacy of Xhosa music, culture, and history. She also instructed and fostered a new generation of bow players, revitalizing a fading art form.
The legendary Xhosa bow performer was born on 25 December 1943 in Mqhekezweni, a community near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape region, though she was dubious of the exact date. The region inhabited by the Xhosa is rich in cultural heritage and history. It is also the birthplace of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, two former presidents of South Africa.
Madosini, also known as the mother of the Dosini clan, utilized indigenous music to promote her Xhosa heritage. She learned the uhadi (gourd-resonant bow), umrhubhe (mouth-resonant bow), and isitolotolo (jaw harp).
The variety and breadth of emotions evoked by the music she produced with these instruments is unparalleled. Her songs are poems that speak eloquently about her personal and cultural heritage. They transport listeners back to the sounds of southern Africa’s early inhabitants.
Madosini made contact with me, my colleagues, and our students at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape, where she shared her knowledge with our music school and touched our lives.
Her contributions are vital to the study of Xhosa music, culture, and folklore. Her commitment to valuing indigenous knowledge will continue to serve as an example for many individuals worldwide.
Madosini began performing, creating songs, and constructing instruments at a young age, having been taught by her mother, a specialist in their playing and creation. Madosini did not attend school due to illness and never learned to read or write. However, this did not hinder her career.
She went on to collaborate with other well-known South African musicians in a range of musical genres. Ringo Madlingozi, Pops Mohamed, Thandiswa Mazwai, and Sibongile Khumalo were among them. She also collaborated with other famous musicians, such as Flynn Cohen and Gilberto Gil.
Notably, she collaborated with the legendary South African singer-songwriter Miriam Makeba and the British rock musician Patrick Duff, with whom she toured the world. 2002 saw the composition of The Songs of Madosini (vocals, uhadi, umrhubhe, isitolotolo, clarinet, string quartet, and narrator) by South African composer Hans Huyssen. The South African films Yesterday and The Shore Break included Madosini’s original tunes. In numerous films and documentaries, additional audio clips were played.
Madosini’s lifelong mastery of the uhadi, umrhubhe, and isitolotolo bows has drawn musicologists such as myself to her work.
The players of these instruments utilize the most primitive source of musical pitch, the overtone series, in a manner that is both intimately tied to the first human society (the San) and distinctive to Xhosa music. Overtones provide an alternate tonal shift between two fundamentals’ harmonics.
Since she was a youngster, Madosini has not only constructed and performed on these instruments, but she has also taught them in person to young musicians and traveled extensively to share her exceptional talent with foreign audiences. Before meeting her, many had never interacted with Xhosa people beyond Nelson Mandela.
Rhodes University and the International Library of African Music collaborated closely with Madosini for a number of years, and in 2020 they gave her an honorary doctorate in music. Due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions at the time, this honor’s physical festivities were postponed. In 2022, she was formally robed and hooded in Mkhankatho village in full presence of her family and community.
She emphasized the importance of educating and training young people, not just to guarantee that indigenous knowledge is valued, but also to ensure that Xhosa instruments and stories remain relevant. She stated in an interview in 2018:
The kids have lost touch with their roots. They do not know where they come from, and it hurts me greatly to observe our cultures and customs go away.
Madosini was unquestionably a towering figure in South African culture as the queen of Xhosa music. Her position as a traditionalist in a community undergoing rapid transformation gave a perfect opportunity for research and investigation into indigenous knowledge systems. These are essential to preserving the cultural legacy of South Africa.
»Madosini was a national treasure of South Africa whose music kept a rich history alive«