National Arts Festival Fringe 2011
More than 350 productions, exhibitions and concerts will again provide a platform to showcase the work of emerging and established artists from around South Africa, Africa and the world on the 2011 National Arts Festival Fringe, from June 30 to July 10 in Grahamstown.
Contemporary Dance highlights include The Matchbox Theatre Collective’s The Anatomy of Weather, choreographed by Nicola Haskins and Bailey Snyman, with consulting choreographer PJ Sabbagha; Flatfoot Dance Company’s Bhakti, a dance theatre work that explores the meeting of Eastern mystical philosophy and African contemporary dance rhythms; and The Language We Cry In, a première collaboration between the Amaphiko Township Dance Project, Ubom! Eastern Cape Drama Company, and the Kingswood College Concert Band. Dance Spectrum is an ensemble of ballet, contemporary dance, jazz and Spanish flamenco performed by talented learners from the National School of Arts Dance Department; while Gumfusion, by SAreal Performing Arts and Artistree, includes a new style of dance that fuses tribal belly dancing with gumboot and physical theatre. The Reverb Dance Company from England returns to the Festival with Spring Board, and the Northern Dance Project brings Visions Du Mouvement. The Indigenous Dance line-up includes the Umngqungqo Ensemble, Maqubuthuli, Sukumani Makhosikazi, Masonwabe and Siyavuma Makhosi traditional dance groups.
On the Physical Theatre front, the programme includes OddBody Theatre’s 3 Acts of Love, Future Line Arts Academy’s Going Back to My Roots, Cape Town Edge’s Mafikeng Road and First Physical Theatre Company’s New Voices 2011 and Propeller.
Drama highlights include Melisizwe Community Theatre’s Children of the Soil, a play highlighting the plight of abandoned children; James Cairns’ and Taryn Bennett’s première of Sie Weiss Alles; and Umsindo Theatre projects’ To Be Like This Rock, written by Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Drama 2011 Neil Coppen. Mike van Graan is back at the Festival with Is It Because I'm Jack?; the Rother Swain Drama Studio brings Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys, and Windybrow Theatre in partnership with the National Arts Council bring Modus Vivendi and Sacred Women. Lara Bye’s 2010 Standard Bank Ovation Award winning London Road returns to the Festival as does Mouche, a 2008 ‘pick of the Fringe’ by ZikkaZimba Productions. Penn State University (USA) takes Shakespeare’s Hamlet to the streets in th e multicultural, hip hop musical, Revenge of the King, and KBT productions, with support from Culture Ireland, present Fiona York in the critically acclaimed Rose, a portrayal of the life of a feisty Jewish woman and the events that shaped a century.
Animal Fantasy and Leonard the Lion Cub by Puppet World, the Affie-Toneelgroep’s Brolloks en Bittergal, Dr Pocket's Ocean Commotion and The Land Of The Cranes by Ubom! Eastern Cape Drama Company are a few of the productions on the Family Theatre programme, catering specifically for children and families.
The Festival Fringe is notorious for its Comedy acts, and this year is no different, with more than 40 gigs on offer. Returning favourites include The Most Amazing Show with Corne and Twakkie, Matthew Ribnick’s Monkey Nuts, Rob van Vuuren, David Newton, Dr Stef, Martin Evans and Siv Ngesi. Theatre for Africa brings the 22nd edition of Raiders – Rocket Raiders, and Butler’s Pizza support, Justin Wilkinson’s fourth episode of the hugely popular whodunit series, Butlers and Blackmail. Mark Sampson has a brand new show, Africa Clockwise, that keeps one eye on the environment while cracking its audience up; Whacked Management present the winner of the Best Newcomer at the 2011 Comic Choice Awards, Daniel Friedman in Deeply Fried; and The Durban Comedy Invasion makes its debut in Grahamstown, bringing Durban’s hottest stand-up comedians together – Gareth Woods, Glen Bo, Jem Atkins and Dusty Rich. Stuart Lightbody returns with his mesmerising adult magic in Stuperstition and newcomer Brendon Peel plies his psychological illusions on an unsuspecting audience in Mind Games. Clare Mortimer directs The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) , an irreverent romp through all 37 of the bard’s plays in just 97 minutes; and Rich Orlaff’s comic vaudeville Romantic Fools is brought to hilarious life by Kelly Kowalski and Raymond Rudolph. Live and Kicking sums up the Festival comedies – prepare for an unplanned, uncensored, and unbelievably funny line-up of the best comics in town – booking is essential!
The Cabaret / Revue category welcomes on stage Follow Spot Productions with the 2010 Standard Bank Ovation winning Big Boys don’t Dance and their new production, Absolucy, starring Lucy Holgate. Cape Town-based five-voice vocal group, Track 5, present Date with Duke – a harmonious tribute to Duke Ellington and other well-known jazz composers; and Robert Ian Caldwell and Jeff Judge return to Grahamstown with A Green Number and Rolska Productions present a new show – What’s in a Name – a follow-up to their 2010 hit I Love you, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Boschwhacked Productions present Rose Red with Dianne Simpson and Dawid Boverhoff and FFF Productions present Feathers for Flight.
Two dozen Musical Theatre productions combine the best acting, dancing and singing talent for the Fringe stages. A few highlights to note include Scenes from Soweto by Soyikwa Theatre Company, a descriptive performance that takes the audience through the ins and outs of the life of Sowetans; Re-Alignment 1 by Sibikwa Art Centre, an innovative inter-active musical experience; and the Ghanaian production The Heritage of Africa, a story of slavery in Africa from the stables of the Royal Kishts Theatre, Accra. The East London Guild Theatre’s Castaway is a musical that follows the riveting tale of Bessie, an orphan of the ocean who grows into a beautiful young woman, falls in love and becomes the matriarch of the abeLungu. Yes! Today I Am a Man by the Gcaleka Cultural Ensemble illustrates the preparations that boys take to become men through initiation school.
The Fringe Music programme is packed, with over 50 gigs showcasing classical music, rock, hip hop, jazz, kwaito, gospel and more. Returning favourites include Shannon Hope, Gary Thomas, Guy Buttery, Meri Kenaz, Shackles & Bones, U-diverse and Ginsburg & Herman. Tony Cox and Steve Newman play together again after 30 years in Return of the Road Warriors, and, in addition to his Main Programme appearance with Boo!, Chris Chameleon also has two solo shows at the Cuervo Music Room. Ex-Tree63 front man John Ellis brings his solo show to the Festival, and Heather Mac (ex-Elemental) returns to Grahamstown after more than a decade’s absence. Artic Jinn, Laurie Levine & Lize Wiid, The Mee Brothers and Chris Letcher all make their Grahamstown debuts and the Homegrown Music Jam Junction hosts four nights of acoustic collaborations and improvisational jams.
The Urban Lounge has been relocated to Bots Gardens and promises to be the place for good late night music and dancing. Gospel Africa will showcase some of South Africa’s best known gospel artists in two special Spiritfest performances at the Cathedral. On the contemporary classical side, there are recitals by the Piano Duo Molto (Mahler 5), Mia Pistorious, Widor du Toit and Barbara-Ann Horsfield (Reflections); orchestral concerts by the Affies Orchestra and CAFCA; and a cappella music from The Boulevard Harmonists (More Great Goosebump A Cappella), The Soil and Bishops College’s Simply Blue.
Around 60 exhibitions will also be up as part of the Fringe Visual Art showcase. There’s also the Re-imagining Creative Practice in Sustainability conference (from July 2 – 10), packed Wordfest and Spiritfest programmes, performance poetry, bus tours, art walkabouts, workshops, street theatre, free stages, crafts, buskers, street parades, a deluge of food from all quarters, and more … a lot more!
Tickets for this year’s Festival booked through Computicket. Booking kits available from selected Standard Bank Branches, selected Exclusive Books and all Computickets. For more information on the programme, accommodation and travel options visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Also join the National Arts Festival group on Facebook for all the latest competitions and news, or follow us on Twitter. Call 046 603 1103 for more info.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
DIFF 2011
The Durban International Film Festival’s 32nd edition takes place from July 21 to 31 and will present over 200 screenings of films from around the world, with a focus on films from South Africa and Africa. Screenings take place throughout Durban including township areas where cinemas are non-existent.
The festival also offers an extensive seminar and workshop programme featuring local and international filmmakers, and the return of the very successful Talent Campus Durban (in cooperation with Berlinale Talent Campus) which sees some 40 young film-makers from Africa converge on Durban for five days of intensive workshops, seminars and masterclasses.
In addition the 2nd Durban FilmMart, a joint project of the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival, is a co-production market which incorporates a Producers’ Forum and a Finance Forum. Experts in various fields within the film industry present workshops and masterclasses at the Producers’ Forum and the Finance forum calls for potential projects from Africa from which 12 are selected, mentored and then presented to potential financiers.
The Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre For Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with support by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, HIVOS, City Of Durban, German Embassy, Goethe Institut, Industrial Development Corporation, Commonwealth Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture, and a range of other valued partners.
For more information call +27 (0)31 260 2506 or email diff@ukzn.ac.za, click on the banner advert at the top of this page or visit www.cca.ukzn.ac.za
The festival also offers an extensive seminar and workshop programme featuring local and international filmmakers, and the return of the very successful Talent Campus Durban (in cooperation with Berlinale Talent Campus) which sees some 40 young film-makers from Africa converge on Durban for five days of intensive workshops, seminars and masterclasses.
In addition the 2nd Durban FilmMart, a joint project of the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival, is a co-production market which incorporates a Producers’ Forum and a Finance Forum. Experts in various fields within the film industry present workshops and masterclasses at the Producers’ Forum and the Finance forum calls for potential projects from Africa from which 12 are selected, mentored and then presented to potential financiers.
The Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre For Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with support by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, HIVOS, City Of Durban, German Embassy, Goethe Institut, Industrial Development Corporation, Commonwealth Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture, and a range of other valued partners.
For more information call +27 (0)31 260 2506 or email diff@ukzn.ac.za, click on the banner advert at the top of this page or visit www.cca.ukzn.ac.za
PUBLIC SCULPTURE COMPETITION
Public Sculpture Competition Briefing on June 6 from 12h00 to 14h00.
EThekwini Municipality is inviting visual artists to conceptualise and produce a public monumental art work (not less than 5 metres high) for the City's first Annual Public Sculpture Competition.
Preliminary two-dimensional or three-dimensional visual ideas should be prepared for consideration by an independent adjudicating panel. The artist of a winning entry will be commissioned to execute an artwork of monumental scale that will be installed in a strategic spatial spot in Durban. The creation should add to the existing aesthetic hallmarks of the City (such as the Moses Mabhida Stadium). This work should serve as a major visual anchor that embraces the unique identity of Durban, and make a compelling statement about creativity and art in the age of numerous global changes. It must also enhance the status of Durban as a dominant cultural capital of the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Some of the qualities of innovativeness that competing artists should bear in mind include the following:
The work should easily lend itself to being viewed as a compellingly appealing creation. This appeal should defy the passing of time and outsiders should wish to return to Durban in order to meditate in front of its grandeur. It may possess both fine art and utilitarian qualities but durable enough to defy deterioration factors..
The work should be controversial in terms of raising socially relevant issues that are often taken for granted. It should be forceful enough to kindle contestations around issues that are often treated as hot potatoes by ordinary citizens and those in positions of power.
The work should be accessible through the senses of sight, touch and hearing (a highly developed technology can make this ideal come true without being environmentally unfriendly - no strain on energy resources). The artist may even use the work as a simulation of the City clock tower, marking the spot as a directional device even for the partially sighted.
The winning artist will receive an amount of R250 000. An appropriate production fee will be provided.
Entry forms will be available at the Durban Art Gallery and the Natural Science Museum from June 6, 2011. All interested artists are required to submit the entry form, which must be accompanied by a proposal (this must include relevant visual aids such as drawings) and a CV with two contactable references by June 30, 2011, to the Durban Art Gallery. Submissions must be both in electronic and hard-copy form.
A briefing session for interested artists will be held on June 6 at 12h00 at the Durban Art Gallery. A shortlist of seven artists will then be drawn up, and the selected artists will be asked to submit detailed proposals, including maquettes by June 25. The final work must be finished and ready for unveiling by September 23, 2011.
For more information contact the Durban Art Gallery Education Officer, Ms Witty Nyide or email NyideW@durban.gov.za
(Considering the recent debacle of Andries Botha’s statue of King Shaka at the new airport and his series of elephants at Warwick Avenue, artists are advised to be completely aware of what is required of them and to understand their intellectual property rights. See www.facebook.com/pages/Save...Elephant.../305226519506)
EThekwini Municipality is inviting visual artists to conceptualise and produce a public monumental art work (not less than 5 metres high) for the City's first Annual Public Sculpture Competition.
Preliminary two-dimensional or three-dimensional visual ideas should be prepared for consideration by an independent adjudicating panel. The artist of a winning entry will be commissioned to execute an artwork of monumental scale that will be installed in a strategic spatial spot in Durban. The creation should add to the existing aesthetic hallmarks of the City (such as the Moses Mabhida Stadium). This work should serve as a major visual anchor that embraces the unique identity of Durban, and make a compelling statement about creativity and art in the age of numerous global changes. It must also enhance the status of Durban as a dominant cultural capital of the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Some of the qualities of innovativeness that competing artists should bear in mind include the following:
The work should easily lend itself to being viewed as a compellingly appealing creation. This appeal should defy the passing of time and outsiders should wish to return to Durban in order to meditate in front of its grandeur. It may possess both fine art and utilitarian qualities but durable enough to defy deterioration factors..
