Wayfarers' Hymns

by Zakes Mda

Infused with rhythm and melody, Zakes Mda’s new novel invites you to travel from Lesotho’s Mountain Kingdom to the City of Gold through the history of famo. Famo music was born in the drinking dens of migrant mineworkers in Lesotho, where the men would sing to unwind after work, accompanied by the accordion, a drum and sometimes a bass.

Meet the boy-child Kheleke, a wandering musician, and his surprising sister Moliehi. Then sigh with pleasure at being reunited with Toloki, the professional mourner from Ways of Dying, and his beloved Noria. Passionate and ambitious, Kheleke is a weaver of songs, and his own story is intertwined with the incredible yet true social history of the music: the Time of the Concertina and the Accordion, the wars of the famo gangs, and the battle for control of illegal mines. The end is always a journey – and what a journey this is!

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Zakes Mda is the pen name of Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda, a novelist, poet and playwright.

Although he spent his early childhood in Soweto (where he knew political figures such as Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela) he had to finish his education in Lesotho where his father went into exile since 1963. This change of setting also meant a change of language for Mda: from isiXhosa to Sesotho. Consequently Mda preferred to write his first plays in English.

His first play, We Shall Sing for the Fatherland, won the first Amstel Playwright of the Year Award in 1978, a feat he repeated the following year. He worked as a bank clerk, a teacher and in marketing before the publication of We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and Other Plays in 1980 enabled him to be admitted to the Ohio University for a three-year Master's degree in theatre. He completed a Masters Degree in Theatre at Ohio University, after which he obtained a Master of Arts Degree in Mass Communication. By 1984 his plays were performed in the USSR, the USA, and Scotland as well as in various parts of southern Africa.

Mda then returned to Lesotho, first working with the Lesotho National Broadcasting Corporation Television Project and then as a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Lesotho. Between 1985 and 1992 he was director of the Theatre-For-Development Project at the university and founded the Marotholi Travelling Theatre. Together with his students he travelled to villages in remote mountain regions working with local people in creating theatre around their everyday concerns. This work of writing theatre "from the inside" was the theme of his doctoral thesis, the Ph.D degree being conferred on him by the University of Cape Town in 1989.

In the early nineties Mda spent much of his time overseas, he was writer-in-residence at the University of Durham (1991), research fellow at Yale University. He returned for one year to South Africa as Visiting Professor at the School of Dramatic Art at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is presently Professor of Creative Writing at Ohio University.

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had such a huge S.M.I.L.E reading THE WAYFARER's HYMNS and I got to explore Mampeli's, our housekeeper, Lesotho. We spoke about, famo music, matsema, MmeMpuse and, she even showed me the focho, a traditional Basotho dance. Yeah, that is where the vosho originated.

THE WAYFARER'S HYMNS is elegantly written, lyrical in a way oral storytelling is with a certain folksy charm. Rich in migratory histories and stories, indigenous knowledge systems and our Toloki has landed in Lesotho to explore new markets. THE WAYFARER'S HYMNS explores the entanglement of cultures in these diasporic spaces of ours; MaRussia, a gang with its roots in Lesotho, makes it's way to Soweto, and many many more dynamic truths.

Sounds exciting?

Here's the link to a virtual chat I had with Zakes Mda on the 19th October 2021: https://www.facebook.com/lsitholelorr...

[Daniel France · Rating 4 out of 5]

In true Zakes Mda fashion, a whole part of southern African culture and history which I new little to nothing about is brought to life in beautiful detail and story. Give this book a read if you want to understand more about famo music, the wars of the different famo gangs, and their influence over illegal mining operations in South Africa. Beyond this, Mda's book is entertaining, funny, and reads with a rhythm that I imagine famo music inspired.

[Tiah]

~Yes, I am in search of new deaths, new ways of dying and new ways of mourning.~

~We came to mourn here because these are different deaths from those we have been used to. Death by music.~

~No, you don't rehearse mourning, he said. It will never work. Just like you don't rehearse death.~

~Every self-respecting Mosotho man carried a stick both as accoutrement and weapon. I carried music.~

~Never allow any man to put you on a pedestal, she said. A pedestal is a prison.~

~The end is always a journey.~

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know just enough Sesotho (monna oa ka o mosotho) and have been to just enough of Lesotho (although not Mafeteng) that this book hit right in the sweet spot of interesting characters and enough historical contextual background that I learned things. From Famole to Ntate Stunna, so much of this book was real musicians and real events in Lesotho and the illegal mining connection to the Famo gangs was an aha moment for me. I read it wrapped in my own seanamarena blanket waiting to see if the one I had happened to be tied to one of the Famo gangs in the book (it wasn't!). I don't know if the book will pull the heartstrings of those who know less about Lesotho, but I hope so. The language was lyrical and there was plenty of intrigue to go around.

[Lotty Chambale · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautifully written book 🥹.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

famo music and gang violence go so crazy

[Thiruna · Rating 4 out of 5]

So… what did I think of this book?

