This payday weekend is inundated with a plethora of Black events in this here, Johannesburg. Choosing one specific gig became a nightmare for the Blacks at Culture Review, so we decided to settle on the below selection that caters to the various and diverse Black tastes of our readers.
Gig One: The Bavino Sermons
Date: 30 August 2019, 19h00
Venue: Keleketla! Library, King Kong Building, Troyville.
Charge: R80
“On the day, Lesego Rampolokeng will deliver poetry alongside Tumi Mogorosi on drums and Nhlanhla Radebe on double bass where poetry will meet jazz and jazz meet poetry giving you an improvisational “free” playing music experience.”
Gig Two: Mesh Photography Series – Nxumalo & Mabandu
Date: 31 August 2019, 10h00
Venue: Circa Gallery, Rosebank
Charge: Free
“By connecting the recently departed trumpeter Hugh Masekela and photographer Daniel “Kgomo” Morolong – a double bassist himself - we converge these shared features of their respective artforms. Masekela’s music was for many years a conduit between exile and home, memory of loved ones and immediate lived realities of those who heard him. His capacity to work across generations expanded on this idea of art as a bridge.”
Read: Daniel “Kgomo” MOROLONG | Hugh Masekela
Gig Three: Zu - Ndim, An Official Trilogy Launch
Date: 31 August 2019, 19h00
Venue: SABC (V1A), Johannesburg
Charge: R150 Online, R180 at the door.
“To wrap up the month of August on a high note, Zu. will launch her EP at the SABC’s V1A Studio in Radio Park, Auckland Park on the last day of Women’s Month. In the upcoming EP, Zu. features among others, talented vocalists such as Zoe Modiga, Msaki, Leomile and Roses in Winter.”
Read: Zu. Returns with Allow and Third EP
Gig Four: Spha Mdlalose Presents, Indlel'eyekhaya
Date: 31 August 2019, 20h00
Venue: Untitled Basement, 7 Reserve Street
Charge: R120 Early Bird, R150 at the door.
“I don’t want to think of myself as a jazz artist, mostly because people box you immediately and I struggle with that title because I don’t want to box myself. It’s a tricky thing. There’s a cheekiness to the album [that isn’t typical of jazz albums]. What I wanted to do was create a relatable album, I think sometimes jazz can be a bit aloof and exclusive. It's not everyday kind of music, you know, and I’m an everyday kind of person, and that’s what I wanted to reflect on the album. It’s okay if people want to call it jazz, I just want it to be good music”.
Read: Spha Mdlalose - Indlel'eyekhaya
Kulani Nkuna
Ayanda Mabulu’s Struggle
“Although I am a proud to be from that area, it was not an easy place to grow up in because of the political instability in the eighties. The townships were burning and our big brothers used to set government officials’ cars on fire. On some weekends we enjoyed hearing the sound of drums and trumpets from a funeral of a sell out policeman.
Intellectual Tsotsi
Ngobeni has always been one to interact with his surroundings whether it was when he was living on the streets, or fending for himself in the wilderness as a child. His has been a journey that responded to the immediate environment and he continues to do that in his work. The politically inclined artwork combines his current mental dispensation while harking back to his struggles that still haunt him through his dreams. His face is always etched with a permanent smile, and this sunny disposition, despite all the hardship, prompted Mabandu to call upon Stanley Crouch to aptly describe the path that Ngobeni has travelled.
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