Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Old Righteous Blues’ Hits Right Notes in Portrayal of Fractured Cape Malay Community Coming Together
Twenty years after a bitter rivalry tears a tight-knit Cape Malay community apart, the ghosts of the past threaten to consume a whole new generation in Muneera Sallies’ “Old Righteous Blues,” a story of music, family and reconciliation set within the colorful world of Christmas choir bands in South Africa’s Western Cape region.
The film, which plays this week at the Joburg Film Festival, was South Africa’s submission for the best international feature film race at the 97th Academy Awards. It stars Ayden Croy as Hantjie Jansen, an ambitious young musician with a lifelong dream to restore his town’s Christmas choir band, the Old Righteous Blues, to the glory it had before a bloody leadership battle split it — and the community it once held together — apart.
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The movie is rooted in the musical tradition of the kerskoors, which are believed to be unique to the rural Colored communities of the Western Cape. Comprised of a brass and string marching band and accompanied by a troupe of cadets marching in military-style formations, the kerskoors are a source of pride across the region, and a testament to the idiosyncratic ways in which some communities responded to the fraying social fabric of the apartheid years.
“Communities were being dismantled. There was so much anxiety in the air,” Sallies tells Variety. “The communities very much felt they needed an expression, they needed something to hold people together…and have something that can be celebrated.”
The tradition is especially strong in the Boland region of the Western Cape, where each town forms its own kerskoor to represent the community in regional competitions. “Old Righteous Blues,” which was written by Carol Shore, is based on one such Christmas choir band from Bo-Dorp, a hilltop community set above the scenic winelands of Robertson.
The film’s version of events begins with a vicious struggle for the reins of the titular kerskoor, dividing the town into no-go zones as opposing families split into enemy camps. The band, too, is divided, giving rise to a splinter faction led by Hantjie’s father. Twenty years later, after his death, Hantjie is primed to step into his father’s shoes as the coveted Drum Major, only to see a rival overtake him. “Old Righteous Blues” follows his struggle to claim a mantle he believes is rightfully his, and to repair the wounds of the past in order to heal his fractured community.
While the film is a testament to “that spirit of community, that spirit of brotherhood and family,” says Sallies, it’s a tribute as well to the people of Bo-Dorp, who the director says “were actively involved at [the film’s] inception.”
“We felt it was important that the elders of the community and the brass brands…give it their stamp of approval,” she says. Many of those whom the filmmakers met in Bo-Dorp were descendants of the real-life individuals on whom the movie’s characters are based, and “Old Righteous Blues” was a community effort throughout. Some locals were hired to work on set as technicians and personal assistants, while others provided security and catering and ensured that the production didn’t require “a single outside background actor.”
“I really believe as a filmmaker, when we go into any space, we need to leave that space better than we found it,” Sallies says.
The film is a tribute, too, to a community’s perseverance. Though Bo-Dorp enjoys a picturesque perch above the vineyards of Robertson, the neighboring communities represent “two completely separate worlds,” says the director. “[Robertson] is very lush winelands. It’s known for its wines and scenery,” she says. Meanwhile, Bo-Dorp — a small, isolated community beset by poverty and other social ills — is something like a “forgotten community” that’s all but “frozen in time.”
Sallies, who grew up in a close-knit Malay community in the Bo-Kaap neighborhood of Cape Town, says she felt an instant connection to the people of Bo-Dorp. “Yes, they have a lot of poverty. They have a lot of struggles,” she says. “But the spirit of this community is so alive and so beautiful, and these are the most kind, generous people.
“This is the spirit we [wanted] to capture. That in spite of all the things they’ve been through, despite the poverty, despite not having much, they have each other.”
The Joburg Film Festival runs March 11 – 16.
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