The work should be controversial in terms of raising socially relevant issues that are often taken for granted. It should be forceful enough to kindle contestations around issues that are often treated as hot potatoes by ordinary citizens and those in positions of power.
The work should be accessible through the senses of sight, touch and hearing (a highly developed technology can make this ideal come true without being environmentally unfriendly - no strain on energy resources). The artist may even use the work as a simulation of the City clock tower, marking the spot as a directional device even for the partially sighted.
The winning artist will receive an amount of R250 000. An appropriate production fee will be provided.
Entry forms will be available at the Durban Art Gallery and the Natural Science Museum from June 6, 2011. All interested artists are required to submit the entry form, which must be accompanied by a proposal (this must include relevant visual aids such as drawings) and a CV with two contactable references by June 30, 2011, to the Durban Art Gallery. Submissions must be both in electronic and hard-copy form.
A briefing session for interested artists will be held on June 6 at 12h00 at the Durban Art Gallery. A shortlist of seven artists will then be drawn up, and the selected artists will be asked to submit detailed proposals, including maquettes by June 25. The final work must be finished and ready for unveiling by September 23, 2011.
For more information contact the Durban Art Gallery Education Officer, Ms Witty Nyide or email NyideW@durban.gov.za
(Considering the recent debacle of Andries Botha’s statue of King Shaka at the new airport and his series of elephants at Warwick Avenue, artists are advised to be completely aware of what is required of them and to understand their intellectual property rights. See www.facebook.com/pages/Save...Elephant.../305226519506)
PUBLIC ART INTERVENTION
Invitation to artists for a public art intervention on June 1 from 10h00 to 12h00.
EThekwini Municipality is looking for 40 visual artists and crafters who will be given the opportunity to intersperse strategic urban spaces and create outstanding and innovative artwork. The final portfolio, titled, Who Am I.......Ngingubani? will be showcased in September 2011.
Selection for these artists will be done at 10h00 on June 1 2011 at the Durban Art Gallery. All the selected participants will be expected to work for certain hours a day and transport fees will be provided. They will also be given materials to produce work, and the outcome of the works will form part of the Heritage exhibition that will be held in September 2011.
A selection of works from the Durban Art Gallery's permanent collection will be displayed alongside these new creations, therefore providing a sense of continuity in terms of current discourses.
Given the City's diverse and dynamic society, a web of old and new histories that are inscribed on the City's central business district, the greater eThekwini metropolis, the guiding theme is My Heritage- My Identity. Artists' interpretations of this theme may engage the paradigms that include land, space, environment and culture.
For more information call the eThekwini Municipality's Spokesperson, Mr Thabo Mofokeng, on 082 731 7456 or email mofokengthabo@durban.gov.za.
EThekwini Municipality is looking for 40 visual artists and crafters who will be given the opportunity to intersperse strategic urban spaces and create outstanding and innovative artwork. The final portfolio, titled, Who Am I.......Ngingubani? will be showcased in September 2011.
Selection for these artists will be done at 10h00 on June 1 2011 at the Durban Art Gallery. All the selected participants will be expected to work for certain hours a day and transport fees will be provided. They will also be given materials to produce work, and the outcome of the works will form part of the Heritage exhibition that will be held in September 2011.
A selection of works from the Durban Art Gallery's permanent collection will be displayed alongside these new creations, therefore providing a sense of continuity in terms of current discourses.
Given the City's diverse and dynamic society, a web of old and new histories that are inscribed on the City's central business district, the greater eThekwini metropolis, the guiding theme is My Heritage- My Identity. Artists' interpretations of this theme may engage the paradigms that include land, space, environment and culture.
For more information call the eThekwini Municipality's Spokesperson, Mr Thabo Mofokeng, on 082 731 7456 or email mofokengthabo@durban.gov.za.
NIBS & GARETH @ ST CLEMENTS
Nibs van der Spuy has announced his performance with drummer/percussionist extraordinaire Gareth Gale at St. Clements in Musgrave Road on June 3.
Gareth met Nibs six years ago and has performed with him in France and the UK as well as recording on his internationally acclaimed last three albums. This is a performance not to be missed and booking is highly advisable. For more information, visit http://www.garethgale.com/
Internationally renowned, guitarist, singer and songwriter Nibs van der Spuy has been touring the world with his brand of insightful acoustic guitar mastery and poignant lyrics over the last four years. Journalists from all over the globe, and predominantly Europe, have cited Nibs as a fresh voice in the ‘Nu folk’ movement. With his virtuosic acoustic guitar style and mesmeric voice, he has enchanted listeners from small intimate theatres to large festival stages. With the release of his latest offering, A House across the River, France’s leading newspaper Liberation, wrote a full page article on Nibs. Back on the home front, Keith Tamkei from the Sunday Times, praised the album with a rare five stars.
Nibs van der Spuy is currently promoting the release of his first live DVD, Live at the Vagabond Café which has been nominated for this years SAMA awards.
Nibs and Gareth will perform live on June 3 at 19h00 at St Clements, 191 Musgrave Road. Entrance R50. More information on 031 202 2511.
Gareth met Nibs six years ago and has performed with him in France and the UK as well as recording on his internationally acclaimed last three albums. This is a performance not to be missed and booking is highly advisable. For more information, visit http://www.garethgale.com/
Internationally renowned, guitarist, singer and songwriter Nibs van der Spuy has been touring the world with his brand of insightful acoustic guitar mastery and poignant lyrics over the last four years. Journalists from all over the globe, and predominantly Europe, have cited Nibs as a fresh voice in the ‘Nu folk’ movement. With his virtuosic acoustic guitar style and mesmeric voice, he has enchanted listeners from small intimate theatres to large festival stages. With the release of his latest offering, A House across the River, France’s leading newspaper Liberation, wrote a full page article on Nibs. Back on the home front, Keith Tamkei from the Sunday Times, praised the album with a rare five stars.
Nibs van der Spuy is currently promoting the release of his first live DVD, Live at the Vagabond Café which has been nominated for this years SAMA awards.
Nibs and Gareth will perform live on June 3 at 19h00 at St Clements, 191 Musgrave Road. Entrance R50. More information on 031 202 2511.
Monday, May 30, 2011
RECOLLECT: TURQUOISE JOURNEY
(Hendrik Stroebel ceramic and embroidery copy)Solo exhibition at the KZNSA Gallery by KZN artist Hendrik Stroebel.
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral. The substance has been known by many names, but the word turquoise, was derived from the French language turques, because it was first brought to Europe from Turkey via the mines of Persia. Much of antiquity and Islamic adornment made use of this colour.
This is a fittingly romantic tale from which to begin to share Hendrik Stroebel’s remarkable journey that has culminated in this extraordinary exhibition. Stroebel is one of KZN’s leading artists and his ceramic and embroidery work has been critically acclaimed. Stroebel’s love affair with the rich culture of the Middle East has lead him to a 15-year adventure with travels to Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Turkey and Uzbekistan
Recollect: Turquoise Journey is composed of large and small scale works that combine ceramic, carved wood, bronze, and what is probably one of the most outstanding embroidery collections produced by a contemporary visual artist in recent years. His ‘free-style’ use of this labour intensive medium takes this art form to a new level. The work has a painterly quality where the coloured thread evokes the freshness and immediacy of the painted mark. His work abounds with the pattern and texture of the Arab and Islamic world. The pieces portray the architecture, ancient history and people that so fascinated him on his travels. The artists abiding interest in antiquity is literally woven into the images - a must see exhibition.
Recollect: Turquoise Journey opens on May 31 at 18h00 and all are welcome, thereafter it will run until June 25. The KZNSA Gallery is situated at 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, in Durban. More information on 031 277 1703, fax 031 201 8051 or cell 082 220 0368 or visit www.kznsagallery.co.za
MONDAYS @ ST CLEMENTS
The next event in the popular St Clement’s Mondays At Seven will be this evening at 19h00 and will feature a film titled The Nature of Life presented by Films for Thought. The directors are multi-award winning, Cape Town based brothers, Craig and Damon Foster.
Made in 2009 with a duration of 52 minutes, The Nature of Life looks at climate change from a uniquely African perspective and showcases innovative local solutions and approaches to the environmental crisis. From wind farms and projects harvesting the sun, to eco-villages, to South Africa’s own electric car, the Joule, this inspiring film shows that there are ways to adapt to and overcome the biggest challenge humankind has ever faced.
St Clements is situated at 191 Musgrave Road on the right-hand side a short way down Musgrave after the St Thomas Road intersection. Mondays at Seven run between 19h00 and 20h00. Booking is advised on 031 202 2511. There is no cover charge but there is a donations box to support presenters.
Made in 2009 with a duration of 52 minutes, The Nature of Life looks at climate change from a uniquely African perspective and showcases innovative local solutions and approaches to the environmental crisis. From wind farms and projects harvesting the sun, to eco-villages, to South Africa’s own electric car, the Joule, this inspiring film shows that there are ways to adapt to and overcome the biggest challenge humankind has ever faced.
St Clements is situated at 191 Musgrave Road on the right-hand side a short way down Musgrave after the St Thomas Road intersection. Mondays at Seven run between 19h00 and 20h00. Booking is advised on 031 202 2511. There is no cover charge but there is a donations box to support presenters.
NCAYF DANCE
The Dance Programme of the 2011 National Creative Arts Youth Festival offers a variety of dance styles from June 1 to 12.
On June 1 at 11h00, KZN Dance Link will present Imbumba.
Dudley von Loggenburg directs the Durban Dance Foundation Bursary Presentation on June 2 at 13h30 as well as Love of Dance on June 4 at 15h00 and 19h00.
Stav Bozas will direct the Dance Choreography Competition on June 5 at 09h00 with Born to Dance taking place on June 10 and 11 at 19h00. Also falling under her banner will be Dance for Joy! on June 11 at 15h00 and United in Dance on June 12 at 14h30.
All performances take place at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre and booking is at Computicket. More information from the Festival Office on 031 201 9312 or 083 952 5714 or email: ncayf@iafrica.com
On June 1 at 11h00, KZN Dance Link will present Imbumba.
Dudley von Loggenburg directs the Durban Dance Foundation Bursary Presentation on June 2 at 13h30 as well as Love of Dance on June 4 at 15h00 and 19h00.
Stav Bozas will direct the Dance Choreography Competition on June 5 at 09h00 with Born to Dance taking place on June 10 and 11 at 19h00. Also falling under her banner will be Dance for Joy! on June 11 at 15h00 and United in Dance on June 12 at 14h30.
All performances take place at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre and booking is at Computicket. More information from the Festival Office on 031 201 9312 or 083 952 5714 or email: ncayf@iafrica.com
MUSIC SACRED AND PROFANE
With world-renowned conductor Thomas Sanderling on the podium, the KZN Philharmonic’s third concert in the current World Symphony Season Series is a study in contrasts. Titled Music Sacred and Profane, the programme opens with the expansive world of one of Wagner’s earliest successful operas, Tannhäuser, followed by the intimate imagery of late Schumann and the final symphonic essay of Prokofiev, Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131.
Wagner finished the first version of Tannhäuser in 1844, and the overture nicely encapsulates the main themes of the opera. In it is heard the pious chorale of the pilgrims’ chorus juxtaposed with the orgiastic revelries of the court of Venus. Ultimately, Tannhäuser finds redemption in the triumph of the sacred over the profane—but Wagner still manages to have fun along the way. Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, a champion of new music, will turn back the clock to present Robert Schumann’s extraordinary cello concerto. Written in the short space of a few weeks, Schumann penned a beautiful final tribute to an instrument he adored.
The programme ends with Prokofiev’s last symphony, and one of his best. Originally commissioned for broadcast on a children’s radio programme, Prokofiev’s music marries his characteristic directness with a depth of expression that serves as a fitting symphonic swan song for such an iconic composer. The KZN Philharmonic is pleased to have back at the helm for this compelling concert.
The concert takes place on June 2 at 19h30 in the Durban City Hall and is preceded by a lecture presented in association with Friends of Music in the Royal Hotel at 18h15. Booking is at Computicket.
Wagner finished the first version of Tannhäuser in 1844, and the overture nicely encapsulates the main themes of the opera. In it is heard the pious chorale of the pilgrims’ chorus juxtaposed with the orgiastic revelries of the court of Venus. Ultimately, Tannhäuser finds redemption in the triumph of the sacred over the profane—but Wagner still manages to have fun along the way. Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, a champion of new music, will turn back the clock to present Robert Schumann’s extraordinary cello concerto. Written in the short space of a few weeks, Schumann penned a beautiful final tribute to an instrument he adored.
The programme ends with Prokofiev’s last symphony, and one of his best. Originally commissioned for broadcast on a children’s radio programme, Prokofiev’s music marries his characteristic directness with a depth of expression that serves as a fitting symphonic swan song for such an iconic composer. The KZN Philharmonic is pleased to have back at the helm for this compelling concert.
The concert takes place on June 2 at 19h30 in the Durban City Hall and is preceded by a lecture presented in association with Friends of Music in the Royal Hotel at 18h15. Booking is at Computicket.
STANDARD BANK YOUNG ARTISTS SHOWCASE
The 2011 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners will showcase their newest flagship work on the Main programme of the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown running from June 30 to July 10.
"A highlight at the National Arts Festival is always the expectation that builds up as the Standard Bank Young Artist winners commence with the production and creation of their performances and exhibition that will premiere in Grahamstown,” said Ismail Mahomed, Director of the National Arts Festival. “During this past year, all five winners have been incredibly busy with various exciting projects around the country, across the continent and around the world. If this is a fore-taste of what this brand of young, dynamic artists has in store for the Festival then festival-goers can expect yet another year of exciting, innovative and cutting-edge work."
