FEATURE
Belinda Quinn talks to multi-hyphenate creative powerhouse Nakhane about blending the worlds of cinema and music
“They say it takes 30 days for habits to form, so if you’ve been in the habit of being someone else for about 30 days it’s gotta stick.”
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Hurt Lingers
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he rising South African actor, novelist, and songwriter Nakhane Touré is in a state of welcomed fatigue. “It’s all been work,” he says of his time in Sydney to debut Inxeba (The Wound), a tense South African love story that saw the gay actor receive numerous death threats from members of the Xhosa tribe for its depiction of a private initiation into manhood. “I might actually skip the sights and just sleep. That’s all I want right now, but there’s work to be done.”
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“Our customs and traditions have stopped being secret because it has turned into a hostile environment, an environment where people need to survive,” the film’s co-writer and Xhosa man Malusi Bengu told African news channel, ENCA. According to ulwaluko.co.za, an outlet dedicated to documenting the loss of life caused by the tradition, approximately 1077 young men have died from partaking in the rite of passage since 1995. Touré’s Xolani is a factory worker who visits his married lover, Vija, in the mountains each year while he acts as
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As we speak, Touré is tearing through paperwork for his label, BMG, in a Sydney café. “I’m not complaining, I really love being busy – it’s when I’m not busy that the troubles start.” Directed by South African John Trengove, the story at the heart of Inexba is one that hits close to home for Touré.
In it, three men of the Xhosa tribe are forced to hide their sexuality while performing Ulwaluko, a traditional circumcision ritual that resurfaced in the ’80s: it had been prohibited in 1820 when the tribe’s king lost multiple children to the procedure.
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