THOMAS POOLEY
PROFESSOR James Steven Mzilikazi Khumalo (1932-2021), who has died at the age of 89, had a distinguished career as a linguist, which complemented a stellar career in music.
He was the leading composer and director of choral music to emerge from South Africa. His opera, Princess Magogo, was the first by a black South African. Today he is among the most widely performed of all South African composers.
He achieved international recognition for performances of his major works in Europe and the US. This is especially remarkable considering he had no formal qualifications in music, and composed entirely in tonic sol-fa rather than staff notation..
Khumalo worked to publish and popularise dual notation, which combined the do-re-mi of tonic solfa with the score based notations used by art music composers.
This transformed the choral sphere. For decades composers and choirs had relied almost entirely on tonic solfa.
His
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