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Clement Gama03/02/2023

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There are countless music festivals all over the globe and what makes each one unique, is its story and what it stands for. The 1969 Summer of Soul festival is remembered for how it celebrated Black history, culture, music and fashion in the cultural pot of Black America, Harlem.

This Saturday, the Marabastad Jazz Festival takes place within the halls of the South African State Theatre’s Malombo stage. It will be a day to honour those creative spirits of Marabastad who were relocated to single-race townships further away from the city centre by the white regime. It will be a time to tend to the dead. To honour the dead and their dreams, thoughts and their pain, as per Gabi Motuba on her new offering, The Sabbath, which comprises vocals, a string quartet, trumpet and Malombo drums. This performance will serve as a launch ahead of the album’s release.

The Marabastad Jazz Festival emerges from a rich history that includes warrior King Kgoshi Maraba Ledwaba I, the diverse melting pot of Marabastad, and its artistic ebullience before forced removals took hold. With prominent figures from Tshwane’s jazz, blues, and Malombo traditions, the inaugural edition is sure to become a staple in the city and worldwide. Also filled to the brim with the harmonic laments of Norman Chauke, Azah Mphago and Ayanda Sikade – the festival is a rare curatorial triumph.

Chauke has composed a song titled, Marabi a ko Marabastad for the occasion which will be played for the first time at the festival. “I grew up listening to my father, who was a jazz artist, and his band members rehearsing in our garage on weekdays preparing for their weekend gigs,” Chauke says. “They played a lot of Marabi music, and from that young age, I knew that I wanted to be a jazz musician. This is where I first learned to play the piano and other musical instruments,”

Mphago will pay tribute to Marabastad through various visual and musical interpretations. This Pitori man of thought is a Pan Africanist expert percussionist, vocalist, conservationist and sonic healer whose music uses trans-disciplinary creative practices of ritual performance, clinical improvisation, pedagogy, activism, theatre movement and multi-media.

Present on the day will be Zim Ngqawana’s drummer of choice, Ayanda Sikade. The revered composer and collaborator holds a deft touch that moves audiences in unison. “Sikade isn’t a flashy drummer given to crescendi and ten-minute ooh-ya solos. He’s a quiet, precise musician with a light touch on the sticks and an even lighter one with the brushes. He rides his kit easy, not hard. When you hear a cymbal or drum-roll, it’s deliberate punctuation, not listen-to-me volume,” says jazz critic and scholar, writer Gwen Ansell on Sikade’s playing and style.

The event will be hosted by revered writer and author Percy Mabandu. Produced by Project Forty, Spotlight Creations and Khwerha Ye Afrika Projects, the festival is not only an aural feast for music lovers but a time to remember some of the foundations of South African jazz’s marabi and classical sounds.

Tickets available HERE!

About Marabastad

Marabastad was a culturally diverse community, with the Hindu Mariamman Temple arguably being its most prominent landmark. Like the residents of other racially diverse areas in South Africa, such as District Six, “Fietas” and Sophiatown, the inhabitants of Marabastad were relocated to single-race townships further away from the city centre. These removals were due to Apartheid laws like the Group Areas Act. Unlike Sophiatown, Fietas and District Six, it was not bulldozed, but it retained many of its original buildings, and became primarily a business district, with most shops still owned by the Indians who had also lived there previously. Some property was however owned by the city council and the government, resulting in limited development taking place there. In addition, a large shopping complex was built to house Indian-owned shops. The black residents of Marabastad were relocated to Atteridgeville (1945), the Coloured residents to Eersterus (1963), and the Indian residents to Laudium (1968). There are plans to revive once-picturesque Marabastad, and to reverse years of urban decay and neglect, although few seem to have been implemented as of 2005.
*Tickets to this great mark in history that not only seeks to celebrate but to preserve the heritage of South Africa can be bought via Webticket and through the South African State Theatre at R200 per ticket. Get your ticket now on:

The Marabastad Jazz festival is set to become a hallmark annual event, showcasing South African jazz talent. The festival is powered by PESP through the National Art Council and the Department of Sports Arts and Culture is a tribute to the once vibrant, multicultural, and multiracial slum called Marabastad.

