World champion soprano Pretty Yende never knew opera existed until a soaring score of an airline commercial came over the television in her South African black township home 10 years ago.
The flash of 19th-century French composer Leo Delibes’ classic “Flower Duet” from his opera Lakme so moved the teenager growing up without librettas and arias that she asked a high school teacher the next day what the music was.
“He told me it’s called opera,” recalled Yende, now a resident at Milan’s renowned La Scala a decade after telling her teacher: “I need to do that.”
From Thandukukhanya in eastern South Africa to northern Italy, the 26-year-old was recently handed joint top honor in the Operalia world opera competition founded by Spanish maestro Placido Domingo.
“All I wanted to do was to sing. All I wanted to do was to know how to sing,” Yende told AFP. “Even now, all I want to do is to sing well.”
South African black opera voices have burst onto the international stage, mirroring the country’s shift to democracy, decades after white Afrikaner soprano Mimi Coertse debuted at the Vienna State Opera in 1956.
Experts say their rise is no sudden outpouring of new talent but rather that all-race freedom in 1994 leveled the playing field to allow those with remarkable gifts who were stifled under apartheid to enter the game.
“At the moment our best singers are black,” said Virginia Davids, head of vocal studies at the South African College of Music based at the University of Cape Town.
South Africans can be found from Tel Aviv to London, with soprano Pumeza Matshikiza performing at Monaco’s royal wedding — where the principality’s Prince Albert II married South African Charlene Wittstock in July — and Sweden-based Dimande Nkosazana taking first prize in a competition in Italy.
“Formerly, people were not even allowed on the stage and that’s why it looks as if there is a huge upsurge. But what it is is that suddenly things opened up and people started realizing they could make careers,” said Davids.
“These singers have always been there but they have always been ignored. It’s a pity because a lot of wonderful talent has gone missing in the process because of the situation that we had in this country,” she added.
(AFP)
國際音樂比賽首獎得主普莉蒂‧延德，十年前在南非一個黑人鄉鎮的住家中，看到一則航空公司的電視廣告，唱出情緒高張的配樂之前，壓根兒不知有歌劇這號東西存在。
在她耳畔縈繞閃過的曲子，即是十九世紀法國作曲家李奧‧德利伯的歌劇《拉克美》中的「花之二重唱」。該曲打動這位成長中從未接觸過劇本及詠嘆調的青春少女，隔日即向學校老師詢問該曲為何。
十年後的延德，已是米蘭著名史卡拉歌劇院的駐團聲樂家，她回想老師的答覆說：「他告訴我這就叫做歌劇。」而當時她告訴老師：「那是我必須做的。」
現年二十六歲的延德，一路從南非東部的坦杜庫康亞鎮唱到義大利北部，最近才剛獲頒西班牙音樂大師普拉契多‧多明哥主辦的「歌劇利亞」世界歌劇大賽的聯合最高殊榮獎項。
延德告訴法新社說：「我當時只想唱歌，我當時只想知道如何唱。」她說：「即便如今，我只想把歌唱好。」
在歐裔南非白人女高音咪咪‧柯伊茨一九五六年在維也納國家歌劇院首演的數十年後，南非擁有唱歌劇歌喉的黑人，紛紛登上國際舞台，此現象正好反映出該國步向民主的寫照。
專家表示這些人竄紅，並非突然湧現的一群新秀，而是一九九四年實行不分種族皆享一切自由後，才讓因種族隔離政策被埋沒的卓越人才，也能（與白人）公平競爭。
南非開普敦大學音樂學院聲樂系主任維吉尼亞‧戴維斯說：「現階段校內唱得最好的都是黑人。」
從特拉維夫到倫敦都能見到南非（聲樂家）的身影，例如女高音普美札‧馬許琪薩就在摩納哥的皇室婚禮上獻唱─摩納哥公國的摩納哥王子阿爾貝二世七月迎娶南非的夏爾琳‧維特施托克─還有駐瑞典的蒂曼德‧恩寇莎札娜，在義大利的聲樂大賽中獲得首獎。
戴維斯說：「以往（黑）人連上個台都不被允許，而這也是為何給人一種有大批人才在此時突然竄起的錯覺。但事實是因為突然的開放政策，這些人才開始體悟到他們也能闖出自己的一片天。」
她補充說：「這些歌手其實一直存在，只是以往他們遭到忽略。也正因為這國家過去的處境，使許多有才華的歌手遭埋沒，真是可惜。」
（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
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