As a die hard Mda fan, this one was a more difficult read to get through. I struggled to connect with the main character for the greater part of this book. While the initial pacing of the story is quite slow, it gives the author time to outlay the context of the Famo musical scene that the main character hails from. Famo music was born in the drinking dens of migrant mineworkers in Lesotho, where the men would sing to unwind after work, accompanied by the accordion, a drum and sometimes a bass.

The story opens in Lesotho’s Mountain Kingdom and is told from the point of view of boy-child, a wandering musician who has let his father’s cattle be scattered. Early on we meet his sister Moliehi who he lives with and largely disapproves of his musicall aspirations. We’re reunited with Toloki, the professional mourner from Ways of Dying, and Noria.

As boy-child tries to make it big in the Famo music industry, you see him grapple with the sacrifices and ethical dilemmas that come along with the path he’s chosen. In the meanwhile, the dynamics in his homestead change as well with Toloki and Noria separating, and Noria becoming very attached to Moliehi.

As always, it is the infusion of Basotho culture and traditions, musical history and the political tensions within the illegal mining industry that give this novel it’s heart.

The novel builds up to explaining the context of a violent hate crime perpetrated against one of the characters which I feel isn’t focused on enough towards the end of the book. I’m not sure if that’s because the main character himself is struggling to come to terms with the sexuality of the character who’s been attacked or if the author felt uncomfortable exploring that end too much.

I’ve never heard Famo music before so while reading, I had to do my best to imagine what it would be like so I’d love to hear your suggestions as to where I can hear some or experience music like the author describes!

[Ed Stoddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely and intriguing start to my 2022 reading year - Zakes Mda seldom disappoints. I knew nothing about Leoshto's Famo music or its links to illegal mining and Zama Zama violence until I picked up this lyrical book. I aim now to dig into this rich vein of the region's social history. And next time I am in Lesotho for a fishing trip I will try and catch a Famo act ...

[Neo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was sort of a journey of tangent memories for me. I have a tribe of friends from Lesotho that I took with me when I read this. We laughed, we gasped and we mourned the loss of our brother and friend, whom we know for sure would have loved this book. I have new found respect for Ntate Zakes Mda.

[Stefan Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think my favourite author. The amount of research going into these stories. This book came out and only afterwards did Al Jazeera and BBC make stories on the gang wars surrounding the Famo music and their illegal mining practices.

[John Paul Gairhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

“And the people danced.”

[Thabie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly engaging.

[Pheladi Mokoena · Rating 3 out of 5]

A historically rich story that is weaved with humour, knowledge and compelling characters.

[M. R Phora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've heard of Famo musicians of Lesotho carrying weapons under their traditional blankets, but I knew little about the gang dynamics within their music industry, which surprisingly extended to illegal mining, politics and infighting of kheleke musicians. The novel never fails to portray the nature of gang affiliation of Famo musicians, an environment where you could get killed of colour of blanket you wear (kind of remind me of American colour gangs - paru and cribs) . It does that by following a well-written story arc of a protagonist identified as boy-child or brother of Moliehi, a famo musician himself who rubbed shoulders with factual kheleke's such as Famole, Puseletso and Chakela le Lekhotla la Terene (Cult of The Train) and the ilk.
This is nature of Zakes Mda's lyric narrative, which is mixing factual characters with fictitious ones; it kind of blurs the fictional nature of his novels. It works, it leads to this literary beauty. Wayfarers' Hymns is enthralling and could easily act as whet for one's apatite for Lesotho's Famo music; I found myself enjoying Kheleke music after reading this.

[Nyakallo Maleke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informatively light read filled with humor, sensitivity, loyalty and some tragedy. What are the costs of pursuing one's passion? The wayfarers hymn resonates profoundly with the current discussion round illegal mining in South Africa. Mda takes his reader back to the origins of Famo traditional music and it's roots to Lesotho's migrant mine workers who continue to work the abandoned mines of Johannesburg. Rival gangs terrorise and control space through songs that speak about their realities and desires. Mda combines a tint of softness to contrast the hypermasculine characters that are part of the MaRussia gangs. Not too distant from the current pop culture, I enjoyed Mda's reference of how modernised Famo music is becoming making mention of hip hop artist Malone Vector. With some of these ideas in mind, the past has a prominent influence in the present. How can it's precarious background be transformed to represent a pride in one's culture? How can gender roles be disbanded in traditional music?

['Mamotingoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reminded me so much of the evolution of home. Be it a village, a person or a song. How homr can change and evolve and how most times we are forced to follow suit.

We had always known growing up, in Leribe that we were not allowed to wear certain blankets, we only wore the district colour, green, because it represented our Linare FC. It is so eye opening to read about the whys now as an adult, why I couldn't wear the colour yellow ha kea Mafeteng. The stories of those who died merely for eating yellow vegetables in that place. Why a red blanket is completely off limits and so on.

I could feel Moliehi's grief of her lover, although hate crimes had hurt them before but not killed them, it did feel like she died for love, she died for her lover.

My favourite pages were of Tau ea Khale's existence. Argh what a marvel to learn from a ntate moholo!

I absolutely enjoyed this book!

[Zulu Aunty · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a musical journey…

[Theko Moteane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend this to all my country men and women. it's fun yet it's a treasure