The annual National Arts Festival held in Grahamstown is huge and goes by the tagline - 10 days of amazing! I have been an irregular visitor to this festival since about 1999. There is always a belwildering array of things to see. I don't usually find art exhibitions and dance that interesting and so I limited my interests to mostly drama, discussion sessions (at the Thinkfest) and music.
I wanted to kick off my viewing pleasure with Marikana, a musical drama about the plight of mineworkers in that fateful Lonmin mine. Unfortunately it did not open on the day (I don't know why). We were just told that it was postponed. I ended up at the Thinkfest where local government issues were discussed. Of course the issues there were familiar: corruption, lack of accountability, cadre deployment, blah blah blah. No doubt it was a serious session chaired by Eusebius McKaiser. Panelists included Dr Nomalanga Mkhize (Rhodes scholar) and Lechesa Tsenoli Deputy speaker of the National Assembly. Trevor Manuel was also invited, but could not come. It is at the Thinkfest that Bongani Madondo introduced his Brenda Fassie book - I'm Not Your Weekend Special. His session started with the burning of impepho to summon the spirit of MaBrr. The well attended book session was by far Tim Noakes' launch. His views have become well known now. Mzukisi Qobo introduced his Fall Of The ANC book that he co-wrote with Prince Mashele to the Eastern Cape community. Pity, the political class in the Eastern Cape did not attend these discussion sessions.
I gravitated towards plays that explored topical and mostly political issues. I took a chance and tried a one man act play - The Mother Of All Eating, featuring Ofentse Motsamai. The play was about eating, a euphemism for corruption. It centred around a civil servant who is corrupt to the core. I was at first apprehensive about watching a one man act, because I feared if the actor sucked, then I would have wasted my money. Not so with this play. I was riveted until the end. Arguably one of the best productions I watched at the festival. Another brilliant production was iSystem. This play also grappled with the subject of corruption, but the kind found within the police system. There was a time during the play when I felt it was getting boring, until a beautiful lady lifted it up. She carried the play until the end with her dazzling acting skills.
Every time I am at the festival I never miss Paul Grootboom's work. This time he brought a play called Protest. The play is based on a fictitious township in Mpumalanga. It explores issues that drive service delivery protests. It is energetic, and this time Paul used a live band. It has elements of Gibson Kente and Mbongeni Ngema in its musicality. Paul usually pushes the envelope, but this time he did what I would call palatable theatre. It would appear as well that the Mail & Guardian was disappointed. On its opening day, we were made to wait for about 30 minutes and right towards the end of the play itself, one actor seemed to stumble over her lines. But, it was a brilliant play, that depicted accurately the issues behind what we call service delivery protests. There were of course lousy productions like Sunset Blues. This was a preachy play about life in marriage. It was set in a shebeen with two men pouring their hearts out as to why their marriages are in tatters. The shebeen queen and her husband play marriage counsellors. It was a big yawn. I left early to catch the first performance of Nomfundo Xaluva.
Her show was very well attended considering that the well established Jimmy Dludlu was performing not for away. She gave us one of those emotional performances I have ever seen. You had a mature audience that came prepared to listen to their daughter. She is after all from Port Elizabeth, but also went to school in Grahamstown. It was in a way her homecoming. It will be such a pity if she does not grow and become a superstar she already is.
And then there were The Muffinz. This boy band is one of the best thing to have ever happened to South Africa in a long time. They are all instrumentalists and can sing. Although on the night I watched them they were placed in a cramped venue, it didn't matter to them, they still dished amazing jams. I am more than convinced now that this group is destined for bigger things.
My gripe though is that the festival scheduled Themba Mkhize to play at 12 midday. I had to rush frantically to catch his show. Frustration ran high when I got lost trying to locate the venue. I eventually arrived 15 minutes late. Themba Mkhize brought along some of the best session musicians you can find in South Africa: Erik Paliani (The African Italian, he jokingly called him), Rob Watson, Nduduzo Makhathini, Mbuso Khoza. The show appeared incredibly short. I need more of this giant.
