Month: June 2015

Sibikwa presents four classic plays

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Sibikwa Arts Centre is reviving four of its classics: Uhambo, Kwela Bafana, DET Boys’ High and So Where To?.

The Sibikwa Arts Centre in Benoni, founded by Phyllis Klotz and Smal Ndaba, is internationally recognised for its productions that have an ongoing concern to address social, environmental, gender and health issues that validate the lives of ordinary people.

The Sibikwa Players, comprising actors, musicians, dancers and singers, have been dedicated to developing a canon of indigenous South African work in their wondrous signature multi-discipline style since they were founded in 1988.

Sibikwa’s professional drama component has long blown any preconceptions about community theatre out of the water bringing epic retelling of South African history to mainstream audiences.

Sibikwa has revived four of its emblematic classics: Uhambo, Kwela Bafana, DET Boys’ High and So Where To?. All these productions are written and directed by Phyllis Klotz and Smal Ndaba, the stellar Sibikwa team, and have toured extensively nationally and internationally participating in the Edinburgh Festival, Festivals in Europe, Singapore, Canada and the USA. They are now ready for touring in South Africa and the SADC!

  • Uhambo, first presented in 1997, is an inspiring tale about a boy’s adventure during a vibrant yet conflicting time. The harsh system of migratory labour and the ever–growing repression of apartheid are re-told through a wondrous mixture of music, dance, drama, mime and dialogue. Uhambo, seen through the eyes of Mzamo, a scared and vulnerable teenage boy, born in the 1950s in the Eastern Cape, takes the audience back to the time when Mzamo was a 14-year-old boy and embarked on a journey to find his parents in eGoli, a trip that ultimately becomes his journey into manhood. Uhambo will be presented in association with the State Theatre in September 2015 and will only be available after the run.
  • Kwela Bafana is an engaging, scintillating musical that pays homage to the distinctive music of the 1950s, an era of vivacity, fashion, music, dance and bravery in the face of apartheid adversity and forced removals. This soulful production, set in a shebeen, brings the 50s back to life; it takes you down memory lane to the era of ‘live fast, die young and make a beautiful corpse’ with the music of South African icons such as Strike Vilakazi, Dorothy Masuka and the Manhattan Brothers. Kwela Bafana has audiences singing along, tapping their feet and wishing they had brought along their dancing shoes.
  • D. E. T. Boys’ High, a highly energetic, thought-provoking, multi-award winning Sibikwa production, emerged from intense research in the 1990s and is presented in the typical multilingual Sibikwa style with a-cappella harmonies and high energy dances embedded in the dialogues. It gives a candid view of the substandard education of the day, sadly still relevant today. The play, set in a boy’s high school toilet, shakes and pulsates with the raw vitality and fire of the and explores corruption among teachers and the disillusionment of learners
  • So Where To? Is a passionate play about the anguish and sorrow of three young, unwed, pregnant women for whom motherhood is blighted by the prejudices of apartheid. Set in 1988, against the background of the state of emergency and oppressive police action, the play examines the fate of the three young women from dissimilar backgrounds who are all expecting their illegitimate babies in a Daveyton maternity ward. Sibikwa is proud to announce that the female cast of the revised 2015 adaption of So Where To? is completely drawn from its Saturday Arts Academy graduates while the male lead is played by SAA-parent Sipho Manzini known for his roles in Scandal an Isibaya.

All four plays can be booked as school plays; they are suitable for learners from Grade 7 upwards. DET Boys’ High and So Where To? deal with issues such as drugs, crime and teenage pregnancy that affect the daily lives of our youth and fit in with the life orientation syllabus. Kwela Bafana and Uhambo focus on history and heritage.

Sibikwa wouldn’t be Sibikwa without a special women’s month offering. This year So Where To? Will be presented at the Sibikwa Arts Theatre on August 8, 9 and 10 at 3 pm. Tickets are R50 for adults and R25 for pensioners, students and children. Inquiries: 011 422 4359.

Final concert in the KZN Philharmonic Winter Season

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VIOLINIST Joanna Frankel will be the soloist in the final concert of KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s World Symphony Series winter season in the Durban City Hall at 7.30 pm on June 25.
The concert, titled, A Virtuosic Finale!, will be conducted by Carlos Izcaray.
It opens with Claude Debussy’s symphonic poem Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun. The work, based on the poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, tells the story of a faun waking up in a dreamlike state to find fairies and nymphs as the morning progresses.
Music lovers can also look forward to 38th Symphony, “Prague”, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Frankel, the concertmaster of the KZN Philharmonic, will perform Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a mammoth work fraught with Soviet expression, themes and virtuosity.
Joanna Frankel is the soloist with the KZN Philharmonic on June 25 in the Durban City Hall.

Joanna Frankel is the soloist with the KZN Philharmonic on June 25 in the Durban City Hall.

