Choirmaster and composer Kumalo dies

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Alfred Assegai (Mkhonto) Kumalo, Zulu choirmaster and composer who was a founder member and first secretary of the Bantu Social Centre in Beatrice Street, Durban (YMCA), died in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg. He showed a talent for music from an early age and his first attempt at composition was in 1899. Most of his songs were widely acclaimed and are still regarded as amongst the best of Zulu choral music. He retired in 1961, but was even after that date at times commissioned to write church music.

How we know this

01Verwey, E.J. (ed)(1995). New Dictionary of South African Biography, v.1 , Pretoria: HSRC.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Choirmaster and composer Kumalo dies. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012077

South African History Online (2011) 'Choirmaster and composer Kumalo dies', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012077 (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

South African History Online, Choirmaster and composer Kumalo dies [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012077, (accessed 13 October 2026).

"Choirmaster and composer Kumalo dies." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012077. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Choirmaster and composer Kumalo dies." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012077.