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“We fight Rhodes because he means so much for oppression, injustice, & moral degradation to South Africa - but if he passed away tomorrow there still remains the terrible fact that something in our society has formed the matrix which has fed, nourished and built up such a man.”
Joel Mpah Dooh’s show, ‘Stories To Tell’, is a record of lockdown. His residency at Gallery Momo extended, unable to return to Cameroon, Dooh hunkered down and produced ‘stories’ which are psychological. We enter the artist’s mind and heart, observe the world as he sees and experiences it. The observations are tender, in keeping with a temperament which refuses despair. Instead, we become kindred spirits on a human path, because what Dooh reminds us of is the need to remain human when all liberty is stripped away, fraternal and familial comfort denied us, our movements monitored, our sovereignty revoked.
There are few things more futile than the attempt to accurately define The Brother Moves On (TBMO). One is left only with somewhat vague and open-ended concepts like "collective" and "ensemble", which do a better descriptive service to the cause, than the word "band" ever could.
Slaapstad was never ready for what’s about to hit them! Daai Deng – a moving experience is hosting their fourth installation at Greatmore Studios in Woodstock on 29 May, with legendary headliners Makhafula Vilakazi and Niko10long.
It was a strange disease, embodying the characteristics of severe flu. She was sick with it. She was seventy years old. Many years ago when she was a young woman she had a daughter, and the daughter had a son, and when her daughter died from complications resulting from birth, she was left with her grandson and she clutched on to him like how she did her purse when she went to town.
Femi Koya, a contemporary Fela Anikulapo Kuti, ploughs a familiar furrow, with a strong focus on the horns and plenty of up-tempo percussions. The Ankara-draped musician exudes such vitality and vigour. Koya is not your typical band leader, although he takes center stage during performances, his repertoire relies on how he seamlessly blends his voice, style and saxophone into the band’s overall sound. He carries out a groovy trademark paired with his entrancing narrative voice, that, matched with his band’s background vocals, paired with muscular drum lines among other well-timed indigenous African instruments, creates an amazing synchronicity. His sound, a high-energy gumbo that compels one to dance but is nuanced enough for one to immerse themselves in and simply listen.
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