For more information about the performers please visit:
Facebook: Khwerha Ye Afrika Projects
Instagram: Khwerha
Call: 0813237061

Bonginkosi Ntiwane02/24/2023

Ever been smitten with someone so much, that you think they’ve hit you with a love potion…or have a wholesomely wild night partying, that you suspect someone spiked your drink? Some things can be so good, that they have you chokeheld by paranoia and disbelief. Great live performers can leave you in such awe- an impression left on me after seeing Thandiswa Mazwai live.

I saw Mazwai for the first time last year at the State Theatre and man, I got it. ‘it’ being why she is King Tha. You have to understand, listing to records and seeing an act live are two different things; seeing an artist live can solidify a listener’s bond with the artist or put a dent on that relationship. Nas’ live 2014 performance in Mzansi was insipid, juxtaposed to that ferocious young man who spat on Illamatic. While I cared no mind for Wiz Khalifa, witnessing him live made me appreciate his showmanship.

Cape Town is fortunate to witness King Tha live this weekend at the Artscape Theatre, where she’ll be presenting her A Letter to Azania show. This is the same show she brought to Tshwane. Like any live dope act, King Tha brings out the greed in her audience-where we just want more, more and more. What was probably an hour set honestly felt like a good 20 minutes.

“We are so excited to finally bring this production to Cape Town. Fans are in for a show like never before,” Mazwai said in a statement. The show has already sold-out.

A Letter to Azania tracks a letter the singer is writing to “Azania” as a place of freedom that she says “Takes the audience on a sonic exploration of the utopian idea of Azania while expressing the melancholy that comes with a dream deferred.” Centering on love, the show opens with the words of revolutionary Ché Guevara, “the revolution is driven by great feelings of love”. “A love for the people, a love for country, and a love for justice,” adds Mazwai.

In this audio visual experience curated by Thandiswa in partnership with the Artscape Theatre, “Expect a range of sounds that have influenced my recordings and performances over the years: Jazz, Kwaito, Afro Funk, Reggae, Gospel and Traditional music. “There will be songs from her own albums, such as Nizalwa Ngobani, Transkei Moon, Ingoma, Jikijela, and renditions of tracks by some of her favourite musicians. “In the same spirit as Natalie Coles Unforgettable. This show includes a duet performance with the late great Hugh Masekela”

Letter To Azania is brought to Cape Town in association with Jägermeister. “One of Jägermeister’s core pillars is music and the supporting of the arts. Jägermeister is proud to be in association with Thandiswa Mazwai and A Letter to Azania.” Says Jägermeister Experiential Manager Ephraim Manana.

Simphiwe Mnikina02/21/2023

The prehistoric battle of iSandlwana is often misunderstood for as a Zulu moment, when in truth it should invoke unity amongst different cultures.

Ahead of iSandlawane Lecture by Mbuso Khoza featuring iJadu Le Africa hosted at the South African State Theatre from the 24th to the 26th of February 2023. It will be one of those lecture series one will regret missing out on or not being part of.

Mbuso Khoza is a breath of fresh raw talent, born and bred eShowe, one of the oldest towns of the European settlement in what was Zululand kingdom. He is an award winning vocalist, song writer, radio presenter for uKhoziFM, columnist for IsoLezwe newspaper, university lecturer and the founder for the Afrikan Heritage Ensemble established in the year 2016.

Khoza is a very knowledgeable man about cultural heritage and has hosted a series of iSandlwana Lecture, this one comes after the Isandlwane Lecture: The musical. Which is described as time capsule that captures the emotions and issues that faced southern African communities in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. This upcoming event of iSandlwana lecture seeks to teach more than bring the musical feel compared to last year’s musical series on the battle of iSandlwana.

Historic events like these are usually shared or written by non-African, therefore missing the feel of what may have transpired on that day if told by the west. Now, is an opportunity to feed from Khoza’s lecture and learn what can today’s Africans apply on their daily lives from the prehistoric war of iSandlwana. Where Africans are made to feel inferior because of their tortoise technological advancement compared to the east or west, but it should be highlighted how the yesteryears Africans were still able to defeat the Great Britain riffle armed army with just mere spears and cow shields. The selflessness of the fallen heroes must be taught and sang to echo even to the next generations of young Africans.

