Fr Sbongiseni Msomi: The Priest and his Music

A KZN priest has released his first own album of sacred music. Fr Sbongiseni Msomi tells Daluxolo Moloantoa about his life in music.

Most priests celebrate their tenth anniversary of priesthood with a Mass and a reception, or maybe a pilgrimage. Fr Sbongiseni Joseph Msomi of Mariannhill, KwaZulu-Natal, is marking his anniversary in July 2022 with a music album, titled Yehla Moya (“Come Down, Spirit”) and a newly-composed Mass.

“As I reflected on these few years that God has given me as an ordained priest, I realised that I have been very involved in the ministry of music. So I thought I’d share some of my musical compositions and traditional Catholic hymns and prayers with God’s people,” Fr Msomi tells The Southern Cross from Rome, where he is currently in his last year of studying philosophy at the Urbaniana University. The album was recorded in September, while the priest was on leave in South Africa, and released in late 2021. Fr Msomi had the help of the group Song Therapy, with 12 singers and two organists, to put together the 12 tracks on Yehla Moya.

But this wasn’t the priest’s first foray into the world of recorded music. “I recorded a CD titled The Lord Is My Shepherd with the St Peter’s Seminary Choir as a conductor in 2006, and I was also a conductor of the St John Vianney Seminary Choir when we recorded a live DVD in 2008, and a CD in 2009. I was also a conductor of the Mariannhill Priests Choir when we recorded a CD in 2017,” Fr Msomi said. “But Yehla Moya is the first album that I initiated on my own and sang most of the solo parts on it.”

It is also his first album recorded with lay people. Some of these Catholic artists have already recorded their own albums, such as Zulu Pavarotti, Hlongwa Soul Healers and Nkululeko Ngcobo. With the artists being in South Africa and Fr Msomi in Italy, preparations for the recording sessions were complicated. Linda Makhathini, one of his choristers in 2003, taught the musicians some of the compositions before Fr Msomi’s arrival in late August. The priest had time to practise twice with the singers before the September 4 recording session.

A choir conductor for 18 years, Fr Msomi’s relationship with music goes back to his school days at KwaMakhutha Comprehensive High School. “My high school conductor, Mr Khathi, really encouraged me to join the school choir.” After matric, he joined the ML Sultan Technikon Choir in Durban as a tenor singer, while studying electrical engineering for two years, and also became a member of the Ezimbokodweni Community Choir in KwaMakhutha.

“Our new community choir also assisted the Anglican church choir in KwaMakhutha when they were preparing for their competitions. I conducted a choir in the Anglican National Choir Competition, and won that contest on a national level for two years,” Fr Msomi recalls. He has also conducted the Ezimbokodweni Adult Choir in KwaZulu-Natal competitions. As a priest, he was involved in the diocesan committee of choirs in Mariannhill which prepared the diocese’s annual Festival of St Cecilia.

It was during his time with the Ezimbokodweni  Choir that Fr Msomi first started composing. “This developed further in the seminary, thanks to the organ course that we did for three years.” It was there that he developed the ability to read music.

Composing Masses

Apart from Catholic choral music, Fr Msomi has also composed Masses: one in 2019 dedicated to St Joseph, and one in Italian titled “Missa di San Gennaro”. At the moment he is busy composing another Mass which will be made available to the public in the course of 2022. “There are also many other musical compositions that I have done. A recent one is ‘Ngiyazi ukuthi ngiyakufa’, which I composed when Covid-19 killed many people in early 2020. Windy Heights Primary School in Umlazi, where Linda Makhathini is the choirmaster, asked me to write a song about African heritage. I composed this song, titled ‘Zithande’, in August. In future, I am planning to study composition and music theory,” he says.

“Some of those songs I’ve written haven’t been sung yet, which is one of the reasons I’ve started an ensemble choir that will sing most of my compositions in the future. I hope to expand the ensemble choir and work with different musicians from different parts of the country,” he says. Some of his compositions were prescribed for choir competitions and festivals in Pretoria, Bethlehem and Umlazi deanery in Durban.

Fr Msomi’s musical influences range widely. They include South African composers such as LMB Chonco, Phelelani Mnomiya and Prof Mzilikazi Khumalo. “I was also inspired by Fr Callistus Ngcobo CMM who was so willing to share his knowledge with me. He has composed so many Catholic songs which are sung in many of our Catholic churches in KwaZulu-Natal. I am also inspired by Qinisela Sibisi with the kind of movements you get from his compositions. The conductor who inspired me in South Africa is Dr Mongi Mzobe, with his style of interpretation of vernacular songs. The late Fr James Dlamini also inspired me a lot when he chanted most of the Mass parts sung by a priest. I still do that even today; I usually chant the Mass parts that are said by a priest. Yehla Moya  includes some of the chants that are sung by a priest in isiZulu.”

Fr Msomi believes that more can be done in the Church to support Catholic musicians nationally. “The late Mrs Motiang from the archdiocese of Pretoria once had the idea of having a forum where artists who are Catholics could meet and share their thoughts or ideas, and also to pray together. I remember in 2006 she organised a festival for Catholic artists who had recorded albums, and we participated as the St Peter’s Seminary Choir. She called that forum of musicians ‘Unity for Christ’. This was a brilliant idea,” he says. “ It’s important that artists who sing gospel or Catholic music get a chance to pray and reflect, and frequent the sacrament of penance, so that they may renew themselves and prepare to proclaim the Good News through singing. We, as artists, must also encounter Christ so that Christ, whom we profess when we sing, may also be the Lord of our life, and the centre of worship,” he says.

Hymn archive needed

The musician-priest is concerned that sacred songs and Catholic hymns should be preserved through recordings which then should be archived on digital sites that cater for this, serving as libraries which archive sacred music. “I remember a priest once shared this brilliant vision with me, and I think it is important.”

Fr Msomi notes that in some schools, “no one is available to teach choral music or to conduct a school choir. Therefore, in many churches few people are able to read the musical notation in our hymnbooks.” This becomes evident when choirs find it difficult to sing certain hymns as they appear in the hymnbooks.

“The appointed coordinators of sacred music and liturgy at national or diocesan levels need to reflect on this and then find ways to revive Catholic music in parishes, dioceses and nationally,” the priests says. “The ministry of music in the Church is very important. Ongoing formation on sacred music is also important, in dioceses and on a national level. Parish choirs should also be supported and motivated. Like all the other associations, sodalities and spiritual groups in the parish, the choir also needs pastoral care. If possible, a parish choir can also have a day of prayer and a workshop at least once a year.”

Advising young Catholic musicians, Fr Msomi says that the key is to know what we are passionate about in life. “When you are passionate about singing and also have a talent for music, then you know that this is what God has given you for a purpose. But there is a problem when you do something just for fame and not because you are passionate about it. The trouble with following the crowd for mere fame is that it won’t last, because it’s not something you love and are passionate about. It’s the same with music, as an artist you have to be passionate about music ministry. It should be something that heals you first as a singer and talks to you first,” he says.

“Even in music you should meet Christ as you sing. As St Augustine said, ‘The one who sings prays twice’. So follow your heart, find people who will help you. Equip yourself with knowledge, by studying and getting some professional help as well.”

How to order Fr Msomi’s CD

Fr Sbongiseni Msomi’s CD Yehla Moya is available at the Mariannhill Repository, Ngome Marian Shrine, Kevelaer Marian Shrine and many KZN parishes. Or email Fr Msomi at .

Yehla Moya is also available on almost all digital platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, YouTube and so on.

To sample some of the songs from the album, go to the YouTube channel “SONG THERAPY” at www.youtube.com/user/magqamu