Mamela Nyamza, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Dance, will once again be pushing boundaries and challenging stereotypes. She performed recently at the Dance Umbrella in a piece entitled Shift, as well as a piece entitled Kutheni, one of the finalists for the Sadler's Wells Global Dance Contest in 2009, for Gay Pride in Cape Town Stadium.
During April, Nyamza will travel to Ethiopia to finish a piece that she started in November 2010, and which will culminate at the National Arts Festival as a collaboration with Adudna Dance Company from Ethiopia and producer, Hannah Loewenthal. “With u-Thuthu and Amafongkong I am trying to go to places that are unknown to me,” said Nyamza. “I am so excited to be part of this year’s Main festival programme, and nervous at the same time,” she added.
Ben Schoeman, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Music, recorded his first solo album in December 2010 under the South African independent classical music label, TwoPianists Records. This CD, with some of the epic piano works of Franz Liszt, will be released in April 2011, with sponsorship from Standard Bank.
“I am really honoured to be associated with Standard Bank and the National Arts Festival both through this recording as well as the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Music,” said Schoeman. “The support and encouragement that I have received from this wonderful team of people is the greatest inspiration. This is definitely the most exciting moment of my career so far,” he added.
Schoeman will be touring throughout the country in April to release the album. He will perform at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn, as well as in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Pretoria and Bloemfontein. He will perform at the Wigmore Hall in June, before travelling back to South Africa for the National Arts Festival and a national concert tour with flautist Dawid Venter in August. "During my recital at the Festival, I shall be performing several works of the great Hungarian master Franz Liszt,” said Schoeman. “In a varied programme I will pay tribute to the virtuosity and poetry of Liszt. I am also looking forward to my performance with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra,” he added.
Since returning from the Dundee: Living within History project Neil Coppen, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Drama, is in the process of developing his piece Abnormal Loads for Grahamstown. “It’s a really ambitious project which has existed in my head for the past five years,” said Coppen. “To complete it in time I’m going have to turn off my cell phone, place myself under house arrest and wrestle out my story onto the page,” he added.
“I’m interested in exploring how entwined our histories are as South Africans, how we tend to inherit and lug about ancestral baggage from past generations without ever knowing it,” said Coppen about his preparations for the new work. “It will be a tragic-comedy of sorts and hopefully boast some innovative theatrical battle scenes,” he added taking time off from co-curating a collaborative event with his Kwa-Cinema partner Karen Logan.
Bokani Dyer, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Jazz, will be doing four shows at the Festival. He is planning to launch a six-piece ensemble called Amaya featuring Marcus Wyatt (trumpet), Buddy Wells (saxophone), Ayanda Sikade (drums), Angelo Syster (guitar) and Shane Cooper (bass), playing compositions which Dyer has written over the past year. He will perform with Soweto Kinch, an alto saxophonist from Birmingham, UK, as well as with Soweto Kinch and rapper Tumi. He will also present a trio performance with Kesivan Naidoo (drums) and Hein van der Gein (bass).
Dyer has been busy with an album for his groove band Plan Be, a collaboration with vocalist/composer, Sakhile Moleshe. The album, entitled A soul-housing project, will be released in April. He has been involved in performances with various artists as well, including Jimmy Dludlu, Melanie Scholtz, Moreira Chonguica, Ivan Mazuze and others. “My big focus at the moment is working towards the recording with my new band Amaya in May which will be completed and released before the Festival,” said Dyer.
Nandipha Mntambo, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Visual Art is in the process of conceptualising and completing a commissioned public sculpture for the Nedbank head offices in Sandton and another for the Gulbenkien Foundation in Portugal. “Grahamstown will see a shift within my art practice,” said Mntambo. “I have begun working in various media and this show is going to be a new and different departure for me as a visual artist.”
More details about the Standard Bank Young Artists productions and exhibition will be in the Festival Booking Kit or click on the banner advert at the top of this page. Booking is at Computicket.
"A highlight at the National Arts Festival is always the expectation that builds up as the Standard Bank Young Artist winners commence with the production and creation of their performances and exhibition that will premiere in Grahamstown,” said Ismail Mahomed, Director of the National Arts Festival. “During this past year, all five winners have been incredibly busy with various exciting projects around the country, across the continent and around the world. If this is a fore-taste of what this brand of young, dynamic artists has in store for the Festival then festival-goers can expect yet another year of exciting, innovative and cutting-edge work."
Mamela Nyamza, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Dance, will once again be pushing boundaries and challenging stereotypes. She performed recently at the Dance Umbrella in a piece entitled Shift, as well as a piece entitled Kutheni, one of the finalists for the Sadler's Wells Global Dance Contest in 2009, for Gay Pride in Cape Town Stadium.
During April, Nyamza will travel to Ethiopia to finish a piece that she started in November 2010, and which will culminate at the National Arts Festival as a collaboration with Adudna Dance Company from Ethiopia and producer, Hannah Loewenthal. “With u-Thuthu and Amafongkong I am trying to go to places that are unknown to me,” said Nyamza. “I am so excited to be part of this year’s Main festival programme, and nervous at the same time,” she added.
Ben Schoeman, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Music, recorded his first solo album in December 2010 under the South African independent classical music label, TwoPianists Records. This CD, with some of the epic piano works of Franz Liszt, will be released in April 2011, with sponsorship from Standard Bank.
“I am really honoured to be associated with Standard Bank and the National Arts Festival both through this recording as well as the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Music,” said Schoeman. “The support and encouragement that I have received from this wonderful team of people is the greatest inspiration. This is definitely the most exciting moment of my career so far,” he added.
Schoeman will be touring throughout the country in April to release the album. He will perform at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn, as well as in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Pretoria and Bloemfontein. He will perform at the Wigmore Hall in June, before travelling back to South Africa for the National Arts Festival and a national concert tour with flautist Dawid Venter in August. "During my recital at the Festival, I shall be performing several works of the great Hungarian master Franz Liszt,” said Schoeman. “In a varied programme I will pay tribute to the virtuosity and poetry of Liszt. I am also looking forward to my performance with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra,” he added.
Since returning from the Dundee: Living within History project Neil Coppen, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Drama, is in the process of developing his piece Abnormal Loads for Grahamstown. “It’s a really ambitious project which has existed in my head for the past five years,” said Coppen. “To complete it in time I’m going have to turn off my cell phone, place myself under house arrest and wrestle out my story onto the page,” he added.
“I’m interested in exploring how entwined our histories are as South Africans, how we tend to inherit and lug about ancestral baggage from past generations without ever knowing it,” said Coppen about his preparations for the new work. “It will be a tragic-comedy of sorts and hopefully boast some innovative theatrical battle scenes,” he added taking time off from co-curating a collaborative event with his Kwa-Cinema partner Karen Logan.
Bokani Dyer, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Jazz, will be doing four shows at the Festival. He is planning to launch a six-piece ensemble called Amaya featuring Marcus Wyatt (trumpet), Buddy Wells (saxophone), Ayanda Sikade (drums), Angelo Syster (guitar) and Shane Cooper (bass), playing compositions which Dyer has written over the past year. He will perform with Soweto Kinch, an alto saxophonist from Birmingham, UK, as well as with Soweto Kinch and rapper Tumi. He will also present a trio performance with Kesivan Naidoo (drums) and Hein van der Gein (bass).
Dyer has been busy with an album for his groove band Plan Be, a collaboration with vocalist/composer, Sakhile Moleshe. The album, entitled A soul-housing project, will be released in April. He has been involved in performances with various artists as well, including Jimmy Dludlu, Melanie Scholtz, Moreira Chonguica, Ivan Mazuze and others. “My big focus at the moment is working towards the recording with my new band Amaya in May which will be completed and released before the Festival,” said Dyer.
Nandipha Mntambo, Standard Bank Young Artist winner for Visual Art is in the process of conceptualising and completing a commissioned public sculpture for the Nedbank head offices in Sandton and another for the Gulbenkien Foundation in Portugal. “Grahamstown will see a shift within my art practice,” said Mntambo. “I have begun working in various media and this show is going to be a new and different departure for me as a visual artist.”
More details about the Standard Bank Young Artists productions and exhibition will be in the Festival Booking Kit or click on the banner advert at the top of this page. Booking is at Computicket.
NCAG MEETING
The monthly meeting of the North Coast Art Group will take place on June 11.
Marion Townsend will be undertaking the demonstration. She is a well established painter and teacher known particularly for her watercolours. Marion has sold throughout South Africa and has works in private galleries in Europe, the US, Australia and the Far East.
The meeting takes place on June 11 at 09h15 followed by tea at 09h50 and the demonstration from 10h00. The venue is the Hall of the Catholic Church of the Blessed Sacrament, 2 Newport Avenue, Virginia. For more information contact NCAG President, Brian Phillips on 082 921 3517 or 032 946 2878 or email: brianp@telkomsa.net
Marion Townsend will be undertaking the demonstration. She is a well established painter and teacher known particularly for her watercolours. Marion has sold throughout South Africa and has works in private galleries in Europe, the US, Australia and the Far East.
The meeting takes place on June 11 at 09h15 followed by tea at 09h50 and the demonstration from 10h00. The venue is the Hall of the Catholic Church of the Blessed Sacrament, 2 Newport Avenue, Virginia. For more information contact NCAG President, Brian Phillips on 082 921 3517 or 032 946 2878 or email: brianp@telkomsa.net
Sunday, May 29, 2011
TO SKIN A CAT FUNDRAISER
An evening of live music, art, illustration and photography is taking place to raise funds for a documentary film working to save Africa’s leopards. The fundraiser, taking place at Durban’s Corner Cafe on June 3, combines an exhibition with performances from Durban’s Guy Buttery and The Hinds Brothers. Artworks, each created around the theme of 'leopard', have been donated from a number of artists, illustrators and photographers from around the country and will be on sale on the evening.Greg Lomas and Colwyn Thomas are making a film to help save Africa’s big cats. To Skin a Cat is a documentary addressing the loss of leopard populations to an illegal skin trade in southern Africa. The film follows renowned leopard researcher Tristan Dickerson who is attempting to create a high-quality and affordable synthetic fur as an alternative to real skins being used for traditional purposes.
“The film is a solution-based film and documents a really positive and dynamic approach to conservation in the 21st Century. We’re working closely with all groups involved with the use of skins, mainly the royal family and the Shembe church, to come to a solution together that works for all parties,” said Colwyn Thomas.
“Having an exhibition highlighting different interpretations of the beauty and allure of the leopard we hope will motivate people to help our film, which is working to preserve this beautiful species.” said Greg Lomas.
The campaign has gathered support both locally and abroad. “The variety of contributions from different artists to this cause will be a wonderful showcase of talent from around the country and make it a really unique exhibition,” adds Lomas
Contributors include artists Cam Platter, Bronwen Vaughn-Evans, Colwyn Thomas, Trevor Paul and Christian Mugnai. Also attending will be Tristan Dickerson from the Munyawana Leopard Research Programme.
All proceeds will go towards the making of the film which will raise awareness of the issue at hand and help put pressure on international and local bodies to make significant changes in leopard conservation in southern Africa.
The fundraiser takes place from 18h00 to 20h30 on June 3 at the Corner Café in Glenwood, corner of Cromwell and Brand Roads. Entrance fee: R50 donation. For more information, contact Greg Lomas on 084 909 1808 or visit www.toskinacat.org
SHORT STORY DAY SOUTH
On June 21, revel in a celebration of fiction’s short- yet-perfectly-crafted form, the short story.
Short Story Day South is a participation-driven initiative and will culminate in a series of events all over southern Africa, offering a variety of stories, old and new, to be read, listened to and enjoyed. The idea is to create a platform for writers, readers, booksellers, teachers, school children and publishers to come together to submit, read, workshop and discuss the short story, especially as it applies to writing in southern Africa, and in so doing promote southern African writing locally and globally.
Short Story Day South was conceived when Rachel Zadok and Isla Haddow-Flood were contacted by one of the coordinators of National Short Story Day in the United Kingdom, Daneet Stephens. The idea grew and Rachel then recruited fellow writer, poet and publisher, Colleen Higgs.
Cape Town-based Rachel Zadok is the author of Gem Squash Tokoloshe (shortlisted for The Whitbread First Novel Award 2005 and The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2005). Isla Haddow-Flood is a writer, editor and marketing specialist who currently works for the Africa Centre, advising on and implementing marketing strategies across their 10 projects. Colleen Higgs launched Modjaji Books, the first publishing house for southern African women writers, in 2007. Her first collection of poetry, Halfborn Woman, was published in 2004, and her second volume, Lava Lamp Poems (2011).
The concept of Short Story Day South, celebrating the short story on the shortest day of the year, is borrowed from the pilot project, National Short Story Day (www.nationalshortstoryday.co.uk), which launched in the UK in October 2010 and concluded on December 21 (their shortest day). The project grew organically using social networking tools (Facebook and Twitter) and was a great success. A similar event is being created in the southern Hemisphere, starting in southern Africa and moving beyond in the years to come.
The initiative is open to readers and writers of all ages as well as teachers and students.
“We are in the process of doing some vigorous marketing to ensure as much participation as possible. We would like to see schools, libraries, bookstores, readers, writers, publishers and booksellers all take part - the more the better!” say the organisers. “Satellite events on the day, be it a workshop or reading can be hosted by any passionate party at any available location. We will supply them with some basic marketing materials and all the information and support they will need. We think the community aspect of this event is very important and hope to create some local heroes!
