| The name "Selika"is derivedfrom the title character in the opera "L'Africaine" (TheAfrican Woman) by the French-Jewish composer Giacomo Meyerbeer(1791-1864). This opera, his last, was first produced in 1865 inParis, and tells the story of the Portuguese explorer Vasco daGama, who sailed around the southern tip of the Africancontinent in an attempt to find a trade route to India in the 17thcentury. In the opera, da Gama rescues an African woman from theMozambique Channel, adjacent to the island of Madagascar. Hername is Selika, and they both fall in love.Vasco, however, is already engaged to a Portuguese woman namedInes, who is on shipboard, and is rather ticked off about thesituation, as you may imagine. The tables are turned in Act 3 whenda Gama is himself shipwrecked, captured by the indigineous peopleof what is now the Malagasy Republic, brought to trial andsentenced to death along with Ines and his surviving crew; butthen Selika comes to the rescue. Identifiyingherself as the Queen of those realms, with an impassioned plea tothe head African in charge (sorry), she saves da Gama by claimingthat they were married. She doesn't save Ines or the sailors, whoare supposedly dragged off to death amid the posionous fragrances ofthe leaves of a particular poison tree, the machineel. She doesn'ttell Vasco that small fact, though. However, while Selika and Vasco enjoy each other's company(singing merrily along), and while he still wonders why he hasn'tseen Ines around the island, Ines is saved from death by a fellownamed Nelusko (who has been pining for the love of Selika), and in order to save Vasco's life and aidhim in attaining his desired goal (getting back to Portugal) begsNelusko not to let Vasco know that she is still alive. For somereason, he complies, even though by getting rid of Vasco he couldhave Selika all to himself. When another Portuguese shipcomes after Vasco, Nelusko, who does not wish to have his islandparadise sullied by another European invasion, rallies thetroops, boards the ship and kills most of the Portuguese, singinglustily as he does so. Nelusko finally decides to get rid of Vascoby bringing Ines back on the scene. Once he brings Ines and Vascotogether, he reasons, they'll go back to Portugal and leave both heand Selika alone. Therefore, when Inesreappears in Act 5 where she and Selikaactually meet for the first time, it is rather a shock. In the end,Vasco and Ines return to Portugal, Selikaspurns Nelusko, and then takes a long nap under the machineel tree.After a long search for her, Nelusko finds her lying under the tree,close to death. He sings a duet with her declaiming his love for her(essentially "life has no meaning for me without you, therefore Iwill end it all"), and kills himself. Curtain.</font style>Although I have treated it in a rather flippant manner,"L'Africaine" was (and is) a very effective piece of work; theAfrican-American coloraturas Shirley Verrett and JessyeNorman have both sang the role of Selika,Ms. Verrett singing alongside Placido Domingo as Vasco almostthirty years ago. The opera itself was a great sensation in its day(although very rarely heard now), and was very popular. Little blackbaby girls in New Orleans were named for the lead characterin the opera, and from there, the name spread throughout blackAmerica; a racehorse that won the Kentucky Derby in 1890 orthereabouts was named Selika, and there wasan African-American singer active in the closing years of the 19thCentury and early 20th Century named Madame Selika. Marie SelikaSmith Williams (1850-1937) was one of the leadingAfrican-American professional singers during this period; she andher husband, S.W. Williams, travelled about the countrygiving concerts--solos and duets of operatic selections as well aspopular tunes--for many years. For information on Madame Selika, seethe Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians,by Eileen Southern. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982). |
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