DR THOKOZANI MHLAMBI AT THE KZNSA

 

(Left: Dr Thokozani Mhlambi with cello. Pic supplied)

 

An evening of Afrofuturism: the music of John Knox Bokwe

Internationally-acclaimed cellist, vocalist, and cultural pioneer, Dr Thokozani Mhlambi, will present a one-of-a-kind concert, playing music by John Knox Bokwe at the KZNSA Gallery, on Friday November 28, 2025, at 18h00.

Entitled, Thokozani Mhlambi: Playing John Knox Bokwe Today, Mhlambi will be joined by special guest, award-winning storyteller Dr Gcina Mhlophe. He says: “I hope that this performance is more than a concert; it’s an invitation to witness a stunning exploration of sound, words, and shared history.”

“We hope guests will experience a genre-bending evening where tradition meets the future,” says Mhlambi who plays a custom-made baroque cello and sings in isiZulu, blending the rhythms of African traditional anthems like indlamu and umtshotsho with the ethereal soundscapes of Afrofuturism.

With fellowships at prestigious institutions in Germany and France, and as an honorary member of the Vancouver Folk Song Society, Mhlambi’s influence spans continents. He has performed at renowned venues in Chicago, Berlin, New Orleans, New York, and São Paulo, but his return to Durban audiences promises an intimate and immersive experience.

The show coincides with the release of Mhlambi’s new single, Plea for Africa, a heritage piece originally composed by John Knox Bokwe. Mhlambi explains the influence of the piece on his work:

“John Knox Bokwe was a South African journalist, Presbyterian minister and one of the most celebrated Xhosa hymn writers and musicians (March 15, 1855 – February 22, 1922). A writer on the Imvo Zabantsundu newspaper ("African Opinion") in (what was) King Williams Town, he is best known for his compositions Vuka Deborah, Plea for Africa, and Marriage Song. Bokwe is recognized as the first-known Black South African composer to have notated his own music, marking a significant point in South African musical history.

“Back in the 1870s, John Knox Bokwe, while at Lovedale Missionary Institute, started to compose music fusing the Western hymn-style with Xhosa lyrics. I consider John Knox Bokwe the Father of African composition. He is my role model. His music is timeless and imagine the music of the future.”

The performance in Durban promises to be informative and entertaining—creating an unforgettable evening of connection and collaboration.

In his album Zulu Song Cycle (2019), Mhlambi explores the limits of creative expression by blurring the distinction between European early classical music and African ancient sounds, this is in ways that defy the orthodoxy of his own classical education. Contending with orthodoxies and the rules they impose is what Mhlambi does best, by inverting, subverting what (to some) might be the norm.

Mhlambi has dedicated his time to retrieving historical sounds from archives, based on collections in Africa and elsewhere. The result has been compositions that reflects different epochs, different time zones in human evolution.

He has an interest in the relationship between art and technology, an interest he explores through his research on African traditions of metallurgy. This has allowed Mhlambi to think about the nature of artistic expertise in correlation with metallurgical expertise, in his musical compositions.  Chief amongst Mhlambi’s theoretical concerns is about thinking beyond the colonial sound archive, in imagining a sonic past and future.

In 2023, Mhlambi was invited to be part of the Reimagining America Program 2023, where he worked with youth string-players from the city of Providence (Rhode Island).

He is an Honorary Member of the Vancouver Folk Song Society and has also been a visiting lecturer at Simon Fraser University also in Vancouver, where he performed at the World Arts Centre. He has performed at the venues such as Elastic Arts in Chicago, Prachtwerk in Berlin, Minneapolis, New Orleans (Tulane), São Paulo, Maputo (Mozambique) and New York (Performa).

Tickets through Webtickets - https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.aspx?itemid=1580090440

Thokozani Mhlambi: Playing John Knox Bokwe Today takes place on November 28, 2025, at 18h00 at the KZNSA Gallery, 166 Bulwer Road, Berea, Durban.

For more information visit his website at thokozanimhlambi.com

 

BASSEY AND ME

 

(Left: Tonya Koenderman. Pic supplied)

 

Acclaimed international cabaret artist Tonya Koenderman is set to dazzle audiences with her latest show, Bassey and Me — a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Dame Shirley Bassey.

