Singing My Mother’s Song
'Singing My Mother's Song,' is an Arts Council Funded Project which enabled international collaboration alongside eight artists from four countries and five disciplines.
Born from a deeply personal search to uncover my own mother’s hidden history, the project reaches far beyond one family. It asks universal questions: Who are we? What do we inherit? How do the voices of those who came before us continue to echo through our lives?
Created in collaboration with artists from the UK and South Africa, Singing My Mother’s Song is a moving celebration of memory, resilience and connection. It reminds us that every family holds untold stories, and every generation carries a song waiting to be heard.
Prepare to be transported by a work that is intimate, thought-provoking and profoundly human. A journey that invites us all to listen more closely to the songs of our mothers, our ancestors, and ourselves.
Writer/Narrator - Malika Ndlovu. Dancer - Nyaniso Dzedze. Film - Jim Demuth. Creative Director - Rebecca Tantony
Singing My Mother’s Song
During the research phase of ‘Singing My Mother’s Song,’I travelled to South Africa on an Arts Council funded trip, where I was a writer in residence at Wits University, Johannesburg. At Wits, I developed material and taught classes to both MA and BA students.
‘Singing My Mother's Song’ has accumulated in three poetry dance films with South African based poets and dancers- Nyaniso Dzedze, Yana Fay Dzedze, Malika Ndlovu, Toni Stuart and award-winning filmmaker Jim Demuth.
It has resulted in one poetry and prose collection, working in collaboration with illustrator Anna Higgie and a poetry and music piece with musician Dominie Hooper.
‘Singing My Mother’s Song,’ was then produced into a book published by Burning Eye Books and released in 2019.
Purchase ‘Singing My Mother’s Song’
Book Launch
‘How lucky we are to have Rebecca Tantony to sing to us, not only her own story, with its weavings of memory, history and family, but stories of the world, of displacement, love, loss, identity, beauty, poetry, confusion and connection. Her words dance across the page just as she travelled through space and time – to learn, to uncover, to commemorate and to celebrate. We are lifted by these songs, this word-music, and reminded of the power of our voices.’
- Tania Hershman