Tickets for the concert can be booked at Computicket.

Relive the glory days of Freddie Mercury & Queen

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Cape Town will be given the opportunity to relive the glory days of Freddie Mercury and his iconic band Queen when Artscape Opera House hosts the world’s premier Queen tribute show Queen – It’s A Kinda Magic for a two-week run this November.

Recreating Queen’s 1986 World Tour concert, the show features all of the band’s greatest hits performed live including We Will Rock You, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions and Fat-Bottomed Girls. Careful attention has been paid to all the music – the iconic voice of Mercury, the amazing guitar solos of May and the groundbreaking rock harmonies – plus audiences can expect all the big sound, lighting, effects and costumes of a full-scale rock concert.

The show is expected to be yet another hit for promoters Artscape Opera House who wowed sell-out crowds and drew critical acclaim for The Greatest Love of All – The Whitney Houston Show that played Artscape earlier this year.

In fact Queen – It’s a Kinda Magic is good enough to have attracted the attention, endorsement and eventual involvement of Peter Freestone, Freddie Mercury’s best friend, neighbour, biographer and personal assistant for 12 years.

After reviewing the show while in Singapore in 2007, Freestone was duly impressed and contacted promoter John Van Grinsven with his compliments. A friendship ensued and Freestone now tours with QIAKM where his schedule allows, acting as a production consultant for the show as well as signing autographs and chatting with Queen fans.

Englishman Giles Taylor will spearhead the role of Freddie Mercury with support from Australians Richie Baker, as Brian May on guitar, and Kyle Thompson, as Roger Taylor on drums, and South Africa’s Steven Dennett as John Deacon on bass.

In 2014 Taylor took on the coveted and complex role of Freddie Mercury. His career has seen him travel the world over the past 13 years, performing with artists such as Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), Gabrielle, Rick Wakeman, The Moody Blues, Martin Taylor, Richard O’Brien, Sir Jimmy Tarbuck and Dennis Waterman.

Despite this incredible roll call of colleagues, Taylor counts his role in Queen – It’s a Kinda Magic as one of the toughest musical roles he has encountered to date.

“Freddie was known for his powerful voice and vocal range, and had a very distinct character in general, so emulating him is quite a challenge, but those details need to be just right for a show of this magnitude. True Queen fans will appreciate the attention to detail,” says Taylor.

NEED TO KNOW

Queen – It’s a Kinda Magic runs from November 10-22 at Artscape Opera House. Tickets at Computicket.

Check out Marsi van de Heuvel’s exhibition Entanglement at SMITH

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THE latest exhibition at SMITH is a solo exhibition of new work by Marsi van de Heuvel titled ‘Entanglement’.

This show presents works that experiment with empathy and entanglement; a study of an emotional connected consciousness. The multiplicity of the deep yet ethereal colour of blue, and countless minute pen marks, represent an open ended expanse of human experience.

It serves as sanctuary for vulnerability; a home for emotion. It is an attempt to ease anxieties of today’s fixation with idiosyncratic statuses, and soothe the exhaustion of the constant search for signal, by submerging into an expansive and empathetic rhizome.

“I feel compelled to make work that contributes, and I search to find relevant subject matter that does not exclude; that speaks in the language of every man. I love that art has the power to convey something complex in a simple way,” says Marsi. “My work is a demonstration of dedication, a practice of discipline and patience. The process is slow and meditative, consuming of time and self. The intention is to broaden perspectives of who we are, and where we are.”

Originating from Cape Town, Marsi has known from the beginning that art was all she wanted to pursue. She said: “I felt fortunate to be sure of what I wanted to do. I committed. Although my subject and medium has changed over the years, the concepts in all my work have had common themes that I have come to realize quite recently”.

‘Entanglement’ will run from June 24 to July 18 at SMITH, 56 Church Street, Cape Town.

SMITH is open Tuesday – Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.

TWENTY: Art in the Time of Democracy

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An exhibition entitled TWENTY: Art in the Time of Democracy featuring works by 115 artists will be presented by UJ Arts & Culture at the UJ Art Gallery from July 1 to August 5.

Gordon Froud, senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg (FADA) and curator for this show, incorporated a broad range of works by established and emerging South African artists addressing their experiences of the first twenty years of democracy in this country.

Froud originally curated this show for the Appalachian State University Turchin Centre in North Carolina during 2014, which, on its return was exhibited at the Pretoria Art Museum. A selection from this exhibition, co-curated by Professor Karen Von Veh (UJ, FADA) will be shown at the 6th International Beijing Biennale later this year.