Rhumbelow Theatre will present this show as follows:

November 21 - Rhumbelow Northlands Bowling Club. Show starts 19h30

November 22 – Rhumbelow Umbilo. Show starts at 19h30

November 23 – Rhumbelow Umbilo. Show starts at 14h00

 

(Venues open 90 minutes before show for snacks/drinks)

After more than 60 years in show business, Dame Shirley Bassey remains an icon, and Bassey and Me celebrates her extraordinary journey from humble beginnings to international superstardom. The show features many of the timeless hits that defined her career, including Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, Never Never Never, Big Spender, Nobody Does It Like Me, and This Is My Life, amongst others.

Koenderman not only delivers Bassey’s powerful songs but also narrates her story — the struggles, the heartbreaks, and the triumphs. She shares the personal impact Bassey had on her own life, recalling how a shy little girl with a big belting voice was inspired by Sundays spent listening to Bassey records over and over again. The show draws parallels between the two performers, highlighting the qualities that first drew Tonya to her idol.

Don’t miss this unforgettable tribute to one of the greatest voices of our time.

Tickets R180.00. Booking is essential on email: roland@stansell.co.za or through WEBTICKETS http://events.durbantheatre.com/

Full bar available (no alcohol may be brought on to the premises)

Durban – Bring food picnic baskets or buy at the venue

Northlands - Bring food picnic baskets.

 

Performance on Friday November 21 R160 for Northlands Members

Limited secure parking available.

For more information contact 0824998636.

DRAKENSBERG BOYS CHOIR NOËL TOUR 2025

 

The wait is over! Tickets are now LIVE for the Drakensberg Boys Choir Noël Tour 2025 – The Promise of Light. Experience a journey from sacred stillness to joyous celebration across KwaZulu-Natal this festive season.

 

Tour dates:

22 Nov – DBCS Ken Mackenzie Auditorium, Drakensberg (10h30)

23 Nov – Michaelhouse, Balgowan (14h30)

24 Nov – Wembley College, Greytown (18h00)

25 Nov – Newcastle High (18h00)

26 Nov – Grantleigh, Richards Bay (18h00)

27 Nov – Reddam Ballito (18h00)

28 Nov – St Agnes, Kloof (19h00)

30 Nov – Reddam Umhlanga (18h00)

 

Special guest artist: Jannie du Toit joins the opening shows in Drakensberg (November 22) and Balgowan (November 23) – don’t miss this icon performing his hits and timeless Jacques Brel classics.

Book now at www.dbchoir.com/bookings.

#DBCS #NoelTour2025 #PromiseOfLight #MusicIsOurMinistry

 

SAKHILE GUMEDE FOR 47th INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

 

(Right: Sakhile Gumede. Photo supplied)

The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Sakhile Gumede as the Festival Manager for  the 47^th edition of the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) in 2026.

Gumede is no stranger to the CCA and has been working  in various roles since 2006.  Since 2018 Gumede has led DIFF’s Isiphethu Programme, the festival’s training and development arm with core components that include Student Films, the IsiZulu Scriptwriting Workshop, and an Industry Programme of workshops and masterclasses. 

He previously served for many years as coordinator and programmer of the DIFF Shorts section, and in 2007 completed a course in Event Organising and Film Festival Management at DW Akademie (Germany).

Currently, Sakhile curates the Science Film Festival (in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg) and the Poetry Africa Film Festival, which forms part of the renowned Poetry Africa Festival. He has built strong relationships with art centres and communities across KwaZulu-Natal, as well as with Durban-based film schools.

Gumede has represented DIFF globally at prestigious events such as the Berlinale in Germany, in Switzerland  and in Brazil at Mostra de Cinemas Africanos. He recently visited to Fuzhou, China as part of the South African film delegation and will serve as a jury member at Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt during March 2026.

“My vision is to continue to position DIFF as a leading festival for African and South African films,” says Gumede. “We will strengthen DIFF’s role as a bridge between filmmakers on the continent and those abroad, deepen our relationship with South African audiences, and uphold integrity and promote excellence in filmmaking through diverse perspectives in our programming and through robust engagement with an advisory committee. Guided by the values of our Constitution, we will celebrate human resilience, freedom of speech, and democracy, while building strong partnerships with festivals across Africa through skill-sharing, collaboration and exchanges. I look forward to this new role and  engaging with the industry to find innovative and collaborative ways to grow this iconic festival.”

Ismail Mahomed, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts, says: “We are delighted to welcome Sakhile into this role. His track record in development and community engagement, alongside his African outlook in the context of South Africa’s role on the global stage, positions DIFF for a dynamic new chapter.”