“The reality is that the current group of successful authors is small and needs to be grown if South Africa is going to have a vibrant and competitive literary industry,” the press release continues. “The short story sector – possibly the easiest access point for aspiring authors – does not receive enough support and has very few consistent and regular initiatives aimed solely at generating new authors and celebrating established ones. Short Story Day South will give writers, including young aspiring writers, a voice and platform, and successful local events could encourage regular reader’s groups and workshops.”
Contact Rachel Zadok on email: shortstorydaysouth@gmail.com More information at http://www.shortstorydaysouth.co.za or Facebook Page : Short Story Day South - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Short-Story-Day-South/192726647434896. Twitter: shortstorydays
Short Story Day South is a participation-driven initiative and will culminate in a series of events all over southern Africa, offering a variety of stories, old and new, to be read, listened to and enjoyed. The idea is to create a platform for writers, readers, booksellers, teachers, school children and publishers to come together to submit, read, workshop and discuss the short story, especially as it applies to writing in southern Africa, and in so doing promote southern African writing locally and globally.
Short Story Day South was conceived when Rachel Zadok and Isla Haddow-Flood were contacted by one of the coordinators of National Short Story Day in the United Kingdom, Daneet Stephens. The idea grew and Rachel then recruited fellow writer, poet and publisher, Colleen Higgs.
Cape Town-based Rachel Zadok is the author of Gem Squash Tokoloshe (shortlisted for The Whitbread First Novel Award 2005 and The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2005). Isla Haddow-Flood is a writer, editor and marketing specialist who currently works for the Africa Centre, advising on and implementing marketing strategies across their 10 projects. Colleen Higgs launched Modjaji Books, the first publishing house for southern African women writers, in 2007. Her first collection of poetry, Halfborn Woman, was published in 2004, and her second volume, Lava Lamp Poems (2011).
The concept of Short Story Day South, celebrating the short story on the shortest day of the year, is borrowed from the pilot project, National Short Story Day (www.nationalshortstoryday.co.uk), which launched in the UK in October 2010 and concluded on December 21 (their shortest day). The project grew organically using social networking tools (Facebook and Twitter) and was a great success. A similar event is being created in the southern Hemisphere, starting in southern Africa and moving beyond in the years to come.
The initiative is open to readers and writers of all ages as well as teachers and students.
“We are in the process of doing some vigorous marketing to ensure as much participation as possible. We would like to see schools, libraries, bookstores, readers, writers, publishers and booksellers all take part - the more the better!” say the organisers. “Satellite events on the day, be it a workshop or reading can be hosted by any passionate party at any available location. We will supply them with some basic marketing materials and all the information and support they will need. We think the community aspect of this event is very important and hope to create some local heroes!
“The reality is that the current group of successful authors is small and needs to be grown if South Africa is going to have a vibrant and competitive literary industry,” the press release continues. “The short story sector – possibly the easiest access point for aspiring authors – does not receive enough support and has very few consistent and regular initiatives aimed solely at generating new authors and celebrating established ones. Short Story Day South will give writers, including young aspiring writers, a voice and platform, and successful local events could encourage regular reader’s groups and workshops.”
Contact Rachel Zadok on email: shortstorydaysouth@gmail.com More information at http://www.shortstorydaysouth.co.za or Facebook Page : Short Story Day South - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Short-Story-Day-South/192726647434896. Twitter: shortstorydays
TERRY ANGELO
Green with Envy in Vause Road is housing Terry Angelo’s latest exhibition, Scratching the Surface which comprises a collection of small impressionistic artworks done on wooden blocks.
The tile of the exhibition also refers to the fact that Terry is an emerging artist having started her art career just over a year ago. She bring her signature style of quirky pen and wash sketches to a new medium.
Scratching the Surface runs until June 15. Green with Envy is one of Durban’s most charming plant nurseries. Situated at 281 Vause Road, it is open daily from 08h00 to 16h30. More information on 031 202 0348.
The tile of the exhibition also refers to the fact that Terry is an emerging artist having started her art career just over a year ago. She bring her signature style of quirky pen and wash sketches to a new medium.
Scratching the Surface runs until June 15. Green with Envy is one of Durban’s most charming plant nurseries. Situated at 281 Vause Road, it is open daily from 08h00 to 16h30. More information on 031 202 0348.
NONHLANHLA WANDA & XOLISA DLAMINI
(Xolisa Dlamini)Nonhlanhla Wanda and Xolisa Dlamini will appear at the BAT Centre’s Harbour Jazz Café for one performance only on June 3.
The two recorded Afro Jazz musicians are working together to host performances in the city of Durban where they be working with undeveloped bands. The younger performers will gain the opportunity of setting the stage for main acts featuring artists such as Xolisa. Both women have previously worked together alongside other Durban divas to stage concerts such as the Women in Power Concert (2009); and Women In Concert (2010) where Siphokazi was a guest artist.
In 2011, both artists insist that it is important for the established artists work together to set an example and to create a platform for upcoming artists to grow. In this regard, both musicians plan to host performances in the city of Durban such as the One Night @ the BAT Centre concept.
“Durban is one of the leading tourist destinations in South Africa,” says Wanda, “if the recorded artists do not take the lead in organising performances then no one will”. It is true that the avid Jazz listeners are composed of a mature audience that is currently starved of home-grown entertainment. With the recent passing of music greats such as Busi Mhlongo, Zim Nqawana and Syd Kitchen and whole list of other gems, we stand to lose a lose a lot if we do not make use of our opportunities.”
One Night @ the BAT Centre featuring Nonhlanhla Wanda and Xolisa Dlamini will take place at 18h00 on June 3 at the Harbour Jazz Café, BAT Centre. Admission R50
GERBER AND HAMA
(Violinist Mary-Anne Broukaert is the Prelude Player for the evening)Friends of Music’s next recital on May 31 features a cellist from South Africa and pianist from Japan, namely Anzel Gerber and Rinko Hama. Anzel is the winner of several major music competitions and has furthered her studies in Spain and Moscow. Rinko has won numerous prizes at International Piano Competitions in France, Portugal and Sweden.
The programme includes Miaskovsky’s Sonata No.1 for cello & piano, Op. 12; Shostakovich’s Adagio & Spring Waltz from Ballet Suite No. 2; Prokofiev’s Sonata for cello and piano, Op. 119, and Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo Capriccioso, Op. 62
The Prelude Player performing ten minutes before main concert is violinist Mary-Anne Broukaert. She was awarded second prize in Ethekwini Eisteddfod Competition for violin and a silver medal for duet at the same competition.
The recital will take place at 19h45 on May 31 at the Durban Jewish Centre, 44 Old Fort Road. Tickets R70 (R60 for Members and R20 for orchestral members and students). Booking is at Computicket.
To become a member of Friends of Music, contact Sandra Jones on 031 201 0711 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday between 09h00 and 12h00.
Friends of Music is supported by the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund.
RYAN CALDER AT DIVE
They're back doing what they do best: providing audiences with an evening of head bopping, foot tapping, table-top slapping music from their new repertoire as well as reliving some of the timeless classics.The Ryan Calder Band returns to Pietermaritzburg's best-kept secret: the Dive at the Hexagon Theatre, a jazz club setting with seating capacity for 100 people where they will perform three nights only, from June 2 to 4, showcasing fanbase favourites from the first two albums Better Days and On The Edge.
Known for their polished live show and positive outlook in the subject matter of their songs, the RCB have quickly garnered a reputation as one of South Africa's most promising up-and-coming acts. The band is currently in first place of the international online competition We Love Your Songs (weloveyoursongs.com), a community of music fans who vote for (read: "Love") bands based on the quality of their songs. The competition ends on June 21.
Their second album, released in March 2010, was hailed by fans and critics alike, received airtime on local and national radio stations, and has fuelled their live show, which frontman Ryan views as a "means to make people feel better about, and ultimately, change their world". He says: "We want people to wake up the morning after our show feeling superior".
One of the few bands who base themselves in KZN, the RCB work hard on delivering variety in the band's performance. "It's not every day you experience a five-piece band. There's a lot going on in our live show," says Ryan. The band consists of Ryan (vocal, guitar), Roberto Hemmero (bass), Rudi Engelbrecht (drums, vocals), Tamlyn Calder (vocals, harmonica) and Jon Calder (keyboard). CDs will be on sale at the venue. You can order the album online (delivery within 48 hours) or buy it digitally for half the price - visit www.ryancalder.co.za
Performances take place in the Hexagon Dive on June 2, 3 and 4 at 19h00 for 19h30. Tickets R60pp (R55 for bookings of 10 or more) and tables seat 10. Bring a picnic basket, but no drinks - there is a cash bar. CDs will be on sale. Bookings on 033 260 5537 or e-mail hexagon@ukzn.ac.za
For more information visit www.ryancalder.co.za or www.facebook.com/ryancalderband or follow on Twitter: @theRCB
LIPS RENDEZVOUS
The next Rendezvous of the Live Poets Society (LiPS) will take place on June 1 and offers an evening of superb poetry
Special guest, poet Mphutlane wa Bofelo, will open the evening’s poetry session. This firebrand social and cultural revolutionary is no stranger to the local and national poetry scene. A cultural worker and social activist whose essays, articles and poems have appeared in various print and on-line publications, he has just published The Way of Love - poetry and reflections inspired by Rumi and other Sufi poets.
A writing facilitator at Workers' College in Durban, Mphutlane wa Bofelo is presently working on his debut poetry CD and on Red Ink, a collection of essays on politics and culture. His other books are The Heart's Interpreter, Bluesology and Bofelosophy, Remembrance and Salutations, The Journey Within: Reflections in Ramadaan.
The LiPS Rendezvous takes place on June 1 at 17h30 for 18h00 at the Point Yacht Club, Victoria Embankment, Durban. Admission is free. More information from LiPS convener, Danny Naicker on 083 282 0865 or email: dnaicker@metsond.co.za
Special guest, poet Mphutlane wa Bofelo, will open the evening’s poetry session. This firebrand social and cultural revolutionary is no stranger to the local and national poetry scene. A cultural worker and social activist whose essays, articles and poems have appeared in various print and on-line publications, he has just published The Way of Love - poetry and reflections inspired by Rumi and other Sufi poets.
A writing facilitator at Workers' College in Durban, Mphutlane wa Bofelo is presently working on his debut poetry CD and on Red Ink, a collection of essays on politics and culture. His other books are The Heart's Interpreter, Bluesology and Bofelosophy, Remembrance and Salutations, The Journey Within: Reflections in Ramadaan.
The LiPS Rendezvous takes place on June 1 at 17h30 for 18h00 at the Point Yacht Club, Victoria Embankment, Durban. Admission is free. More information from LiPS convener, Danny Naicker on 083 282 0865 or email: dnaicker@metsond.co.za
NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL NETWORKS
Getting to know the artistic decision-makers of festivals is the first step into understanding how festivals select or commission their programmes. The National Arts Festival will offer producers and artists a unique opportunity to meet with the festival directors of some the major South African arts festivals as well as directors from international festivals who come to the National Arts Festival to scout for South African work.
“Several productions from the 2010 National Arts Festival were booked for extended seasons at other South African festivals and theatres. Some of our productions have also been secured for festivals outside of South Africa. We are delighted to play a significant part in extending opportunities for South African artists,” said Festival Director Ismail Mahomed.
A daily series of one hour workshops will be featured on the Festival’s Hands On! Masks Off! programme. Participating festival directors include Steven Sack (Arts Alive Festival), Brett Pyper (KKNK), Yvette Hardie (Out the Box Festival) Emma Durden (Musho Festival), Sue Clarence (The Witness Hilton Arts Festival), Georgina Thomson (Dance Umbrella), Ashraf Johaardien (969 Festival) Neil le Roux (Suidoosterfees), Linda Bukhosini (Playhouse Theatre Festivals) and Neville Engelbrecht (National Schools Festival).
This networking opportunity with artistic directors will offer invaluable insights into the strategic directions of each of South African festivals and it will give producers the opportunity to both network and pitch their proposals to the key artistic makers. International festival producers who will be at the Festival will come from India, France, Romania, Argentina Belgium, Netherlands and the U.K.
“A growing trend of progressive arts leadership is about helping artists to grow their networks, artistic vision, their determination and their ability to constantly reinvent themselves,” added Mahomed. “We want to equip our artists and our emerging arts managements with the tools that will enable them to earn sustainable incomes from the arts. In this year’s programmes, we will feature some independent arts managements who have successfully demonstrated a fierce ability to break many glass ceilings.”
Successful new managements who will share the secrets of their success include Daniel Galloway (The Fugard Theatre) and management duo Simon and Helen Cooper (Kalk Bay Theatre), who will offer insights into why they backed last year’s Festival favourite and award-winning production, London Road. Caroline Smart will discuss how The Stable Theatre is adding new vitality to the KZN cultural scene, while Tanya Surtees from the acclaimed production company FTH:K will discuss their journey of cracking it from the Fringe to the Arena and finally onto the Festival’s Main programme.
Networking and building relations will feature prominently in a workshop that will be presented by the Performing Arts Network of South Africa. Mike van Graan, who probably holds the reputation of being one of South Africa’s most internationally-networked cultural practitioners, will discuss his secrets to success.
Acquiring the skills for arts entrepreneurship is high on the Festival’s agenda. The Cultural Help Desk will once again partner with the Festival to present The Entrepreneurship Game, affording one young arts practitioner the opportunity to win a business start-up prize valued at R25,000. Festival CEO Tony Lankester will present a workshop on how the National Arts Festival balances the act between its organisational management and its creative direction.
