MAGAZINE
This past weekend I was honoured to hang with two best friends and new acquaintances with the purpose of unpacking all things related to the spirit. While floating through different kinds of subject matter we ended up talking sex, specifically BDSM and how even in those circles, presence needs to be quite well tuned.
Antigone then steps into her grave. When she opens her mouth to speak it is her own name. It rings out in a discordant harmony. Antigone plays with the pronunciation – ‘Anti-gon, Antee-go-nie, Antigone (said like a triplet). A hand shoots up from the mass which is her body and conducts the voices as they rise, fall and glide.
These songs of ours always get us into trouble. When we want peace, we sing. When we want to be heard we sing. Sound permeates our lives and like Fela Kuti said; Music is a weapon. Pipe smoking elders in Zimbabwe who spend lazy afternoons playing Mbira say a grunt in a chant spells trouble. This is the free voice of Afrikan music.
Fast forward to High School, Mzwakhe Mbuli, The People’s Poet is taking his shot at interesting me in spoken word, entwining it with the ever-alluring potpourri of musical instruments but falls short as the turpitudes of our environs catch up with him and see him serve extensive jail time at the Leeuwkop penal facility. Needless to say, this was the end of his illustrious career.
Happening every first Saturday of the month, Soweto Art and Craft Fair has become one of South Africa’s best Art Markets attracting visitors from all over South Africa, Africa and indeed the world.
Samthing Soweto has been credited for his phenomenal vocal and song writing abilities, with his sound having been described as “Pantsula culture meets New Wave World”. He has also been compared to “the South African sounds of Marabi, Isqathamiya, Imbube, American doo-wop or the early Trenchtown Wailers”.