For more information on the Centre for Creative Arts, click on the advert to the right of this article and you will be connected to the CCA website.

THE PREDICAMENT: REVIEW

 

Overall, I enjoyed this offering, by one of my favourite authors, and I will certainly be on the lookout for the final Gabriel Dax novel. (Review by Fiona de Goede)

 

In the preface, the author has cited a quotation (which he translated from French) by Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1957: There is the story – and then there is the story within the story.  And then there is another story, buried, that only a select few are able to read.

This indeed sums up the premise of The Predicament. Gabriel Dax, travel writer and reluctant operative for MI6, is sent to Guatemala to try and ascertain whether a political coup of the current regime is being plotted.

Whilst there, he encounters various unsavoury characters and events hot up. Gabriel has to leave Guatemala in somewhat of a hurry and he then finds himself in West Berlin. Much to his horror, he then stumbles upon an audacious plan to assassinate the young President John F Kennedy, whilst on a state visit to Berlin. Several of the unsavoury characters that he encountered in the Guatemala scenario, crop up again. Gabriel has to thwart this assassination attempt but time is very much against him.

The story is set in 1963 – when spies and agents were a very different breed than they are (I would imagine) today. Gabriel is taught the basic skills of self-defense and the artifice of following a suspect. That more or less is the extent of his training – no gadgets, no frills.  Just his innate sense of knowing what to do and how to react.  And this is what made reading this novel such a treat.

The elegance, style and polish that is Gabriel Dax was a pleasure to read and I found myself enthralled with this character. His sartorial elegance, his fine dining menu choices and his overall man-about-town aura is just too wonderful.

Gabriel’s love interest is the mysterious Faith Green, his MI6 handler. She never allows him to get too close to her but Gabriel does manage to win her over, to some extent, albeit mostly on her terms.  Clearly a woman ahead of her time…

The Predicament is the second book in the Gabriel Dax trilogy – the prequel, which I have not read, being Gabriel’s Moon. Overall, I enjoyed this offering, by one of my favourite authors, and I will certainly be on the lookout for the final Gabriel Dax novel. Hopefully soon. - Fiona de Goede 

The Predicament is published by Penguin Random House South Africa   ISBN 978-0-241-76114-4

THE ORIGINAL DAUGHTER: REVIEW

 

The creation of highly competitive working-class life in Singapore is interesting and convincing (Review by Margaret von Klemperer, courtesy of The Witness)

 

Jemimah Wei’s debut novel, The Original Daughter, is a complex tale of messy family dynamics, sibling rivalry, affection turning to resentment and, above all, perceived betrayal.

The story opens in 2015, in Singapore, where the Yang family live. Downtrodden Gen is caring for her dying mother who wants her to contact her estranged sister Arin who is living a glamorous and successful life abroad and to ask her to come back and say goodbye. But Gen cannot bring herself to do that.

We then go back to 1996 when eight-year-old Gen is living with her taxi-driver father, librarian mother and difficult grandmother in the same small flat as in the novel’s opening chapter, and is an only child. Until the sudden arrival of a “sister” who is not actually a sister but a family member through complicated and difficult relationships. A year younger than Gen, she has come from Malaysia and has been uprooted from the only family she has ever known, but is inevitably a disruption to the lives of the Yangs.

So Gen takes her under her wing and, as they negotiate childhood and adolescence, they become close. But rifts begin to develop – Gen is protective of “her” family and sees some of Arin’s actions as manipulative, and, while Gen was initially the driven one, the high achiever, that begins to change. Singapore is a relentlessly competitive society, one where coming second is never good enough. So, as things start to unravel once the girls reach adulthood, Gen moves to New Zealand.

However, it is not an entirely successful move, and when things go badly, Arin comes to help. And that is where their estrangement really takes hold and what seems to be a permanent rift between the two develops.

While Wei has drawn a lifelike picture of how close relationships can fall apart, and deals sensitively with the difficulties that can arise in families, towards the latter part of the book, before Gen does return to Singapore, the reader cannot help feeling that she makes too much of an issue of it all. The Original Daughter is a long novel, and towards the end, I was beginning to feel that it could have been written a little more tightly without losing any of its impact.

