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The 37-year old South African has spent most of his formative years in exile. Born in Tanzania in 1967, in an ANC family, he lived in all of the frontline states, joined Umkhonto We Sizwe in 1987 and, when the New South Africa was born in 1994, he was in his graduating year at the National Film School in Beaconsfield, UK.

The last decade has seen Maseko produce, carefully and prodigiously, an enviable body of work beginning with his student graduation film, Oupa, Pitso, Lenny and Me.
 
Drum is Maseko's first full-length feature. At the Durban Film Festival earlier this year he caught the eye as a director to watch, with his intimate short film, A Drink In The Passage.

Drum was shot over 31 days in May 2004, in and around Johannesburg, on 35mm. It had a mixed cast of local and international actors. Starring Hollywood actor Taye Diggs as Henry Nxumalo, a reporter for Drum magazine in the 1950's, the story rides on Nxumalo's conscientious reportage as he begins to turn the magazine round from stylish escapism to committed and engaged political activism. As narrative, it's the story of a man, and his people, who find their voice. And what voice! Audiences abroad have been struck by the appeal of the music of the time captured on the soundtrack.  

Maseko wanted to chronicle and celebrate one of the most important and fulsome decades in South Africa's painful history.

"Sophiatown was the epicentre of a renaissance, much like we are going through now, in fashion, literature, music and political life," Maseko says.

It was, for Maseko, the birthplace of the greatest political, literary, musical geniuses - where Can Themba whetted his writing skills, where Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Dolly Rathebe, the Manhattan Brothers and all those who laid the foundation for South Africa's phenomenal music legacy were born, or active. Sophiatown absorbed them and they exuded its rhythms.

Music is woven inextricably into the story. Music is the story. The narrative works to its beat.

Maseko believes that Black South Africans are "in a renaissance now of some sort, and it is time now to go back and get inspiration for the way forward." Sophiatown provides the key. It is the historical crucible of black consciousness, an enlightened period of creativity and seamless solidarity. Sophiatown was a hub of activity; a fount Black talent.

"It was a moment when people were defining themselves. At this point in our history, we find ourselves trying to forge a new identity. Who are we?"

The answers are in our history, Maseko believes, and Sophiatown provides a key.  He quotes Marcus Garvey to make the point that a people without knowledge of its roots and history, is a country without a future and direction.

Maseko began delving into this rich history for answers - for sources of inspiration.

"I thought: we too were great."

It was important to find heroes.

Nxumalo, the Drum journalist, became the vehicle for telling this story. Journalists of the time interacted with politicians and activists in the township. They met gangsters and musicians. They were close to the pulse of common life and great events. They mixed with leaders and ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Nxumalo was an attractive man looking for ways to express a creative and political tumult - the perfect hero of a feature film.

Extracting, teasing and finding ways to refine the story took Maseko ten years, from first seeds to fruition.

And now that the film is to be shown for the first time to South African audiences, in Cape Town, Maseko expresses tremendous excitement and anticipation.

"It's an honour to open Sithengi," he says. After its acclaim at the Toronto Festival, he just wants it screened before a home audience.

"It's time it was claimed by South Africans. I am proud of this film and I hope that South Africans are proud of it too."

A life of exile has developed much of the filmmaker's repertoire around themes of expectation and homecoming. The Foreigner dealt with separation; The Homecoming, shown recently on SATV explicitly, worked through a process of alienation abroad, return and further dissonance at home, as comrades tried to fit back into South African life. Maseko's characters go through struggles, within The Struggle.

Drum marks the director's return, figuratively, spiritually and in actuality. "I am done now with homecoming. I am home now!"

"Drum is not about homecoming. It is about when we were great," Maseko says.

The film celebrates Blackness. It is also a quiet tribute to the movie's South African producer, Dumisani Dlamini, who was murdered in his home in Johannesburg by robbers, during post-production of Drum.

Audiences at the Cape Town World Cinema Premiere on November 12th will hold a minute's silence in honour of Dlamini, who shared Maseko's vision for this story.

Maseko remembers their shared passion as if Dlamini were nodding in affirmation, at his side: "Telling Black South African stories and believing that they can be played at the highest level - that is what we are about!"

Posted on Saturday 6 Nov 2004