flight 295 | a string quartet in two parts.

Abstract

This work is a critique of the social injustices committed by the oppressive South Africangovernment at the height of the Apartheid era. Its commentary is exemplified through the metaphor of Flight 295 – a South African Airways flight that crashed in the Indian Ocean in the late 1980s. The crimes against humanity committed throughout South Africa by the Apartheid regime find a chilling parallel in the events that caused the crash of Flight 295. En route from East Asia, it is widely acknowledged that the Boeing 747-200 Combi was carrying volatile arms in its cargo compartment. Severe turbulence is said to have caused the arms to destabilize, causing a fire that engulfed the aircraft mid-flight. The recklessness of the government in smuggling unstable black-market arms to South Africa (which would then be used to fight a “war” against people of colour) on board a passenger flight, showed their lack of concern for human life. It is an awareness of these atrocities that this composition strives to share with audiences through the expression of the emotions that I feel when I think of the events of that horrific era in the history of my country and culture. I believe that it is important to share this uncomfortable historical event with people so that we can fight against similar human rights violations happening daily around the world.