Nonetheless, the writing is descriptive and evocative. The creation of highly competitive working-class life in Singapore is interesting and convincing.  Gen, the first-person narrator of the novel, is a mostly sympathetic character, even as we regret some of the choices she makes. It is an impressive debut. - Margaret von Klemperer

The Original Daughter is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

KZNPO 2025 SPRING SEASON CONCERT #2

 

The second and final concert of the KZN Philharmonic’s 2025 World Symphony Spring Season takes place in The Playhouse Opera on Thursday November 13, starting at 19h00.

Grammy Award-winning conductor Michael Repper makes his KZN Philharmonic debut on November 13 with a programme of English, Austrian and German classics spanning the late 18th and 19th centuries – curated to afford the audience an evening of contrasting musical adventures.  Maestro Repper opens with Elgar’s idyllic Serenade for Strings.

Haydn's joyous D major Cello Concerto heralds the debut appearance of the acclaimed Norwegian cellist Sandra Lied Haga. Her interpretation is eagerly awaited as she puts her stamp on its wealth of melodies and bravura passages. The evening climaxes in high spirits with the youthful vigour and optimism of the teenage Felix ebullient Mendelssohn's First Symphony.

There are park and bus options for patrons who would prefer not to self-drive to the concerts. There are routes from Upper Highway, St Agnes (depart 17h50); North Coast, Grace Family Church (depart 18h10); Westville Senior Primary (depart 18h10) and Berea Caister Lodge (depart 18h20). Book through the KZN Phil offices before 16h00 Monday before each concert.

KZN Philharmonic tickets are available at Quicket outlets.

For more information, call 031-369 9438, email bookings@kznphil.org.za or visit www.kznphil.org.za.

 

To link to the KZNPO’s website, click on the advert at the top right hand of this article.

 

AMAQHAWE ESIZWE MUSIC FESTIVAL

 

Celebrate South Africa’s cultural heroes and spiritual artistry at the Amaqhawe Esizwe Music Festival! Experience dynamic gospel and traditional performances from talented artists, including Bahubhe, Amayellowbone, Solwazi, Gadla Nxumalo and more.

This special event honours local and international South African representatives recognised by His Majesty the King and the SA State President, showcasing unity, excellence and the rich spirit of South African music.

The festival takes place on November 15 at 12h00 in the Playhouse Opera Theatre.

Tickets: R150 – R200 available at Webtickets

MASINGA – THE CALLING

Showmax has just dropped the trailer for Masinga – The Calling, which premieres on the African streamer on Friday, December 5, 2025.

Filmed in KwaZulu-Natal and London, Masinga – The Calling won Best Director and Best Screenplay for Mark Engels at both the 2025 Simon Mabhunu Sabela Awards in Durban and The Palermo Independent International Film Festival in Italy. 

The crime thriller explores an exiled detective's return to his homeland, where he is forced to confront the demons of his youth and the trauma of the ritual murder of his young brother who had albinism, while rescuing an Asian girl from a similar fate.

In the title role, SAFTA winner Hakeem Kae-Kazeem (Pirates of Caribbean, Hotel Rwanda) leads a star-studded cast that includes Shamilla Miller (The Umbrella Men, Devil's Peak) as his rookie partner, plus SAFTA winners Abdul Khoza (Shaka iLembe, The Wife), Fana Mokoena (World War Z, The Lab), Warren Masemola (The Republic, Tjovitjo), and Brandon Auret (Elysium, District 9, Rebel Moon), as well as Sean Cameron Michael (Black Sails, Die Byl) and Mbuso Khoza, who took home Best Supporting Actor at the 2025 Simon Mabhunu Sabela Awards.

News24’s Joel Ontong says, “Masinga - The Calling packs a powerful punch… The pacing is airtight, resulting in an instantly enthralling experience.”

Watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdB9RcNWpHE

GETTING TESTED

 

Presented by Njingayombuso Investment (Pty) Ltd in association with The Playhouse Company, Getting Tested is a powerful theatre production inspired by the true stories of five female dancers who meet for rehearsal, each from vastly different backgrounds but united in their pursuit of healing, identity and expression.

Through music, dance, and drama, their stories unfold, Mandisi, a bubbly soul with painful secrets; Smah, trapped by tradition; Gugu, battling privilege and illness; Nto, overcoming hate and reclaiming her voice and Matilda, embracing self-love after years of body-shaming.

This 45-minute production celebrates womanhood, resilience and transformation, drawing inspiration from the women of 1956 to the heroines of today.

Getting Tested runs from November 13 to 15, 2025, at 10h00 in The Playhouse Loft Theatre.

