Musician and heritage activist Mbuso Khoza launches his newest project Ihubo – Song of Ages at Joburg Theatre this weekend. Known for his championing of the stirring amaHubo tradition of song, this new show is inspired by the history of gospel music in South Africa and fuses traditional and western sounds. Mbuso describes the theme for the concert as "God-Spel – meaning we are spelling God, spelling everything positive, good news, healing, and strength to keep on keeping on", explaining that this is "not an ordinary concert. It will be packed with information that dissects what we have come to know today as the Gospel".
 

AmaHubo songs are performed at traditional Zulu weddings, in war, at funerals of homestead heads and chiefs, as well as in other major traditional ceremonies involving a clan, a region and sometimes even the whole Zulu nation. Older generations refer to amaHubo songs as the songs of the ancestors or ‘amagama amadlozi’ and the tradition is known to date back to at least the era of the great King Shaka. Through his MbusoKhoza Institute, Khoza has worked to find new audiences for this powerful tradition.

Through rearranged olden choruses and compositions, Ihubo – Song of Ages, takes the audience on a rich musical journey through the history of South African worship songs and gospel and how this form of praise and spirituality found its unique South African expression. 

Khoza is joined on stage at the concert by a talented band comprising of Sanele Phakathi on keys, Qhubekani Mthetwa on the bass guitar, Thabo Sikhakhane on trumpet, Thembinkosi and Tshepo on the saxophone and Sam Ibe from Nigeria on the drums. All the proceeds from the concert go to the MbusoKhoza Institute in northern KwaZulu Natal, which seeks to harness and develop the talents of aspiring young singers from the region.