I was dying to see Nakhane Toure. I bought tickets for his show a month ahead. An incredible mishap happened some 45 minutes before his show. I was sitting with friends in the car, and given that it was a very cold evening, we were playing music and charging phones. This sapped my car battery and the car just would not start. Such calamity. I had to call emergency service to assist with jump starting the car. They took their time. When I eventually arrived at the sold out Monument, Nakhane was already 15 minutes in his set. Ushers were refusing to let me in. I insisted, and they found a seat just next to the door for me. For a boy born in Alice, Nakhane's sound is something of a mystery. He plays the guitar, but I think his best asset is his voice. He won the SAMA for the Best Alternative Album. Whatever that means. A recent documentary on SABC1 attempted to unmask this phenomenon to us. I have a feeling Nakhane will become big at the international stage and not here.
I wanted to kick off my viewing pleasure with Marikana, a musical drama about the plight of mineworkers in that fateful Lonmin mine. Unfortunately it did not open on the day (I don't know why). We were just told that it was postponed. I ended up at the Thinkfest where local government issues were discussed. Of course the issues there were familiar: corruption, lack of accountability, cadre deployment, blah blah blah. No doubt it was a serious session chaired by Eusebius McKaiser. Panelists included Dr Nomalanga Mkhize (Rhodes scholar) and Lechesa Tsenoli Deputy speaker of the National Assembly. Trevor Manuel was also invited, but could not come. It is at the Thinkfest that Bongani Madondo introduced his Brenda Fassie book - I'm Not Your Weekend Special. His session started with the burning of impepho to summon the spirit of MaBrr. The well attended book session was by far Tim Noakes' launch. His views have become well known now. Mzukisi Qobo introduced his Fall Of The ANC book that he co-wrote with Prince Mashele to the Eastern Cape community. Pity, the political class in the Eastern Cape did not attend these discussion sessions.
Every time I am at the festival I never miss Paul Grootboom's work. This time he brought a play called Protest. The play is based on a fictitious township in Mpumalanga. It explores issues that drive service delivery protests. It is energetic, and this time Paul used a live band. It has elements of Gibson Kente and Mbongeni Ngema in its musicality. Paul usually pushes the envelope, but this time he did what I would call palatable theatre. It would appear as well that the Mail & Guardian was disappointed. On its opening day, we were made to wait for about 30 minutes and right towards the end of the play itself, one actor seemed to stumble over her lines. But, it was a brilliant play, that depicted accurately the issues behind what we call service delivery protests. There were of course lousy productions like Sunset Blues. This was a preachy play about life in marriage. It was set in a shebeen with two men pouring their hearts out as to why their marriages are in tatters. The shebeen queen and her husband play marriage counsellors. It was a big yawn. I left early to catch the first performance of Nomfundo Xaluva.
Her show was very well attended considering that the well established Jimmy Dludlu was performing not for away. She gave us one of those emotional performances I have ever seen. You had a mature audience that came prepared to listen to their daughter. She is after all from Port Elizabeth, but also went to school in Grahamstown. It was in a way her homecoming. It will be such a pity if she does not grow and become a superstar she already is.
And then there were The Muffinz. This boy band is one of the best thing to have ever happened to South Africa in a long time. They are all instrumentalists and can sing. Although on the night I watched them they were placed in a cramped venue, it didn't matter to them, they still dished amazing jams. I am more than convinced now that this group is destined for bigger things.
My gripe though is that the festival scheduled Themba Mkhize to play at 12 midday. I had to rush frantically to catch his show. Frustration ran high when I got lost trying to locate the venue. I eventually arrived 15 minutes late. Themba Mkhize brought along some of the best session musicians you can find in South Africa: Erik Paliani (The African Italian, he jokingly called him), Rob Watson, Nduduzo Makhathini, Mbuso Khoza. The show appeared incredibly short. I need more of this giant.
I was dying to see Nakhane Toure. I bought tickets for his show a month ahead. An incredible mishap happened some 45 minutes before his show. I was sitting with friends in the car, and given that it was a very cold evening, we were playing music and charging phones. This sapped my car battery and the car just would not start. Such calamity. I had to call emergency service to assist with jump starting the car. They took their time. When I eventually arrived at the sold out Monument, Nakhane was already 15 minutes in his set. Ushers were refusing to let me in. I insisted, and they found a seat just next to the door for me. For a boy born in Alice, Nakhane's sound is something of a mystery. He plays the guitar, but I think his best asset is his voice. He won the SAMA for the Best Alternative Album. Whatever that means. A recent documentary on SABC1 attempted to unmask this phenomenon to us. I have a feeling Nakhane will become big at the international stage and not here.
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