Market Theatre Foundation Council Member and Acting CEO J. Brooks Spector will facilitate two workshops on how arts administrators can effectively nurture the crucial relationship between the organization’s board and its management. Arts organisations will also be given the tools to strengthen their relationships with the arts media in a series of workshops facilitated by media professionals and focusing how to devise an effective media campaign. Emerging film-makers can attend a series of workshops presented by the National Film & Video Foundation.
Funding of the arts will fall under a focused spotlight this year. Four of the major arts funding agencies will offer workshops on how arts organisations can better understand the funding mechanisms and operations of the funding agencies. The series of workshops will culminate with a panel session featuring Minister of Arts & Culture Paul Mashatile on the Festival’s Think!Fest programme.
“We are inspired by the success stories that we receive from artists who have participated in the Hands On! Masks Off! programme in previous years. We continuously receive reports about artists receiving international exchange opportunities to artists being able to grow their funding resources after acquiring new skills by participating in the workshops. The Festival prides itself on our ability to see this kind of growth that we offer to artists at no costs and we are grateful to our sponsor, Business and Arts South Africa for their visionary backing given to the Hands On! Masks Off! programme since its inception in 2008,” said Mahomed.
This year will see two newer extensions to the Hands On! Masks Off! programme. The Sustainability Commons will be a lively forum of lectures, exhibitions, performances and crafts that explore collective understandings of contemporary environmental concerns and creative practice in sustainability while the Art Lounge will offer stimulating conversations about the arts over tea, coffee and gluwein.
Some of the highlights at the Art Lounge will include a discussion on Nollywood films, a conversation with Standard Bank Young Artist Nandipha Mntambo, a panel discussion on various community arts projects in South Africa and a conversation with Mandie van der Spuy about corporate sponsorship of the arts and Standard Bank’s role in the National Arts Festival.
“The growth of the Hands On! Masks Off! programme is a remarkable testimony to the passion of South Africa’s established arts professionals to share their knowledge and expertise with a growing industry of newly emerging arts managers,” concluded Mahomed.
Bookings for this year’s “11 Days of Amaz!ng” are open. Tickets are available through Computicket. Booking kits available from selected Standard Bank Branches, selected Exclusive Books and all Computickets. For more information on the programme, accommodation and travel options click on the banner advert above or visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
Also join the National Arts Festival group on Facebook for all the latest competitions and news, or follow us on Twitter. Call 046 603 1103 for more info.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.
“Several productions from the 2010 National Arts Festival were booked for extended seasons at other South African festivals and theatres. Some of our productions have also been secured for festivals outside of South Africa. We are delighted to play a significant part in extending opportunities for South African artists,” said Festival Director Ismail Mahomed.
A daily series of one hour workshops will be featured on the Festival’s Hands On! Masks Off! programme. Participating festival directors include Steven Sack (Arts Alive Festival), Brett Pyper (KKNK), Yvette Hardie (Out the Box Festival) Emma Durden (Musho Festival), Sue Clarence (The Witness Hilton Arts Festival), Georgina Thomson (Dance Umbrella), Ashraf Johaardien (969 Festival) Neil le Roux (Suidoosterfees), Linda Bukhosini (Playhouse Theatre Festivals) and Neville Engelbrecht (National Schools Festival).
This networking opportunity with artistic directors will offer invaluable insights into the strategic directions of each of South African festivals and it will give producers the opportunity to both network and pitch their proposals to the key artistic makers. International festival producers who will be at the Festival will come from India, France, Romania, Argentina Belgium, Netherlands and the U.K.
“A growing trend of progressive arts leadership is about helping artists to grow their networks, artistic vision, their determination and their ability to constantly reinvent themselves,” added Mahomed. “We want to equip our artists and our emerging arts managements with the tools that will enable them to earn sustainable incomes from the arts. In this year’s programmes, we will feature some independent arts managements who have successfully demonstrated a fierce ability to break many glass ceilings.”
Successful new managements who will share the secrets of their success include Daniel Galloway (The Fugard Theatre) and management duo Simon and Helen Cooper (Kalk Bay Theatre), who will offer insights into why they backed last year’s Festival favourite and award-winning production, London Road. Caroline Smart will discuss how The Stable Theatre is adding new vitality to the KZN cultural scene, while Tanya Surtees from the acclaimed production company FTH:K will discuss their journey of cracking it from the Fringe to the Arena and finally onto the Festival’s Main programme.
Networking and building relations will feature prominently in a workshop that will be presented by the Performing Arts Network of South Africa. Mike van Graan, who probably holds the reputation of being one of South Africa’s most internationally-networked cultural practitioners, will discuss his secrets to success.
Acquiring the skills for arts entrepreneurship is high on the Festival’s agenda. The Cultural Help Desk will once again partner with the Festival to present The Entrepreneurship Game, affording one young arts practitioner the opportunity to win a business start-up prize valued at R25,000. Festival CEO Tony Lankester will present a workshop on how the National Arts Festival balances the act between its organisational management and its creative direction.
Market Theatre Foundation Council Member and Acting CEO J. Brooks Spector will facilitate two workshops on how arts administrators can effectively nurture the crucial relationship between the organization’s board and its management. Arts organisations will also be given the tools to strengthen their relationships with the arts media in a series of workshops facilitated by media professionals and focusing how to devise an effective media campaign. Emerging film-makers can attend a series of workshops presented by the National Film & Video Foundation.
Funding of the arts will fall under a focused spotlight this year. Four of the major arts funding agencies will offer workshops on how arts organisations can better understand the funding mechanisms and operations of the funding agencies. The series of workshops will culminate with a panel session featuring Minister of Arts & Culture Paul Mashatile on the Festival’s Think!Fest programme.
“We are inspired by the success stories that we receive from artists who have participated in the Hands On! Masks Off! programme in previous years. We continuously receive reports about artists receiving international exchange opportunities to artists being able to grow their funding resources after acquiring new skills by participating in the workshops. The Festival prides itself on our ability to see this kind of growth that we offer to artists at no costs and we are grateful to our sponsor, Business and Arts South Africa for their visionary backing given to the Hands On! Masks Off! programme since its inception in 2008,” said Mahomed.
This year will see two newer extensions to the Hands On! Masks Off! programme. The Sustainability Commons will be a lively forum of lectures, exhibitions, performances and crafts that explore collective understandings of contemporary environmental concerns and creative practice in sustainability while the Art Lounge will offer stimulating conversations about the arts over tea, coffee and gluwein.
Some of the highlights at the Art Lounge will include a discussion on Nollywood films, a conversation with Standard Bank Young Artist Nandipha Mntambo, a panel discussion on various community arts projects in South Africa and a conversation with Mandie van der Spuy about corporate sponsorship of the arts and Standard Bank’s role in the National Arts Festival.
“The growth of the Hands On! Masks Off! programme is a remarkable testimony to the passion of South Africa’s established arts professionals to share their knowledge and expertise with a growing industry of newly emerging arts managers,” concluded Mahomed.
Bookings for this year’s “11 Days of Amaz!ng” are open. Tickets are available through Computicket. Booking kits available from selected Standard Bank Branches, selected Exclusive Books and all Computickets. For more information on the programme, accommodation and travel options click on the banner advert above or visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
Also join the National Arts Festival group on Facebook for all the latest competitions and news, or follow us on Twitter. Call 046 603 1103 for more info.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.
HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY!
On Tuesday, May 25, 2011, artSMart celebrated its 12th birthday! Can you believe I've been handling all those words for all these years? That’s 4,377 days (taking in leap years) and, on an average of loading three stories per day, that's 13,131 stories. Taking it further, if an average story is about 250 words, then that’s 3,282,750 words – over three million!!
artSMart celebrated its birthday in excellent pro-active style at a meeting where Durban supporters of the National Arts Festival held an informal get-together with the NAF Director Ismail Mahomed to formulate a programme called Festival Wires.
Based on my Live Wires initiative, the idea is to get a stronger KZN representation of performers and audiences to Grahamstown.
Ismail Mahomed honoured the occasion by giving artSMart a bunch of flowers which sent it into blushing confusion. No wonder I couldn’t get online that night. And I blamed Telkom! - Caroline Smart (Editor)
artSMart celebrated its birthday in excellent pro-active style at a meeting where Durban supporters of the National Arts Festival held an informal get-together with the NAF Director Ismail Mahomed to formulate a programme called Festival Wires.
Based on my Live Wires initiative, the idea is to get a stronger KZN representation of performers and audiences to Grahamstown.
Ismail Mahomed honoured the occasion by giving artSMart a bunch of flowers which sent it into blushing confusion. No wonder I couldn’t get online that night. And I blamed Telkom! - Caroline Smart (Editor)
Saturday, May 28, 2011
BRING NATURE BACK TO YOUR GARDEN
Even if you have a miniscule garden, don’t be without this book! (Review by Caroline Smart)
Replacing their first edition of this publication, which won a University of KwaZulu-Natal Book Prize, the Eastern & Northern Edition of Bring Nature Back to your Garden by Charles & Julia Botha is a fascinating, interesting and highly informative book that you will still feel inclined to pick up and browse through long after you have read it from cover to cover.
The book is dedicated to “all those environmentally-friendly gardeners, past, present and future who have made, and will make, a difference to urban conservation by working with nature rather than against it”.
Drawings and amusing illustrations add to the appeal. Most of these were drawn by the late Eve Gibbs but other images have been produced by Patricia Buchanan, Tessa Dean, David Filer, Molly Gray, Kate Grieve, Jennifer Johnston Davidson, Pat Johnstone, Penny Nicholson, Rosemary Pearman, Janet Snyman, Jeanette Stead, Chatelaine Tayler, Carol ten Have, Joan Walker and Judy Wheeler as well as considerable input from botanical artist Elsa Pooley.
Charles and Julia Botha live in Durban and have also produced Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden and Buyisela Imvelo Engadini for isiZulu speakers. They are longstanding members of BirdLife SA and serve on several conservation-oriented trusts and organisations. In recognition of their work in preserving and restoring South Africa’s natural heritage, they received the President’s Special Award from the Wildlife and Environment Society in 2003.
Passionate in their objectives, they write so that the even the most inexperienced gardener can understand what they mean. Here are a few examples:
Page 18: “It is a false perception that lots of birds are attracted to lawns; they are merely more visible in the open space that it creates.”
Page 35: “For aphids, it’s a “woman’s world”; some females don’t even need males to give birth to live young. It may take only about four days for a young aphid to mature and start producing its own offspring.”
Page 59: Re Chameleons: “One of nature’s greatest marvels, these fascinating little predatory reptiles used to be quite common in gardens. Now, like so many other creatures, they have fallen victim to habitat destruction, while poisons have also taken a heavy toll.”
There’s a useful list of the new names for birds – for instance, a Fiscal Shrike is now a Common Fiscal, Grey Lourie is a Grey Go-away-bird while a Knysna Lourie is a Knysna Turaco and a Spotted Dikkop is a Spotted Thick-knee! Personally, I consider the old names sounded far more respectable!
A diary at the back of the book allows you to document the date you planted a particular tree, bush or plant and another section gives an index of what to plant for specific areas or to attract birds, butterflies, moths or fruit bats.
Bring Nature back to your Garden (Eastern & Northern Edition) retails at R165 with proceeds going to the Flora and Fauna Publications Trust and other botanical conservation organisations. ISBN No 9 780620 482288 – Caroline Smart
Replacing their first edition of this publication, which won a University of KwaZulu-Natal Book Prize, the Eastern & Northern Edition of Bring Nature Back to your Garden by Charles & Julia Botha is a fascinating, interesting and highly informative book that you will still feel inclined to pick up and browse through long after you have read it from cover to cover.
The book is dedicated to “all those environmentally-friendly gardeners, past, present and future who have made, and will make, a difference to urban conservation by working with nature rather than against it”.
Drawings and amusing illustrations add to the appeal. Most of these were drawn by the late Eve Gibbs but other images have been produced by Patricia Buchanan, Tessa Dean, David Filer, Molly Gray, Kate Grieve, Jennifer Johnston Davidson, Pat Johnstone, Penny Nicholson, Rosemary Pearman, Janet Snyman, Jeanette Stead, Chatelaine Tayler, Carol ten Have, Joan Walker and Judy Wheeler as well as considerable input from botanical artist Elsa Pooley.
Charles and Julia Botha live in Durban and have also produced Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden and Buyisela Imvelo Engadini for isiZulu speakers. They are longstanding members of BirdLife SA and serve on several conservation-oriented trusts and organisations. In recognition of their work in preserving and restoring South Africa’s natural heritage, they received the President’s Special Award from the Wildlife and Environment Society in 2003.
Passionate in their objectives, they write so that the even the most inexperienced gardener can understand what they mean. Here are a few examples:
Page 18: “It is a false perception that lots of birds are attracted to lawns; they are merely more visible in the open space that it creates.”
Page 35: “For aphids, it’s a “woman’s world”; some females don’t even need males to give birth to live young. It may take only about four days for a young aphid to mature and start producing its own offspring.”
Page 59: Re Chameleons: “One of nature’s greatest marvels, these fascinating little predatory reptiles used to be quite common in gardens. Now, like so many other creatures, they have fallen victim to habitat destruction, while poisons have also taken a heavy toll.”
There’s a useful list of the new names for birds – for instance, a Fiscal Shrike is now a Common Fiscal, Grey Lourie is a Grey Go-away-bird while a Knysna Lourie is a Knysna Turaco and a Spotted Dikkop is a Spotted Thick-knee! Personally, I consider the old names sounded far more respectable!
A diary at the back of the book allows you to document the date you planted a particular tree, bush or plant and another section gives an index of what to plant for specific areas or to attract birds, butterflies, moths or fruit bats.