Tickets: R50 - R100 available at Webtickets

 

CECCHETTI KZN GALA PERFORMANCE

Experience an unforgettable evening of grace, artistry, and talent as KwaZulu-Natal’s finest dancers take the stage for the Annual Cecchetti KZN Gala Performance. This dazzling showcase celebrates excellence in dance, blending passion and precision in every movement.

Don’t miss this spectacular celebration of dance, a night that promises to inspire and captivate audiences of all ages!

The show takes place on November 15 at 13h00 in the Playhouse Drama Theatre.

Tickets: R180 available at Webtickets

KZNPO SPRING SEASON 2025 CONCERT 1: REVIEW

 

(Second violin tutti player Deidre Cicilie and Second violin, Cadet Nicola Botha preparing for Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending. Photo by Shelley Kjonstad)

 

Concert 1 of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s World Symphony Series took place in The Playhouse Opera on November 6, 2025. (Review by David Smith)

While the KZNPO proceeds with its policy of two-concert seasons, its sister orchestra in Johannesburg luxuriates in a four-concert stretch. Durban benefits from some of the visiting conductors and artists arriving in the country. Interestingly, the Cape Town Philharmonic’s current five-concert summer season shares with its national counterparts only one artist, the violinist Jack Liebeck.

It has to be said that in him they have picked a winner. Liebeck dominated the first half of last Thursday’s concert in the most felicitous way, by pairing Vaughan Williams’s Romance for violin and orchestra, The Lark Ascending, with Saint-Säens’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in a composite ‘concerto’ that, however unlikely a hybrid on paper, together made a tasteful and appealing impact.

The lark-inspired piece is a great favourite, evoking not only the English countryside in a quieter age but opening a vein of mysticism that shines through the finest of Vaughan Williams’s music. Quite apart from his impeccable intonation, Liebeck’s playing invested the highly embellished line with a purity and directness that disarmed the listener from the first sounds.

There was nothing ‘technical’ about the effects of swooping, wheeling and fluttering: the ‘magic’ arose from the soloist’s masterly bowing, which was sweet, infinitely sensitive to gradations and ‘breathing’, and in both its sonorous and aerial qualities, added up to an authoritative account, to which conductor Daniel Boico joined the sustained orchestral surging with wonderful effect.

Saint-Säens wrote his work with an exceptional young soloist in mind – Pablo de Sarasate – and provided a languorous prelude that gives way to a swaggering, mercurial rondo of jewel-like brilliance. Liebeck rendered it with satisfying poise, and a vigorous despatch of the showy passages that dot the composition, over the orchestra’s thrumming gestures.

The purely orchestral items of the concert were Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture (1787) and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, ‘Eroica’ (1803). The former is a pungent seven-minute preamble to the opera that manages to communicate both its solemn drama and its racy energy, even with the change of context from theatre pit to platform, and the over-assertive concert ending that replaces the run-on structure of the overture into Act 1. The work had barely begun when the primacy of the string-playing became obvious, and the contest for a balance with the wind instruments was commenced. Boico gave what he could (more of that below), but the music was largely in the hands of the ensemble, and they showed a determination to make this revered overture ‘work’.

Using orchestral forces that correspond closely to Mozart’s, the Beethoven symphony is a challenge of a different order. Again, the strings had to strive for their place in the aural picture, and punched above their limited number. But this symphony is an unprecedentedly lengthy work (double the duration of most of its predecessors), which, quite apart from the mental stamina required, demands the utmost responsibility from all the players. Boico made it clear, by his gestures and in his sonic detailing, that the sweep of the work required long-phrase thinking to support the rich surface variety. Inasmuch as the orchestra assumed this task, it proved capable of rising to the heights of this composition. (The horns, for example, featured beautifully in the scherzo.) But it takes a settled and alert body of players to dovetail the varying rhythmic patterns of the funeral march, and some of that proved nervous stuff. Likewise, the complex wind contributions work to greatest advantage when their tuning is finely calculated: this was sometimes not the case.

All the sterling work delivered, however, will provide a basis in the coming week for the second of these symphonic excursions. - David Smith

The second – and final – concert of the Spring Season will take place on Thursday, November 13, 2025, at 19h00 in the Playhouse Opera.

Tickets are available at Quicket outlets. For more information, call 031-369 9438, email bookings@kznphil.org.za  or visit www.kznphil.org.za

To link to the KZNPO’s website, click on the advert at the top right-hand corner of this article.