‘Coming Home’, Jazz Gospel Cantata by Isak Roux sung and spoken in English, Zulu, Sesotho and Afrikaans

Sibongile Khumalo (mezzo soprano), Robert Brooks (tenor), Thinus Maree (baritone), Sibongile Mngoma (narrator), Isak Roux (piano) with the Gauteng Choristers, the Chamber Orchestra of Johannesburg and an all star Jazz Rhythm Section conducted by Kutlwano Masote.

For the 2008 Festival, MIAGI has commissioned composer, arranger and pianist Isak Roux to compose a full jazz gospel cantata.

South African composer Roux's work is deeply rooted in Africa. It draws from traditional American spirituals and township jazz rhythms, using ethnic instrumental elements such as Venda horns, penny whistles, djembe drums and marimbas. This unique African texture is interestingly juxtaposed with the classical through a structure that draws from the classical cantata. Coming Home is Roux's attempt to bring traditional spiritual music – often associated with America – back to its ancestral home. To this end, the narratives of the spirituals are re-interpreted and translated into South Africa's indigenous languages, to create 'a triumphant vision of our past, present and future as a testimony to the power and creative endurance of the human spirit,' says Roux.

Earlier successful MIAGI/Roux collaborations have included the ‘No Boundaries’ CD, with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the English Chamber Orchestra, nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006. Also in 2006, his work for orchestra and four pennywhistles was presented in Bern, Switzerland, by Kwela Tebza and the Bern Symphony Orchestra.