Ingoma-busuku / Nightsong: A Journey of Music, Longing and Discovery
A Musical Theatre Work

Set in Durban, Ingoma-busuku / Nightsong follows Jabulani (Jabu), a gifted teenage musician haunted by night songs, dreams carrying ancestral voices and unfinished histories. Rooted in the apartheid-era tradition of all-night isicathamiya competitions that defied curfews and pass laws, ingoma-busuku, song of the night, embodies resistance, memory, and survival. Raised by his mother Nomasonto in Berea and mentored in Western classical music by Mrs Smith, a retired concert pianist, Jabu gains technical mastery but feels drawn to isicathamiya.