Ritratto dell’intellettuale postcoloniale in musica e parole: Edward Said e Nelson Mandela

The present contribution is dedicated to the charismatic figures of Edward Said, a renown humanist intellectual, and of Nelson Mandela, an indomitable political activist, whose biographies are re-elaborated in words and in music. One of the most attractive portraits of Edward Said is the one produced by Nigerian-New York writer Teju Cole: “A Quartet for Edward Said”, from his collection of essays Black Paper (2021). While the background music of Beethoven’s Quartet (n. 15 op. 132) is evoked through ekphrases, the homage to Said develops into the lyrical prose of a most beautiful essay. In truth, the most celebratory self-portrait by Edward Said is the project he planned and realized together with Daniel Barenboim, that is to say “The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra” (1999). The next case study, the Opera entitled Madiba (November 25, 2018), presented in Torino by the National Symphonic Orchestra (RAI), is a celebration of his biography in four parts – in the Centenary of his birth – and in the form of a composite and complex theatrical-musical œuvre. The South African Opera singer Simphiwe Dana was participating as a special guest and vocalist, while Mandela’s grandchild was also present to promote his legacy. These two intellectuals, Edward Said and Nelson Mandela, thus celebrated in words and music, are milestones in the culture of the transition to the new millennium and they will not be forgotten.