Month: June 2015

Help my friend and awesome guitarist, Guy Buttery

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My friend, Guy Buttery, is launching a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the recording of his next album. This is one awesome dude and one of the most talented guitarists I know, so if you can help him out. This is what Guy had to say:

“I am pretty damn excited to be launching my crowdfunding campaign today in support of my upcoming album. It’s been a long time coming, but this new record has undeniably been the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done and also features a bunch of songs and guest artists I’m super stoked about.

“So far I have guest appearances from Vusi Mahlasela, Piers Faccini, multi-Grammy award winner and founder of Windham Hill Records, Will Ackerman, Gareth Gale, Derek Gripper, Shane Cooper, Nibs, Dan Patlansky and a bunch of others. We also made a pretty random video for this whole jol so check that out too. It’s very silly.

“Essentially I see this whole crowdfunding campaign to support the making of this music, much like an advance from a record company. Except it’s from you, which is way less kak.

“It also gives me a chance to offer access to some pretty rad and exclusive perks such as house concerts, vinyls, posters, two of my personal guitars, an exclusive demo’s EP, original photographic prints from an Ugandan adventure, LP test pressings, T-shirts, or the option to hire me in as a producer/engineer at my home studio where this new album is being recorded. There’s more stuff too.

“Please also feel totally at peace to share the link, the video or this email around to your fellow human. Check out the campaign page and video and also have a look at what’s on offer by clicking on the link.”

The crowdfunding site: http://www.igg.me/at/guybuttery

Guy’s email: buttery@iafrica.com

Guy Buttery. Photo: Gillian Coetzee

Guy Buttery. Photo: Gillian Coetzee

KZN student productions at the National Arts Festival

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DURBAN University of Technology will present Behind Closed Minds at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

Written and directed by Farrell Drew, the play offers a dramatic and emotionally powerful story. It is a dark and soul-questioning piece that touches on issues such as loyalty, injustice and the misuse of power.

Behind Closed Minds is centred on the lives of Dr Victor Duval, his wife and assistant Anita, and the patients who were released into their care. The play seeks to examine a side to hypnotherapy that has yet to be explored, while revealing how the selfishness of one man destroyed the lives of all those who trusted him.

The play will be staged in the Rehearsal Room at 11.30 am on July 7 and 2.30 pm on July 8. Tickets are R45 (concessions R35).

Also staging a work in the student drama festival is the University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban. Ashes to Ashes, written and directed by Camilla Rogers, is a political satire that ridicules the actions of our political leaders and law enforcers, while acting out a robbery.

The play will be staged in the Rehearsal Room at 5 pm on July 6 and 8 pm on July 7. Tickets are R45 (R35 concessions).

Bookings are open and can be made via the website:http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Ticketing call centre: 0860 002 004

Pick up a Festival programme and booking kit from selected Standard Bank and Exclusive Books. The full programme is online athttp://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za

A look at Alan Paton’s life and works in ‘A Voice I Cannot Silence’

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DURBAN actors Ralph Lawson, Clare Mortimer and Menzi Mkhwane will be starring in Greg Homann and Ralph Lawson’s A Voice I Cannot Silence.

The play, which is based on the life and work of Alan Paton, highlights the invaluable contribution made by the author of Cry, The Beloved Country who was, in the words of Douglas Livingstone, a “lighthouse in the South African twilight” during the dark decades leading up to the country’s constitutional democracy.

Paton’s internationally recognised gifts of lyric verse, evocative prose and vibrant story telling are combined to create a richly dramatic portrait.

The play focuses on his years as principal of Diepkloof Reformatory, the “toughest black borstal in the Southern Hemisphere”, where he introduced daring reforms that brought him into conflict with the architect of apartheid Hendrik Verwoerd, his position as president of the Liberal Party that led to harassment and a 10-year period during which his passport was taken away by the apartheid government, his indomitable belief in and daunting struggle for human rights, and the complexities of his personal relationships.

These weighty themes are explored through Paton’s interaction with Anne Hopkins, whom he employed in 1968 as a secretary shortly after the death of his wife Dorrie.

While trying to come to terms with his loss, the memories of his wife and their love for each other are set in contrast to his difficult days spent at the reformatory some 20 years earlier where he remembers vividly a curious young man called Sponono.