As young man who grew up post-apartheid in a small township of KwaMashu, away from the indigenous knowledge of the rural areas or walk the landscape and hills where historic wars like these happened let alone drink the rivers that our fallen heroes drank after defeating the British army. Like many in township schools and urban schools we grew up being taught African’s history at the top end. But, now is an opportunity to cut deep into our history told by a man whose heroic fore fathers’ genes runs through him. One could only hope that the spirits of the fallen heroes will engulf him to deliver this key note lecture to note for many more year to come.

Tickets to iSandlawana Lecturer at the State Theatre are available HERE

Bonginkosi Ntiwane02/10/2023

Speaking about the role of artists in society, the incomparable Nina Simone said: “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times. I think that is true of painters, sculptors, poets, musicians. As far as I’m concerned, it’s their choice, but I choose to reflect the times and situations in which I find myself.”

Simone’s Mississippi Goddam was inspired by a number of senseless killings of African Americans, including the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

“There are issues we live in; I think we should address these things. For me it’s always important to write about my experiences, just to remind someone else who’s also going through the same thing [that] they’re not alone,” Mandisi Dyantyis said in an interview with the SABC last year, speaking about his sophomore album, Cwaka.

Dyantyis will perform this weekend at the Back to Live concert at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein, Johannesburg alongside Zoë Modiga, The SN Project, Dumisani Thee DJ and DJ Kenzhero.

Zoë and Dyantyis are part of a crop of South African musicians who make music that accurately speaks to our times. Getting the chance to watch them live seems more than just entertainment, but a service to one’s soul.

South Africa is in the shits. If it isn’t the rampant blackouts by Eskom, it’s the sky rocketing unemployment numbers or the ubiquity of crime on our streets. It seems each waking day we’re hit by worse news of an innocent woman being brutally murdered by a disgruntled lover or murmurings of another coalition breakdown in government. Kubi.

When an artist reflects the times they’re in through their work, it’s a strong indication to their audience that they are in touch with what the people are going through. It’s an act devoid of ignorance. Although some of this art can come off as didactic or too preachy, it has an important role. “I’m not saying I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.,” 2Pac once said.

Sometimes, people can’t realise the obvious and need to hear the message from their favourite artist. I’d like to imagine that when an ardent ANC supporter hears Dyantyis’ Ziyafana, they have a light-bulb moment of the paucity of good leadership in the political party. The same can be said of most political parties actually.

Like the messiest and most painful junctures in life, hard times squeeze out the best in us and it is so in art. Dyantyis’ Cwaka is a timely body of work that went into the crevices of South Africans’ realities-be it loss, frustration or dejection – without compromising on his musical genius and authenticity.

While the gent from Gqeberha’s jazz treads on the socio-political and emotive, Zoë’s music is a constant reminder to beautiful Bantu babies of their strength. Her music sits as The Mirror of Erised for darkies, that doesn’t only show black people their heart’s desires, but also calls out the bullshit.

As James Brown’s message on Say It Loud, I’m Black & I’m Proud cannot not be misunderstood, so is Zoë’s Abantu. It’s a candid conversation she has with Bantu people- touching on black on black violence, self-image, and poverty but yet the song is mighty reassuring. “This song is dear to my heart because it’s part of all the conversations we’ve been having. It’s a beautiful love letter because it’s a song that puts us in a place of realising that we commit so much violences [sic] amongst ourselves as black bodies and part of that is calling systems into place that have allowed us to think in this way,” Modiga said during one of her live performances a few years ago.

Each time I hear Dyantyis’ Iskhalo, my imagination hastily paints out the pain of those child-headed homes or the cry of a young educated person who can’t access the job market because they are without connections. These are realities that too many South Africans live with.

“It’s a song dedicated to the youth of 1976 and it’s a song that reminds us that young people are always part of watershed moments, we always make big changes,” Zoë explaining her track Intsha to Tha Bravado, a few years ago. The song echoes the zeal and fearlessness of young people.

South Africa is in a crisis and it is music such as this that keeps us going, reminding us that change won’t come until we the people do something about it.

Back To Live is presented by BandaBanda Agency and ticket are available HERE.

Bonginkosi Ntiwane12/15/2022

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In the last two years, Covid19 hasn’t only robbed us of our loved ones, jobs and freedom of movement, but also music festivals that we normally see around this time. It’s the first time in two years that the South African State Theatre welcomes patrons to its annual Mzansi Fela Festival, without the dogmatic restrictions.

