The Question of Nationalism in Mzilikazi Khumalo’s Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu

In this paper I discuss Mzilikazi Khumalo's opera, Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu (2002), composed eight years into South Africa's new dispensation. It is an opera which articulates nationalist discourses yet reflects a number of broader ambiguities relating to the country's attempts to ‘make’ a nation. The paper argues that with the theme of resistance, an anti-colonial Zulu struggle becomes a truly nationalist imaginary, yet the Princess's role is at moments central and at others spectral. The opera draws on the role of important Zulu royal women as exemplified by Magogo and attempts to find a place for them in a nationalist vision which partially works, yet is still trapped in the older paradigm of nationalism, which elides women from the main narrative by turning them into monuments or figures of sacrifice. Drawing from scholarship on nationalism and feminism, this paper explores the interplay between the music by the composer, Mzilikazi Khumalo, and the songs sung by the historical Princess in articulating moments that were of significance in pre-conquest Zulu kingdom and post-Bhambatha rebellion Zulu history, which the opera shifts with partial success to a post-apartheid national canvas.