A Voice I Cannot Silence is being staged at the Rhodes Box Theatre at noon and 8.30 pm on July 10 and July 11, and at noon on July 12.

Tickets are R70, with concession tickets at R65.

A post-performance discussion with the director and cast, moderated by an arts journalist from City Press, will take place after the noon performance on July 10.

Bookings are open and can be made via the website:http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Ticketing call centre: 0860 002 004

Pick up a Festival programme and booking kit from selected Standard Bank and Exclusive Books. The full programme is online athttp://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za

Ewok delivers a visceral experience

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DURBAN actor, poet and spoken-word artist Iain “Ewok” Robinson will star in Yobo: You’re Only Born Once in the Thomas Pringle Hall at 3 pm on July 8, 4 pm on July 9, 4 pm on July 10 and noon and 9 pm on July 11.

Yobo is a spoken-word, audio-visual experience created by Robinson and his wife Karen Logan. It delivers a highly visceral theatre experience using live video projection and an original score created across continents.

Set against the backdrop of the constant construction that is contemporary South Africa, Yobo draws us into the world of a solitary white man living camped beneath a national highway.

Tickets are R70 (concessions R65).

Bookings are open and can be made via the website:http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Ticketing call centre: 0860 002 004

Pick up a Festival programme and booking kit from selected Standard Bank and Exclusive Books. The full programme is online at http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za

Iain ' Ewok' Robinson.

Iain ‘ Ewok’ Robinson.

KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra to delight classical music fans

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THE KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing a number of concerts at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

At 6 pm on July 4, the orchestra will present a Symphony Concert, conducted by Bernhard Gueller and featuring soloist, Joanna Franklin (violin), in the Guy Butler Theatre at Monument.

The programme includes: Hendrik Hofmeyr’s Preludio e Umsindo; Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35; and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, in G major, Op. 88. Tickets range from R70 to R100.

At 2 pm and 7.30 pm on July 5, in the Guy Butler Theatre, the orchestra will present The (He)art of the Matter.
The concert will be conducted by Richard Cock and features soloists, Magdalene Minnaar (soprano), Timothy Moloi (tenor) and Nicholas Nicolaidis (tenor). The programme includes a tribute to Frank Sinatra, Gershwin’s S’Wonderful, S’Marvellous, A Whole New World, Unforgettable, What A Wonderful World and The Lady is a Tramp.

Tickets are R70 (R65 concessions). A percentage of proceeds from this concert will be donated to the Theatre Benevolent Fund, a charity which provides care and comfort to performers who find themselves incapacitated and destitute through illness.

Cock will also conduct the orchestra in a Gala Concert in the Guy Butler Theatre at 3 pm on July 5.
The soloists are Musa Ngungwana (baritone), this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, Sorin Osorean (horn), Boris Kerimov (cello) and Magdalene de Vries (marimba). The programme will include Peter Klatzow’s I am an African and Tiniyane — a story for orchestra. Tickets are R70 to R100.

At 5 pm on July 5 the orchestra will be performing Heroes and Villains, a children’s concert, in the Monument Fountain Foyer. This interactive educational concert will feature popular music and famous themes from TV and the silver screen, including Pirates of the Caribbean, James Bond, Star Wars and Superman. Admission is free.

Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic — Frankel, Violeta Osorhean (violin), David Snaith (viola), Kerimov, Annelize de Villiers (clarinet) and percussionists, Stephane Pechoux, Jorge Renes Lopez, Joshua Kim and Thando Nkangana — will give a concert celebrating the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. The programme will include Ravel’s String Quartet in F major, Steve Reich’s Drumming (1st movement), and David Bruce’s Clarinet Quintet Gumboots.

The recital will take place in the Rhodes Chapel at 7 pm on July 5 and 3 pm on July 7. Tickets are R70 (R65 concessions).

Bookings are open and can be made via the website:http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Ticketing call centre: 0860 002 004

Pick up a Festival programme and booking kit from selected Standard Bank and Exclusive Books. The full programme is online at http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za

The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra is performing several concerts at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra is performing several concerts at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

British band Livingstone is touring South Africa in August

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British rock band, Livingston, will be coming to South Africa in August.

Their tour will kick off at Oppikoppi The Fantastic Mr Vos Vos before show dates in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Eastern Cape and Durban. The band will also spend time on a farm in Newcastle to write and record their next album.

