Rapid improvisation

oil on canvas  80 x 120 cm
Richard Joshua 2023
 
Whenever I hear the marching band in McGregor, it always evokes fond childhood memories of growing up on the Cape Flats.  As soon as we heard the Christmas choirs marching through the streets, we would run to walk alongside them, performing a ‘pretend march’ with them to songs like “Onward Christian Soldiers,” played up-tempo on wind and stringed instruments. 
 
Dressed in suits they transform into a military style parade as they march to a member’s house where they perform two or three Christmas carols outside for the awaiting family and neighbours. They play looking forward to receiving a huge “banquet” of local foods and delectable deserts after performing in a similar manner at several members’ houses. The hours pass by surprisingly quickly. The most beautiful time of the morning was always around 3 and 4am. They play while we are sleeping. And, as the band meanders through the streets of the once barren Cape Flats, they pass by the houses, where lights get turned on by some still wide-awake occupants who peep through the windows to watch and cheer them on excitedly. While others wave at them sleepily. This formed part of that special Christmas feeling.

But, sadly one cannot separate the history of the “coloured” marching bands from its political history. My 96 year old mother still fondly speaks of her father’s Christmas choir in Claremont, before the forced removals to the Cape Flats (the area designated for all people classified as “coloured” during apartheid). Many of these bands were splintered and forced to regroup or start over again on the Cape Flats, a metaphor for the rebuilding of social and cultural life in a place not of your choosing. Fortunately, this tradition has been kept alive and grown into diverse expressions, including in McGregor. My artwork simply highlights the survival and continuity of this tradition within the “coloured” community and in another place.