Bring Nature back to your Garden (Eastern & Northern Edition) retails at R165 with proceeds going to the Flora and Fauna Publications Trust and other botanical conservation organisations. ISBN No 9 780620 482288 – Caroline Smart
DINGS, FLINGS AND OTHER THINGS
(Pic by George Tadden: Verushka Odayen, Ravi Subramoney, Senzo Mthethwa, Koobeshen Naidoo and Sharika China with Henry Ramkissoon and Kumseela Naidoo seated)Evening of farcical fun and nonsense with a mini musical thrown in for good measure! (Review by Caroline Smart)
The Dingalings are currently presenting their new show, Dings, Flings and Other Things, which offers an evening of farcical fun and nonsense at Suncoast Supernova for a short season.
Subtitled Class of 85, it is directed by Dingalings stalwart Yugan Naidoo and sees two lovable rogues –Dingaling favourites Henry Ramkissoon and Koobeshen Naidoo - with Senzo Mthethwa (the award-winning star of Dingalings’ Boolulu Uncle) as the “man in the middle” and Ravi Subramoney who plays the “straight” guy in all the mayhem.
Four friends decide to go solo to attend their Class of 85 reunion. Henry (Ramkissoon) promises his wife that he will be off booze while he’s away and Koobie (Koobeshen Naidoo) is taking the opportunity to get away from his wife while staying in contact with his new-found Facebook love. Accompanying them are Senzo, who remains Koobie’s friend despite the fact that he was promoted over him, and the more solid member of the foursome, Ravi (Subramoney), who also provides the musical element.
Director Yugan Naidoo skilfully controls this irrepressible foursome in an entertaining farce that received gales of laughter from the packed audience. Henry Ramkissoon impresses in a role (“away from home a tiger, at home a mouse”) that could easily become a runaway caricature but he keeps it in the realms of credibility. Senzo Mthethwa in the role of the “fall guy”, the one who frantically tries to hold things from disintegrating into disaster, is a delight with very good comedy timing.
Koobeshen Naidoo is highly amusing as the philandering husband and Ravi Subramoney remains consistent throughout as the only unattached man. We meet the friends as they move into their rented apartment and what follows is much light-hearted banter and good-natured insults (not for the prudish!) between the foursome as the three older men explain their memories to the younger Senzo.
Meanwhile back at home, Henry and Koobie’s wives (Kumseela Naidoo and Verushka Odayen) decide they are bored on their own and opt to follow their partners. At the same time, the Facebook girlfriend (Sharika China) also pitches up. Chaos ensues in full farce mode!
There are actually two productions here – the opening farce Dings, Flings and Other Things which places strong focus on memories of youngsters growing up in the Indian community of the 80’s and then the makings of what could well be a full-length nostalgia musical paying tribute to the hit music of the times with choreography by Varsha Sharma.
The script is filled with hilarious lines which received the desired response from the audience. Footage on video allows the storyline to move outside of the set but the transition to a video tribute to Michael Jackson which heralds the Class of ’85 reunion sequence is too abrupt. This musical section sees the cast dancing and some spectacular lighting effects.
I would suggest to the Dingalings that a nostalgic musical is well worth pursuing in order to document memories such as sayings in the vernacular, childhood games, school discipline, bioscopes, milk delivered to your doorstep, ice cream vans and rented videos that came video machines, to name a few. With the all-pervading power of television, the richness of the “Indian accent”, as it were, the so-called stereotypical way of speaking, will disappear very soon. Professor Rajend Mesthrie has produced the Dictionary of South African Indian English but the accents, the sayings and the descriptions are so rich in humour and observation, they need to be preserved in theatre works as well.
Dings, Flings and Other Things has performances today (Saturday) at Suncoast Supernova at 17h30 and 21h00 and Sunday (May 29) at 18h00. Tickets R100 booked through Suncoast Cine Centre box office or on 031 328 3349/38. Early booking is advised. – Caroline Smart
For more information visit dingalingsliveentertainment.co.za/
Friday, May 27, 2011
HOME SWEET HOMIES
Home Sweet Homies is an exhibition of new works by Durban creatives Tokyo-Go-Go and Skullboy, featuring perfectly crafted vector illustrations where sugar sweet pop colours meet black splatter and cuss words.
Home Sweet Homies is running at Gallery 415, Umgeni Road. More information on 031 309 6401 or visit www.gallery415.co.za
Home Sweet Homies is running at Gallery 415, Umgeni Road. More information on 031 309 6401 or visit www.gallery415.co.za
DRAWING GROUP
Artists Ingrid Lotter and John Smith have a small figure drawing group, clothed models at this stage, which meets about one a month.
At the moment there are a few spaces available for the next get-together on June 1 from 18h30 to 20h30 in their studio in Durban North.
Cost R80 per session and early booking is essential through Ingrid Lotter on 031 564 6328 or email: ingridlottersmith@gmail
At the moment there are a few spaces available for the next get-together on June 1 from 18h30 to 20h30 in their studio in Durban North.
Cost R80 per session and early booking is essential through Ingrid Lotter on 031 564 6328 or email: ingridlottersmith@gmail
KZNPO CONCERT: MAY 26 2011
(Dmitri Kouzov)First class performances from the orchestra of Bloch and Mahler works. (Review by Michael Green)
Two big compositions from the early twentieth century occupied the programme for the second concert of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra’s winter season.
Music by the Swiss composer Ernest Bloch and the Austrian Gustav Mahler attracted a fair-sized attendance in the Durban City Hall on a cold, wet night. The audience were rewarded with first-class performances from the orchestra, conducted by Omri Hadari, who comes from Israel, and from the soloist of the evening, the Russian cellist Dmitri Kouzov.
Ernest Bloch lived in the United States for 40 years and his Schelomo – A Hebrew Rhapsody, scored for orchestra and solo cello, was first performed in the Carnegie Hall in New York in 1917. Schelomo means Solomon, and Bloch himself said that the solo cello was the voice of King Solomon and that the orchestra represented the world around him.
It is a vivid work, with brilliant fortissimo passages for the orchestra contrasting with the brooding, philosophical cello. Dmitri Kouzov gave a totally convincing performance of a difficult solo part. Much of the cello role is deep in the bass, and he showed great skill in producing a tone that penetrated to the far reaches of the City Hall.
Omri Hadari, a familiar figure on the City Hall podium, conducted this essentially Jewish music with the insight one would expect from a man who grew up on a kibbutz in Israel.
The main work of the evening was Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, which calls for an exceptionally large orchestra. Seventy-five players were assembled on the City Hall stage, including seven French horns, four trumpets, five percussion players and 40 strings, and they produced an impressive volume of sound.
The symphony, written in 1901 and 1902, has five movements and runs for about 70 minutes; nobody ever accused Mahler of being short-winded. The music is at different times melancholy, fierce, exuberant, gentle. The fourth movement, Adagietto (fairly slow), is Mahler’s most famous piece, partly because it was used as background in the film Death in Venice. It has a calm, poised beauty that is captivating, and it was played with great eloquence by the strings of the KZNPO.
Omri Hadari conducted the symphony without a score, a considerable feat of memory, and he maintained a tight control over the orchestra while drawing some excellent playing from it. The work ends with a powerful, triumphant passage. The conductor gave a little leap on the final note, and there were excited shouts from the audience, followed by prolonged applause. It is a very long symphony but, as the celebrated conductor Herbert von Karajan observed, you forget that time has passed. - Michael Green
FROZEN
(The opening Circus theme)Congratulations all round for a fast-moving and enjoyable production that raised R25,000 for charity. (Review by Caroline Smart)
The temperature dropped drastically today accompanied by rain and a howling gale so it seemed highly appropriate to be heading for Westville Boys’ High School’s supper theatre production titled Frozen. However, once inside the well-designed and technically-equipped Roy Couzen’s Theatre, the temperature was warm and hospitable with a vibrant buzz of a capacity audience geared for an enjoyable evening’s entertainment of music and dance. And they certainly got it.
Devised and directed by Devin Möller, who spent many of his formative years working with the pro-active Westville Theatre Club, Frozen is a monument to Westville Boys’ High’s commendable support of the performing arts, an efficient production team and the enthusiasm of a talented group of over 50 cast members with the inclusion of 30 girls from Westville Girls’ High School and other local high schools.
Musical direction by Luke Holder and choreography by Fiona Barnes, Caeley van Doorn, Devin Möller and Varsha Sharma adds to the professionalism of this show, which incorporates some spectacular lighting effects and an array of attractive costumes. I gave up counting the costume changes –backstage activity must be more than hectic!
Frozen aims to “freeze” audiences in time as they are taken on a musical journey which moves with energy through a range of styles such as the opening circus theme and a Las Vegas spectacular complete with feathered headdresses and fans. Feathers and stylish white fringed costumes accompany the title song, eloquently delivered by Loryn Julius. The mood changes to contemporary Bollywood before pumping to the vibrancy of African music.
Performance honours go without doubt to Delwin van Jaarsveld. Tall and genial, he interacts well with the audience and his Spirit in the Sky and Kaptein were show stoppers. Remember the name. It won’t be long before you see it in mainstream theatre.
Other notable performers were Kerryn Beattie, particularly when she gave a powerful rendition of Drove All Night and Shekhinah Donnell who has a strong voice and uses it effectively in I’d Like. I enjoyed Mandy Muir’s My Immortal and the Adagio number with Kayleigh James and Darren van Tonder was impressively smooth and well-controlled.
Recently appearing by invitation at Splashy Fen, the young New Hysteria group of Aury Livingstone, Jean-Pascal Koch and Seth Parkin also have a strong future ahead of them.
Apart from some occasionally irritating numbers when the sound balance favoured the backing tracks rather than the singer, I had a great evening.
It isn’t just all good singing and dancing, though. There is a stronger motive here. The 2011 theatrical focus of the school is charity and tonight a cheque of no less than R25,000 was handed over to this year’s beneficiary, Durban Child Welfare. The figure represents the profits up to tonight’s performance - a major achievement and congratulations to everyone involved!
Frozen runs until May 28 at 19h00 in the Roy Couzen’s Theatre at Westville Boys’ High School. Tickets R40 pp (R400 for a table of 10). Audiences are asked to bring their own food and drinks. No alcohol will be sold at the venue. Bookings can be made at Westville Boys’ High School through Sally Beuster on 031 267 1330. – Caroline Smart
Thursday, May 26, 2011
DAYIMANE
(Pic by Val Adamson: Busi Deyi)Compelling and fascinating piece that resonates with Nguni culture. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Multi-award winning dancer and choreographer Musa Hlatshwayo can always be relied on to produce excellent work that reflects and respects his Zulu culture and resonates with its traditions, all skilfully incorporated into a contemporary dance presentation.
His latest, Dayimane!, is no different. Compelling and innovative, it focuses on Nguni cattle and its role in Nguni culture. This multi-media production forms the first of a trilogy that looks at Nguni identity and its part in the formation of the Zulu Kingdom
“Dayimane! is a Zulu word or name (amongst many) commonly given to Nguni bulls,” says Musa Hlatshwayo in his programme notes. “It literally means “diamond” and figuratively implies the value of the Nguni cow associated with the name. Nguni cows, like Nguni Kings, have izobongo or praises.” These names relate to the cow’s mannerism, its strengths, general appeal and history. Nguni herdsmen form a strong bond with their cattle, each having its own identity and needing to be handled in their individual way, just like people.
Nguni cattle – each beast a masterpiece of markings - are becoming more popular in South Africa because of their hardiness and resistance to diseases and you see these distinctively-marked animals more often when motoring through farmlands.
Abundant Herds, written by Marguerite Poland and David Hammond-Tooke, is considered a most important record of the significance of the Nguni cattle to the Zulu people now and in the past. Apart from being highly informative, it is beautifully illustrated by Leigh Voigt and well worth acquiring, particularly after seeing Dayimane!.
The work is set at a cattle dip – a location unheard-of dance-wise not so very long ago, even with contemporary dance’s capacity to break down all stereotypical barriers. The Square Space Theatre is transformed with only two sides set aside for audience. Virtually, we sit on either side of a long white river that climbs the walls at either end, creating a screen for the video footage. As the production begins, we see Nguni cattle grazing peacefully in the bush. Then comes the hiatus of the dip, the loud splashing of water, cattle sounds and the whistling and urgings of the herdsmen as they guide the animals through.
While modern methods of spraying are more economical, dipping is still considered the most effective process to rid cattle of the tick-borne diseases which will kill them. I noticed some alarmed faces on some members of the audience at what seemed a traumatic experience for the animals. In fact, they are used to it and often jump in as one would dive into a swimming pool.
While the movement of the work doesn’t represent a bunch of four-legged bovines, you do feel as if you are a part of the herd - responding to the commands of the herdsman and his clicking calls. Deserving a very special mention although no specific acknowledgement to a designer appears in the programme, the costumes are a wonderful mix of the traditional and the contemporary.
Busi Deyi appears tall, statuesque and utterly regal, in an extraordinary outfit that utterly captivated me. Defying description (see pic) the outfit is very effective as she disrobes through a number of layers until she is simply in a tight top and shorts. She is draped in an Nguni hide, renowned for its softness, complete with branding. On her arms she wears real Nguni horns like gloves and these get taken up by the other performers as the work progresses. The costumes all impress, in fact, and were created and designed by Musa Hlatshwayo.