The artists, amongst others William Kentridge , Mary Sibande, David Goldblatt, Diane Victor, David Koloane, Kagiso Pat Mautloa, Vusi Beauchamp, Clive Van der Berg, Paul Emmanuel, Kim Berman, Roger Ballen, Matt Hindley, Marco Cianfanelli, Jodi Bieber, Manfred Zylla, Andy Robertson, Christo Doherty, Mbali Dhlamini, Bevan de Wet, Phumilani Ntuli and Jaco van Schalkwyk, comment on a wide variety of themes such as identity formation within a young democracy, resistance, human rights, land concerns, the Mandela years and HIV/Aids.

The exhibition closes on August 5.

NEED TO KNOW

OPENING SPEAKER: Avitha Sooful, Head of Division and senior lecturer, Fine Arts, University of Pretoria

WALKABOUT: Wednesday, July 22 at 1 pm; Saturday, August 1 at 10.30 am

GALLERY HOURS: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm. Closed weekends and public holidays.

LOCATION: APK Campus, Cor. Kingsway/University Road, Auckland Park

CONTACT: UJ Art Gallery: 011 559 2099 aedempsey@uj.ac.za

National Youth Orchestra in Potch and Joburg

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The National Youth Orchestra will be performing in Potchefstroom on July 2 and Johannesburg on July 3 – don’t miss these wonderful concerts!

In the heart of the winter, the orchestra will be hosting its Winter Course from June 27 to July 2 in Potchefstroom. The musicians will be performing under South African conductor Matheu Kieswetter, and Norwegian conductor, Bjørn Breistein.

The two orchestras (string ensemble and wind orchestra) consist of 85 young musicians from all over South Africa. The aim of this course is for these young musicians to meet each other and learn about diverse cultures, develop as young professionals (with access to national and international networks that the youth orchestra provides) and discover the pure joy of orchestral music.

This course is proudly sponsored by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Artéma, the SAMRO Foundation and North West University. One of the orchestra members will also have the opportunity of receiving a “Pukki” bursary from the university to the value of R20,000.

The course will be concluded with two Warm Your Heart concerts at the Snowflake in Potchefstroom on July 2, and at The Orbit in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on July 3. Tickets for these events are available on the National Youth Orchestra’s website: www.sanyo.org.za/events.

The National Youth Orchestra invites music enthusiasts to come and experience the exceptional talent South Africa has to offer in these exhilarating performances with exquisite music including Finlandia by Sibelius in celebration of his 150th anniversary, and a SAMRO-commissioned piece by star South African composer Andile Khumalo.

For more information, visit: www.sanyo.org.za

Semi-finalists sing the tune of a new South Africa

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Last week, SAMRO Foundation administrators and a panel of adjudicators completed an intensive selection process – narrowing a pool of 35 applicants to 12 semi-finalists.

On August 27 these talented South African vocalists – six in Western Art (“classical”) music and six in Jazz – will compete live during the intermediate round of the Foundation’s annual Overseas Scholarships Competition. One singer in each category will claim the ultimate prize: a R170 000 study award and the opportunity to accelerate their journey towards artistic and creative excellence.

The SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition has evolved much over 53 years. This evolution has followed South Africa’s compelling journey towards a unique cultural identity that reflects our history, our struggles, triumphs and visibility on the global stage.

“We are now starting to hear a truly South African sound,” says Andre Le Roux, managing director of the SAMRO Foundation. “This year, SAMRO Foundation administrators and adjudicators took note of and were impressed by several candidates who chose South African compositions for their competition repertoire.

“Compared to previous years, there seems to be increased appreciation of South African composition. For us as a Foundation within Africa’s largest music rights organisation and composers’ society, this is proof that we’re doing impactful work to preserve our rich heritage and shape the new inclusive voice of our country.”

All 12 semi-finalists are between 22 and 30 years of age and are pursuing their passion as top achievers in the music world. Many have already honed their musical prowess as professional performers.

This year’s top six in the Jazz music category are:
Amy Campbell (UCT)
Mikhaela Kruger (UCT)
Palesa Modiga (UCT)
Nelmarie Rabie (TUT and UP)
Kwena Ramahuta (UKZN)
Amy Walton (UCT)

The Western Art music category’s semi-finalists are:
Khanyiso Gwenxane (TUT and UCT)
Andiswa Makana (TUT)
Nombuso Ndlandla (NWU)
Levy Sekgapane (UCT)
Makudupanyane Senaoana (UCT)
Victoria Stevens (UCT)

Four finalists – two in each category – will compete for top prizes on August 29 at the Linder Auditorium. This thrilling final round is open to the public, features live accompaniment, special guests and performances of a selection of musical works including a South African composition specially commissioned for the occasion.

The SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition rotates every year between awards for vocalists (2011, 2015), instrumentalists (2012, 2016), keyboard players (2013, 2017) and composers (2014, 2018).

Three SAMRO Overseas Scholarship winners have been recognised as Standard Bank Young Artist Award recipients, and countless others have gone on to pursue successful professional careers as internationally renowned Western Art and Jazz musicians.