“Particularly the past two years, audience numbers dropped largely due to a limiting environment that came with COVID-19 restrictions. Gatherings were discouraged and people got used to staying at home. However, we kept shows and festivals going and even went at length to deliver content to our audiences through digital means to keep the theatre love alive, the South African State Theatre’s Artistic Director Aubrey Sekhabi tells Tha Bravado.

The Mzansi Fela Festival (MFF) which was found in 2007 celebrates its 15 years this year. The festival is in its final week of the 2022 instalment which commenced on December 1st and runs until this Sunday where renowned vocalist Thandiswa Mazwai will close it off. “Our people have missed the live performance spaces and the electric atmosphere that comes with being together. Hence we are welcoming them back with a diverse and star-studded line-up boasting musicians, comedians, poets, dancers, thespians and more for them to dig in,” says Sekhabi.

**Crowd Puller: Zonke Dikane. Image Supplied**

With this being the festival’s 15th year, Sekhabi says the disparity between this year and previous years isn’t that big. “Same festival, different artists – we have kept the same look and feel, with the exception that we included the Conversations with the Author, featuring the legendary Des Lindberg, chatting to us about his and her departed partner Dawn’s book, Every Day is an Opening Night.”

The past few weeks have seen the various stages at The State Theatre occupied by artists KB Motsilanyane, Zonke, Tumi Mogorosi, Mbuso Khoza, Zakhele Mabena, Pdoto & Blaklez, and comedians Thapelo King Flat Mametja, Trevor Gumbi, and Toll A$$ Mo. According to the Artistic Director, Zonke’s show has been the biggest in terms of audience numbers at this year’s MFF.

**Funny Man: Thapelo King Flat Mametja. Credit Thobekile Shoba**

“Zonke Dikana’s concert happened on the 2nd of December brought us a full house in our biggest theatre, The Opera, a 1300-seater. The partnership with Banda Banda Agency brought us a convincing audience number, followed by other in-house productions billed under the festival. Mayibuye Community Outreach programme which is a developmental programme with 15 productions, has also brought quite a convincing number of audience since it started on the 1st of December 2022,” Sekhabi says. 1264 of the 1300 seats were occupied during Zonke’s performance. The Soil and Langa Mavuso also brought a steady audience to their concert.

**Teacher: Mbuso Khosa with Afrikan Heritage Ensamble in Amahubo in Concert at The State Theatre. Credit Sbonga Guyborn GatsheniTheatre.**

The common thread between all the artists showcasing their work at this year’s MFF is their strong sense of identity, of being African. “Together with both independent producers, Banda Banda and the Akum Agency, we work together to curate the festival. The vision of the South African State Theatre is to be ‘The prestigious theatre of choice for a distinctly Pan-African Experience'” Sekhabi tells me.

The festival the stage for the future generations of artists through its legacy development programme, the Mayibuye Community Outreach Programme. This is a two-year mentorship programme, with the first year having communities/cultural groups allowed to present only South African classics. “This helps them to ground their work in South African theatre-making culture, and in the 2nd year are allowed to create/write their own works. All the works are presented at the SAST during Mzanzi Fela Festival. Testimony to the success of the programme, is the appointment of the SAST Associate Artistic Director, who started from the MCO community group.”

One of the stand-outs on this year’s line-up is Lifted- Let the blind sing directed by Zakhele Mabena, which is a theatre musical production featuring a vibrant cast of 12 artists with different disabilities and a five-piece band consist of musicians such as The Ga-Rankuwa Requesters which is a sextet of blind people. They are accompanied by mainstream artists such as SnowWhite, Tshepo Nkadimeng, Khwezi Sondiyazi, Maira and Sebenzile “Sebeh” Kuzwayo, and the award-winning songstress Nhlanhla Dube as a narrator.

“Our mission calls for ‘an entertainment destination of choice for inspiration, education and socio-economic transformation which is underpinned by our unique, engaging and diverse artistic offering that encourages audience growth and an appreciation for the performing arts’. We are inclusive to all creatives in their diversity and different abilities,” reiterates Sekhabi.

For more info about the Mzansi Fela Festival CLICK HERE

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