This is a tight ensemble piece with all dancers given space to shine. Apart from Busi Deyi, there’s Mpume Ngwenya (who can also crack it on the drums), James Mbhele, Ngcebo Nzama and Musa Hlatshwayo himself. The soundtrack features music by Simphiwe Dana, Fidel Mpondo, Sibongile Khumalo and Vusi Ximba. Productions designer is Wesley Maherry.
Presented by Mhayise Productions, Dayimane! is an hour long and runs at the Square Space Theatre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal until May 28 at 19h00 with a closing matinee on May 29 at 15h00. Tickets at the door R55 (R45 students and pensioners), bookings through Claudette Wagner on 031 260 3133 or email on wagnerc1@ukzn.ac.za For contemporary dance lovers, it’s not to be missed.
More information and pictures on Dayimane! and any of activities and past projects can be accessed via Mhayise Productions on facebook. – Caroline Smart
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
LOWE, JOCELYN BOYLEY & RICHARDS
(Sarah Richards, Marion Lowe and Jocelyn Boyley)An exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Marion Lowe, Jocelyn Boyley and Sarah Richards was recently held at the Hilton Quarry Centre in Hilton.
A percentage of the proceeds from the sale of the paintings and sculptures will be donated to Rotary Club of Pietermaritzburg.
For more information on the individual artists portfolios, visit the following www.marionlowe.com, www.jocelynboyley.com and www.sarahrichards.co.za
More information from Sarah Richards on sarahrichards.co.za or phone 083 707 0126.
AFRICA DAY CONCERT
(Mango Groove)This year the annual African Renaissance Festival begins with a phenomenal musical celebration on Africa Day, May 25, at the ICC Arena featuring the eclectic musical combination of South African music heavyweights, Ringo, Liquideep and Mango Groove.
The hugely popular Africa Day Concert promises a melting pot of musical inspirations with hot-property mbaqanga artist Ringo Madlingozi, the lovable Mango Groove with their unique blend of African marabi, kwela and pop, and the eclectic electro world-dub outfit Liquideep
The full festival, which is usually held during the last week of May to coincide with Africa Day is the only annual celebration of the African Renaissance principles on the continent. However this year, due to the municipal elections, African Renaissance programme has been pushed out until August with the Youth Conference now being staged on August 2 and the African Renaissance Conference on August 4 and 5.
The Africa Day concert has become an annual calendar highlight for lovers of innovative and iconic South African music.
Ringo Madlingozi is prolific. He has 10 studio albums, two live CD/DVDs and one compilation album, and his concerts are described as “not just performances but are intensely spiritual, rhythmic and healing journeys that take you with him to the heights of One-ness with all that is in the Universe.”
Ringo set the country ablaze when he won the Shell Road to Fame contest with his friends and fellow band members, Peto, back in 1986; the constant crowd-puller at musical events around the country, who remains a firm favourite across the country and the rest of the African continent and the world. He later formed a group called Gecko Moon with Alan Cameron, a fellow Peto member. Since his debut solo album, Vukani, which sold tens of thousands of copies, he has been unstoppable. He has subsequently been nominated for and scooped multiple awards for his albums at the South African Music Awards (SAMA) and the Kora All African Music Awards, where, among others, he won the Best Male Artist in Southern Africa and the African continent Awards.
Mango Groove’s career has spanned a groundbreaking and turbulent time in South Africa’s history. Since its first iconic multi-platinum release in 1989, the band, together with its charismatic lead singer Claire Johnston, has gone on to become a household name in South Africa. To date, Mango Groove has sold over 750,000 albums in South Africa alone, and in terms of its airplay across all radio and TV stations, continues to be an act that truly reaches the hearts of all South Africans.
Many people have tried to define the Mango Groove sound, and have resorted to a host of adjectives and phrases to do this: Kwela/Marabi Pop, SA Pop, Big Band Swing Pop, Eclecto-Pop, and so on. Certainly, the Mango sound is a pop sound, aiming at simple and accessible songs, grooves and melodies and certainly it is eclectic. This eclecticism is primarily reflected in the extent to which Mango Groove has drawn on the rich legacy of South African urban music forms from the ‘40’s and 50’s:
The Liquideep duo is made up of singer/songwriter/producer Ziyon and DJ/producer Ryzor, who “hooked up in 2007 over a mutual love of hook-laden, melodically rich, deep house music”. Just two years after their formation they caught the attention of the entire nation with the track Fairytale, which was play-listed on every major station in SA, played on any dance floor worth its salt and received a SAMA nomination for Song Of The Year and won a Channel O Music Video Award for ‘Most Gifted Dance Video’.
Liquideep released their debut artist album, Fabrics Of The Heart, in the middle of 2010 – and it became a undisputed sensation. In 2010, they shared stages with huge American superstars Akon and Angie Stone.
The Africa Day Concert takes place at 18h30 on May 25 at the Durban’s ICC Arena .Tickets are available to the public and prices have been kept low to ensure as many fans as possible can enjoy the musical feast. Tickets R70 (no concessions) available through Computicket 0839158000 / www.computicket.co.za. Tickets are unreserved.
More information about the full African Renaissance programme on 031 266 9792 or email: reception@wozani.co.za
TOURVEST ACKNOWLEDGED
(Jane Zimmerman, Nogolide Mxoli and Robert Gumede)Robert Gumede, Chairman of the Tourvest Group, recently received a handcrafted Zulu shield and a traditional Ilala handwoven basket in recognition of the company’s considerable contribution to enterprise development in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga through its investment in NPO, Khumbulani Craft, since 1999.
Presenting the shield and basket were Executive Director Jane Zimmerman and Nogolide Mxoli, Human Resources Manager of Khumbulani. The basket and shield were made by crafters in the far north of KZN that have been amongst the many who have benefited from their assistance.
Tourvest subsidiary, Tigers Eye, is the single largest donor of Khumbulani having contributed more than R40 million in the last ten years. Khumbulani Craft’s mission is to contribute towards poverty alleviation in rural communities through the design, production, marketing and sale of traditional and contemporary craft.
Monday, May 23, 2011
STABLE THEATRE NEW CENTRE MANAGER
The Board of Stable Theatre has announced that the new Centre Manager will be singer, conductor, administrator, co-ordinator, community liaison and development officer, Thanduxolo Zulu.With 34 years of experience in the field of performing arts and 15 years as an administrator at The Playhouse Company, KZN’s highest performing arts institution, the position of Centre Manager for Stable Theatre is tailor-made for him.
During his time at the Playhouse, he handled the renovation and upliftment of Stable Theatre in 2002 when it came under the aegis of the Playhouse. His certificates include Basic Course Fire Technology, First Aid, Public Finance Management Act and Finance for Non-Financial Accountants.
Thanduxolo Zulu will be answerable to the board and in overall charge of the administrative, programming, logistic, marketing and operational affairs of Stable Theatre. He will also be responsible for content development and will oversee artistic, education, outreach and development initiatives.
“While still remaining true to its community roots, Stable Theatre is geared to move forward and attract both professional as well as grassroots productions,” says Stable Theatre Chairperson, Thuli Dumakude. “The position requires a highly competent administrator with a strong understanding of the media, corporate sponsorship, legal and logistics sector; and a clearly demonstrable passion for the arts.”
Thanduxolo Zulu has also worked closely with schools programmes and has extensive experience in community theatre development. He understands the challenges that face those in the performing arts and already has a strong relationship with communities in KwaZulu-Natal in all genres and at all levels.
“There are many challenges before him,” continues Thuli Dumakude, “as we work towards elevating Stable Theatre back to its rightful position as a thriving and efficiently-run arts centre in Durban. The board unanimously supported his appointment and we look forward to working with him.”
Thanduxolo Zulu will take up his position on May 26, 2011.
More information from Stable Theatre on 031 309 2513, fax 031 309 2558 or email stabletheatre@telkomsa.net or visit www.stabletheatre.co.za
BAROQUE 2000
(Ralitza Cherneva (concertmaster) with Geza Kayser and Ralitsa Pechoux)Baroque 2000's third concert of the 2011 season takes place at the beautiful Church of the Monastery, Mariannhill, this coming Sunday (May 29) at 15h00.
In an all-Italian programme, the works are Corelli's Concerto Gross op7 no 6, Albinoni's Sinfonia a 5, Pergolesi's Concertino no 3, Alessandro Scarlatti's second Concerto in seven parts, and Riciotti's Concerto no 2.
Tickets R90 at the door and there is ample safe parking. Enquiries to Michel on 031 312 5539 or email: surouth@iafrica.com.
DOUG JAHANGEER TALK
The first KZN Arterial Network reading group session will take place at the Centre for Creative Arts house on May 25 at 18h30. The session will feature local artist and activist Doung Jahangeer who will be exploring the concept of cultural diversity.
In typical Durban fashion, this will not be a conventional reading group session. Instead of focusing on texts, Jahangeer will be using a series of images as a starting point for a discussion around cultural diversity and the nature of public space. He will be interrogating the meaning of 'cultural diversity', together with fellow artist Peter McKenzie, with particular focus on what he calls the “post-apartheid cultural space that is primarily the pavement”. Jahangeer will also be discussing the twin notions of 'united cultural diversity' and 'segregated cultural diversity'.
Doung Jahangeer is an artist and activist who specialises in urban interventions, concentrating on the multiplicitous nature of urban space and exploring the ingenious design solution that working class city dwellers produce in response to their environment. Together with Rike Sitas and Nontobeko Ntombela, Jahangeer is also the co-founder of the Dala art collective, an interdisciplinary collective which uses the transformative role of creativity to help build safer and more liveable cities.
Arterial Network is a continental network of artists, cultural activists, arts NGOs, cultural enterprises and others committed to developing African music, dance, theatre, literature, craft, design, visual art and film in their own right, and as means to contribute to democracy, human rights and development in Africa.
The group reading session takes place on May 25 from 18h30 to 20h30 at the Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal. The CCA is located on Mazisi Kunene Avenue in a yellow house +/- 30m before the entrance boom gate to the Howard College campus of the University. Parking available inside the gate. More information on 031 260 2506.
Entrance is free and all are welcome.
Download the Arterial Network e-brochure or for further information visit www.arterialnetwork.org and www.artsinafrica.com
In typical Durban fashion, this will not be a conventional reading group session. Instead of focusing on texts, Jahangeer will be using a series of images as a starting point for a discussion around cultural diversity and the nature of public space. He will be interrogating the meaning of 'cultural diversity', together with fellow artist Peter McKenzie, with particular focus on what he calls the “post-apartheid cultural space that is primarily the pavement”. Jahangeer will also be discussing the twin notions of 'united cultural diversity' and 'segregated cultural diversity'.
Doung Jahangeer is an artist and activist who specialises in urban interventions, concentrating on the multiplicitous nature of urban space and exploring the ingenious design solution that working class city dwellers produce in response to their environment. Together with Rike Sitas and Nontobeko Ntombela, Jahangeer is also the co-founder of the Dala art collective, an interdisciplinary collective which uses the transformative role of creativity to help build safer and more liveable cities.
Arterial Network is a continental network of artists, cultural activists, arts NGOs, cultural enterprises and others committed to developing African music, dance, theatre, literature, craft, design, visual art and film in their own right, and as means to contribute to democracy, human rights and development in Africa.
The group reading session takes place on May 25 from 18h30 to 20h30 at the Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal. The CCA is located on Mazisi Kunene Avenue in a yellow house +/- 30m before the entrance boom gate to the Howard College campus of the University. Parking available inside the gate. More information on 031 260 2506.
Entrance is free and all are welcome.
Download the Arterial Network e-brochure or for further information visit www.arterialnetwork.org and www.artsinafrica.com
KARMA KOMEDIAN
Sans Moonsamy, one of South Africa's premier comedians, is back with his hilarious comedy show about Indian lives, wives and drives that promises to have audiences rolling in the aisles.
Karma Komedian combines sketches and stand-up, to hilarious effect.
Performances from June 3 to 5 and June 11 to 12 nightly at 20h00 at the SunZone at suncoast Casino. Tickets R100 available from Computicket. For more information, visit www.suncoastcasino.co.za
Karma Komedian combines sketches and stand-up, to hilarious effect.
Performances from June 3 to 5 and June 11 to 12 nightly at 20h00 at the SunZone at suncoast Casino. Tickets R100 available from Computicket. For more information, visit www.suncoastcasino.co.za
DANCE AT NAF
Main dance line up at National Arts Festival.
Integration and collaboration is celebrated through dance at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
Eight grand scale dance productions ranging from the technically classical to the culturally traditional to the exploratory conceptual are set to mesmerize audiences on the Main Dance programme of the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown (June 30 to July 10, 2011).
Standard Bank Young Artists Award winner for Dance 2011, Mamela Nyamza headlines the dance programme with her intimately personal Isingqala presented alongside Amafongkong which she has produced in collaboration with Hannah Loewenthal and Adugna Dance Company. This company of mixed ability performers was the first contemporary dance company to be founded in Ethiopia. Adugna grew out of a project in the 1990’s initiated by Royston Maldoom, with over 100 street children in Addis Ababa. Two of its first company members, Junaid Jemal Sendi and Adissu are now the artistic directors of Adugna Dance Company.
“In creating Amafongkong, my intention is to hold an open space to explore the notion of collaboration in all its complexities, to see how and where similar and different bodies could meet in movement”, Mamela explains.
Another acclaimed production that also explores the beauty of integrated dance is the Remix Dance Company’s Lovaffair presented by the Baxter Theatre Centre, in association with Ual’s Youngblood. Described as a celebration of bodies and love, Lovaffair had its world première at the Baxter Theatre Centre in 2010 with two hugely successful seasons.
