Nthikeng mohlele

“‘"I was born into a musical family, musicians to whom I was bonded either by blood or by a musical brotherhood. I have been dazzled by lyrics that make hearts flutter, by piano solos that seem to hang in the air deep into the night, long after the performances were concluded.”

“I have thought about the many faces you wear in a lifetime. For, even if it’s a known face, with improvements and deformities it might encounter in its life journey, it is not the same face, not the same expressions mark such a face, for faces have mastered countless masks and counter masks, pointed revelations in front of prosecutors, clergymen, rivals, would- be assassins, former lovers, sexual superiors, law-enforcers, photographers, admired grandparents or the babbling babies of strangers.”

“‘"The beauty of Johannesburg is not immediate. Neither is it only visual. It is an aesthetic that resists being the beauty only of place, of the physical, buildings and bridges and skylines, tree-lined streets and crimson cloud-dotted horizons; it is a beauty that is heard as much as it is felt.”

“Music is an extremely big theme and an artistic discipline in its own right. It is, therefore, an intricate undertaking to cross-pollinate literature and music in a way that avoids navel-gazing and cliches. I think it does – and should – take some time to distill the personality and temperament of a musician in fiction, more so in character-driven narratives like Illumination”