Magazine
While blackness, as an imposed reality, that creates a certain field around the subject, has come to be acknowledged as such, little has been done to problematise intersubjective relations between black people.
Poet Makhafula Vilakazi is tired of living in the shadow of Shakespearean poetry. Born Matodzi Ramashia in Chiawelo, Soweto, Makhafula has created a brand of poetry that sees him delivering his rap inspired lyrics in township slang.”
Nomaza was the kind of woman every wife on the street resented. Her honey skin reminded other women that their dark skin would never make men stop mid-sentence when they passed.
As a matter of fact, it was Khaya’s political activity that landed Biko in trouble when the two were arrested at school and detained. I recall how Bra Bisto, as Khaya was known, related to us as AZASCO members in 1995 how happy he was when Biko was arrested. This was because Biko was indifferent to political activity until that arrest.
Part of the problem with Shaka Zulu: The Gaping Would is that it relies on the same historical record it promises to upend. Numerous scenes in the show suggest that E.A. Ritter’s book, Shaka Zulu, may have influenced its writing.
On the 17th anniversary of Brenda Fassie’s passing, Johannesburg gets to experience the theatre adaptation of Koleka Putuma’s Hullo Bu-Bye Koko Come in.
Blackness as a state of being exists relatively on the periphery. It is a form that is almost always expected to relent and equivocate even when its comforts are disrupted.
“In order for a people to know where they are going, they must know where they come from” opens Mapungubwe: Echoes in the Valley.
It is not clear how I became a writer. There was no definitive moment. Growing up, I would journal, and also had stints trying rap and poetry. After all, where I come from there were no writers.
Fela Kuti’s shrine which stands today with his clothing on display serves as nexus to represent the politics of what this man stood for; anarchy and rebellion, through music and his clothing.
The creators of this theatre piece aim to tell this part of king Shaka’s story and also highlight the death of his mother, uNdlunkulu uNandi waseLangeni, a tragedy that broke his spirit and probably the one thing that weakened him and saw him taking decisions that other members of the royal household deemed as irrational, leading to his assassination.
Across cultures, borders and countries, spirituality is firmly ingrained in music. These melodies and rhythms tell of mythology and history, as well as spiritual beliefs held by its people.