With this award-winning production directed by Ina Wichterich-Mogane, with musical direction and composition by Neo Muyanga, the Remix Dance Company with its 10 years of innovative and groundbreaking work has established its reputation as a leading South African contemporary integrated dance initiative that combines differently-abled dancers as well as actors.
Presented by Moving Into Dance Mophatong, the 2009 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Dance, Thabo Rapoo, brings Batsumi to the Festival this year. Batsumi weaves a story of the hopes, joys and struggles of a hunter-gatherer community as it integrates song, dance, acting and live music to celebrate the age-old traditions of the hunter-gatherers.
The South African premiere of Desert Crossings is a cross-cultural performance birthed from a collaboration between UK-based producers State of Emergency and South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma of Vuyani Dance Theatre. Performed to an original score by Steve Marshall and drawing on a company of five dancers from diverse cultural backgrounds Desert Crossings is inspired by the similarities between the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site on England’s south coast and the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. This new work is an exploration and reflection on two very different places, united through a shared history of the rocks on which they stand.
“Desert Crossings is a landscape where the physical and the metaphysical, the corporeal and the spiritual, the celestial and terrestrial all merge,” said Maqoma about the choreography of this piece, which received the Inspire endorsement by London 2012 and the International Olympic Committee. Deborah Baddoo, Artistic Director of State of Emergency Productions was made an MBE in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her contribution to British Dance.
Angel Heart & Fourteen, a double bill created and performed by Fura, is presented at the Festival with support from the Embassy of Spain. After studying dance and theatre in Spain and France, Pilar Cervera, who prefers to be called Fura, started her career as a trapeze artiste in Paris in 1993 before moving to Canada to be trained in the swinging trapeze technique by Andrè Simard, trainer of the aerial shows in the Cirque du Soleil.
Her choreographed pieces, Angel Heart is danced on a fixed trapeze while her piece Fourteen, inspired by the story of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges' The House of Asterion, is a choreographed work on vertical cloths. She has performed at most leading festivals across Europe, USA and Asia. Her performance at the National Arts Festival marks her première on the African continent.
Ireland’s foremost aerial dance theatre company Fidget Feet will also make a South African premiere with their Madam Silk, an aerial dance extravaganza which will have Lindsey Butcher, Chantal McCormick and Jennifer Patterson dancing, sweeping and spinning across the stage and through the air in a universe of veils and drapes, using dance and circus skills on fabric and hoops. The show opens in an empty house where the memories of Madam Silk lie forgotten under sheets of fabric. The winds of time blow through the window and awaken her, and each scene represents a different century influenced by different writers.
Swan Lake, the renowned embodiment of mystery and romance portrayed in sublime, ethereal movement will be presented by the Cape Town City Ballet in association with Artscape. Tchaikovsky’s score transports the viewer and inspires the dancers in their portrayal of this tale of love’s triumph over evil. This version of Swan Lake, produced by Elizabeth Triegaardt, is based on that of Vladimir Bourmeister, and was first taught to the CAPAB Ballet Company, now the Cape Town City Ballet, by Frenchman Attilio Labis in 1971. Labis had danced as a guest in Russia in several different productions, and it was from these that he chose the elements to make it one of the most eclectic in the world. This is the 17th time that this production has been mounted for this company. Megan Swart and Laura Bosenberg share the roles of Odette / Odile, Xola Putye and Thomas Thorne are Prince Siegfried, and Mervyn Williams and Johnny Bovang share the role of Von Rothbart.
From the largest desert province of India comes Rajasthan – A Melodical Journey In Folk Dance, Song & Music, presented by the Indian Cultural Centre. Rajasthan is celebrated for its architectural splendour and vibrant costumes. The music from this arid region evokes the haunting beauty of the desert. The programme presented at the Festival includes instrumentalists, singers and dancers delivering performances of the Chari, Ghoomar, Bhavai and Kalbeliya traditional dances, as well as musical interludes on instruments like the Sarangi (a short bow-necked instrument), Yar a Khartal (made from a pair of wooden blocks with jingles), Dholak (double-headed hand-drum), Ghatam (an earthenware pot that the musician strikes), Dhol (a drum that dates back to the 15th century) and Morchang Ghatam (an earthenware pot that the musician strikes).
Presented by the Eastern Cape Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture, Rhythms of the Eastern Cape is a fascinating display of the province’s rich music and dance heritage. In an extravaganza of five lunchtime concerts, audiences will be introduced to the sub-tribes or clans of the Eastern Cape (amaBhaca, abaThembu, amaKhoisan, abeSuthu and amaMpondo), who will mesmerise with their indigenous music and dance. Artists will also be drawn from the newly-formed Indigenous Music Orchestra and Eastern Cape Cultural Ensemble.
Bookings for this year’s “11 Days of Amaz!ng” are open. Tickets are available through Computicket. Booking kits available from selected Standard Bank Branches, selected Exclusive Books and all Computickets. For more information on the programme, accommodation and travel options visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za (or just click on the banner advert above). Also join the National Arts Festival group on Facebook for all the latest competitions and news, or follow us on Twitter.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.
Integration and collaboration is celebrated through dance at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
Eight grand scale dance productions ranging from the technically classical to the culturally traditional to the exploratory conceptual are set to mesmerize audiences on the Main Dance programme of the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown (June 30 to July 10, 2011).
Standard Bank Young Artists Award winner for Dance 2011, Mamela Nyamza headlines the dance programme with her intimately personal Isingqala presented alongside Amafongkong which she has produced in collaboration with Hannah Loewenthal and Adugna Dance Company. This company of mixed ability performers was the first contemporary dance company to be founded in Ethiopia. Adugna grew out of a project in the 1990’s initiated by Royston Maldoom, with over 100 street children in Addis Ababa. Two of its first company members, Junaid Jemal Sendi and Adissu are now the artistic directors of Adugna Dance Company.
“In creating Amafongkong, my intention is to hold an open space to explore the notion of collaboration in all its complexities, to see how and where similar and different bodies could meet in movement”, Mamela explains.
Another acclaimed production that also explores the beauty of integrated dance is the Remix Dance Company’s Lovaffair presented by the Baxter Theatre Centre, in association with Ual’s Youngblood. Described as a celebration of bodies and love, Lovaffair had its world première at the Baxter Theatre Centre in 2010 with two hugely successful seasons.
With this award-winning production directed by Ina Wichterich-Mogane, with musical direction and composition by Neo Muyanga, the Remix Dance Company with its 10 years of innovative and groundbreaking work has established its reputation as a leading South African contemporary integrated dance initiative that combines differently-abled dancers as well as actors.
Presented by Moving Into Dance Mophatong, the 2009 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Dance, Thabo Rapoo, brings Batsumi to the Festival this year. Batsumi weaves a story of the hopes, joys and struggles of a hunter-gatherer community as it integrates song, dance, acting and live music to celebrate the age-old traditions of the hunter-gatherers.
The South African premiere of Desert Crossings is a cross-cultural performance birthed from a collaboration between UK-based producers State of Emergency and South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma of Vuyani Dance Theatre. Performed to an original score by Steve Marshall and drawing on a company of five dancers from diverse cultural backgrounds Desert Crossings is inspired by the similarities between the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site on England’s south coast and the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. This new work is an exploration and reflection on two very different places, united through a shared history of the rocks on which they stand.
“Desert Crossings is a landscape where the physical and the metaphysical, the corporeal and the spiritual, the celestial and terrestrial all merge,” said Maqoma about the choreography of this piece, which received the Inspire endorsement by London 2012 and the International Olympic Committee. Deborah Baddoo, Artistic Director of State of Emergency Productions was made an MBE in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her contribution to British Dance.
Angel Heart & Fourteen, a double bill created and performed by Fura, is presented at the Festival with support from the Embassy of Spain. After studying dance and theatre in Spain and France, Pilar Cervera, who prefers to be called Fura, started her career as a trapeze artiste in Paris in 1993 before moving to Canada to be trained in the swinging trapeze technique by Andrè Simard, trainer of the aerial shows in the Cirque du Soleil.
Her choreographed pieces, Angel Heart is danced on a fixed trapeze while her piece Fourteen, inspired by the story of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges' The House of Asterion, is a choreographed work on vertical cloths. She has performed at most leading festivals across Europe, USA and Asia. Her performance at the National Arts Festival marks her première on the African continent.
Ireland’s foremost aerial dance theatre company Fidget Feet will also make a South African premiere with their Madam Silk, an aerial dance extravaganza which will have Lindsey Butcher, Chantal McCormick and Jennifer Patterson dancing, sweeping and spinning across the stage and through the air in a universe of veils and drapes, using dance and circus skills on fabric and hoops. The show opens in an empty house where the memories of Madam Silk lie forgotten under sheets of fabric. The winds of time blow through the window and awaken her, and each scene represents a different century influenced by different writers.
Swan Lake, the renowned embodiment of mystery and romance portrayed in sublime, ethereal movement will be presented by the Cape Town City Ballet in association with Artscape. Tchaikovsky’s score transports the viewer and inspires the dancers in their portrayal of this tale of love’s triumph over evil. This version of Swan Lake, produced by Elizabeth Triegaardt, is based on that of Vladimir Bourmeister, and was first taught to the CAPAB Ballet Company, now the Cape Town City Ballet, by Frenchman Attilio Labis in 1971. Labis had danced as a guest in Russia in several different productions, and it was from these that he chose the elements to make it one of the most eclectic in the world. This is the 17th time that this production has been mounted for this company. Megan Swart and Laura Bosenberg share the roles of Odette / Odile, Xola Putye and Thomas Thorne are Prince Siegfried, and Mervyn Williams and Johnny Bovang share the role of Von Rothbart.
From the largest desert province of India comes Rajasthan – A Melodical Journey In Folk Dance, Song & Music, presented by the Indian Cultural Centre. Rajasthan is celebrated for its architectural splendour and vibrant costumes. The music from this arid region evokes the haunting beauty of the desert. The programme presented at the Festival includes instrumentalists, singers and dancers delivering performances of the Chari, Ghoomar, Bhavai and Kalbeliya traditional dances, as well as musical interludes on instruments like the Sarangi (a short bow-necked instrument), Yar a Khartal (made from a pair of wooden blocks with jingles), Dholak (double-headed hand-drum), Ghatam (an earthenware pot that the musician strikes), Dhol (a drum that dates back to the 15th century) and Morchang Ghatam (an earthenware pot that the musician strikes).
Presented by the Eastern Cape Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture, Rhythms of the Eastern Cape is a fascinating display of the province’s rich music and dance heritage. In an extravaganza of five lunchtime concerts, audiences will be introduced to the sub-tribes or clans of the Eastern Cape (amaBhaca, abaThembu, amaKhoisan, abeSuthu and amaMpondo), who will mesmerise with their indigenous music and dance. Artists will also be drawn from the newly-formed Indigenous Music Orchestra and Eastern Cape Cultural Ensemble.
Bookings for this year’s “11 Days of Amaz!ng” are open. Tickets are available through Computicket. Booking kits available from selected Standard Bank Branches, selected Exclusive Books and all Computickets. For more information on the programme, accommodation and travel options visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za (or just click on the banner advert above). Also join the National Arts Festival group on Facebook for all the latest competitions and news, or follow us on Twitter.
The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
LALELANI MBHELE
(Lalelani Mbhele working on his mural of a giant warrior)Visit the new Village Restaurant at Stable Theatre within the next few days and you’ll find painter and illustrator Lalelani Mbhele hard at work on a number of murals which will give this new venue a distinctive and vibrant African feel.
Google him on the internet and you’ll find no less than 11 pages of references covering all the work he has done to date.
Over the years, Lalelani Mbhele has impressed with the quality of his work and he has done various illustrations for children’s books and other publications including works by well-known writers such Gcina Mhlophe.
Born in Umlazi, he grew up in Inanda and went to high school in Kwa Mashu. After school, he attended Saturday classes at the African Art Centre from 1997 and was given a bursary to study at the Durban University of Technology where he achieved a Diploma in Fine Arts. He is also a past student of the BAT Centre's Artists in Action Residency Programme and was a student of Andy Mason under whose tutelage he expanded his cartooning skills.
He held his first solo exhibition of paintings in December 2005. Titled Igxathu (translated as the first step a child makes when learning to walk), it reflected his new-found independence as an artist and set the scene for numerous exhibitions to come.
In February last year, he appeared in a joint exhibition with Bhekinkosi Gumbi at the BAT Centre. He then created a special series of paintings reflecting his aspirations of the 2010 Soccer World Cup for an exhibition at the African Art Centre. These works reflected his own versions and aspirations of the World Cup and the soccer players were all women dressed in traditional “Izidwaba” (skirts) and “Izicholo” (Zulu hat) proudly showcasing their soccer skills.
Last year, the WK Kellogg Foundation invited him to present a workshop to transfer his skills in contemporary design and illustration.
Moses Mucabel, manager of The Village Restaurant, has known Lalelani for many years. “I went down to the BAT Centre one day, looking for an artist to paint murals for my Karibu Restaurant,” he says. “I spotted Lalelani’s image of Sipho Gumede and employed him right away!”
The same murals seen at Karibu will be repeated at the venue at Stable Theatre and will depict Nguni cattle, a warrior in traditional dress outside a hut and Umkhosi Womhlanga (virgins at the annual Reed Dance) as well as ukhamba (pots), ugqoko (traditional meat trays) and ithinga (milking pail).
The opening of the Village Restaurant will take place on Sunday, May 29, 2011, at 19h00 until late. There will be promotions from various suppliers, otherwise a cash bar will be available as will be the restaurant’s wide-ranging menu of African-styled food. More information from Pascal Agarason on 072 028 0600.
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