Having formed in the multi-cultural hub of London, Livingston is made up of singer Beukes Willemse and a guitarist/keyboardist Chris van Niekerk, from South Africa, guitarist/percussionist Jakob Nebel, from Germany, and bassist Phil Magee, from the UK.

Finding their feet with 2008’s debut Sign Language and 2012’s Fire To Fire (Universal Music Germany), the band achieved numerous successes including Top 20 in the German sales charts and Number 1 on the Amazon & iTunes Rock Charts. Their single Broken made it into the Top 20 and their second single Go was the official song for German national broadcaster ZDF during the winter Olympics of 2010.

The band also collaborated with Hugh Masekela and Till Brunner for a song for the Football World Cup in South Africa (2010); and were featured in the international blockbuster movie Chalet Girl featuring Bill Nighy, Felicity Jones, Brooke Shields and Ed Westwick.

Retreating to a hunter’s cabin in the woods, an unorthodox location for a band who had previously recorded at the hallowed grounds of Abbey Road and Sonic Ranch with producers such as David Botrill (Muse, Tool, Placebo), the band wrote, produced, recorded and mixed Animal entirely on their own. The result? Their purest work to-date. Livingston released Animal in the UK, Benelux and GSA in Autumn 2014, and followed the release with a successful tour.

Vocalist Beukes Willemse says that the band is looking forward to their time in South Africa: “We are absolutely ecstatic to be touring SA. It has been a dream for so long that it seems quite unreal that it is actually happening. Cant wait!”

  • Watch the Livingston EPK here and get ready for a BIG sound South Africa!: https://youtu.be/TaiA_QgKp9c
  • Listen to the single Chemicals off the album at https://soundcloud.com/livingstonmusic/livingston-chemicals-radio-edit

Social Media inks:

http://facebook.com/livingstonmusic
http://youtube.com/livingstonlondon
https://twitter.com/livingstonmusic
http://livingstonmusic.co.uk

Video Links (ANIMAL singles):

“Chemicals” https://youtu.be/CXhDsz46_NI
“Human” https://youtu.be/ZOu5zJ4idsA
“The Hunter” https://youtu.be/99N4MX12gg8
“Reckless” https://youtu.be/5pBxP_EBlXc

Livingstone are coming to SA in August.

Livingstone are coming to SA in August.

New group exhibition at the BAT Centre in Durban

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The Menzi Mchunu Gallery at the BAT Centre in Durban’s small craft harbour is hosting the Umhlabelo exhibition from Tuesday, June 30 at 6 pm.

This exhibition comprises the work of five Durban-based visual artists – Major Ndlovu, Andile Maphumulo, Khulekani Mkhize, Nhlakanipho Mkhize and Mthobisi Maphumulo – who are members of the group Amasosha (a Zulu word that means soldiers, people who have patience and courage).

The aim of this group is to shape each other in terms of ideas, share skills in the construction of their work and to make art that can have a dialog with the audience of different cultures.

The title of the exhibition Umhlabelo is a Zulu word with two meanings – it is a Zulu medicine that you drink to fix a broken bone and also can be described as a sacrifice. In South Africa we are in a time where we are fixing the residues of our colonial past and through that process of fixing, there are so many sacrifices and offerings to make.

“The works you will see in this exhibition are a reflection of our communities today and role played by the past to shape our reactions on things and our presentation in our society,” says Fortune Bengu, spokesman for the gallery.

Mthobisi Maphumulo was born in 1988 September 9 at IMfume (southcost). He said: “When I was at school I wanted to study art but I was encouraged to study electrical engineering. I dropped out after two years to pursue my passion for art.”

His work takes a critical look at the social construction of our communities. He is also interested in unpacking inhumane processes involved in the construction and socialisation of human stratification from lower class to the upper class. Through his work, he also revisits the colonial history as a point of reference in order to challenge the residue of the colonial past because he feels it still infringes majorly in our present life.

Umhlabelo runs until July 31. The Menzi Mchunu Gallery is open from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 4 pm. Entrance is free.

A work by Mthobisi Mkhize.

A work by Mthobisi Mkhize.

Mthobisi Maphumulo's ' Voices of my people' .

Mthobisi Maphumulo’s ‘ Voices of my people’ .

This work by Khulekani Mkhize will be on show at the BAT Centre.

This work by Khulekani Mkhize will be on show at the BAT Centre.