From soulful to experimental, and everything in between — Cape audiences are spoilt for choice.
- ‘I believe that as an artist I’m a mirror of the way society is. I take that very seriously. I don’t think I’d be an artist if I didn’t,” says Afro soul jazz siren Simphiwe Dana. It’s this artistic ‘mirror’ that she holds up to society on her latest album Kulture Noir. The black culture billing here isn’t a sales pitch for Simphiwe. It’s a pivotal philosophical quest(ion). While her last album, the multiple Sama-winning One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street (2006) was an Ubuntu-fuelled call to celebrate our collective African consciousness, Kulture Noir is a more meditative cry for freedom. Expect a bewitching set of soulful sighs, whispers and soars that sidestep any comfortable ‘world’ music or ‘jazz’ pigeonholes to celebrate finding true freedom in spirituality itself.
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Rhodes Drive, Newlands, March 20, 3.30pm. Entrance is R75 or R50. Book at www.webtickets.co.za
- ‘Zef’ may well be this year’s zeitgeist for ‘tweenie’ Afrikaner youth. But there was a time when musical rebellion meant more than a jackass cocktail of slapstick rap and dumb and dumber rave beats. Fokofpolisiekar romp through a reminder of why their garage punk anthems about youth and young manhood once defined Afrikaner rock’s young and restless 00s zeitgeist at the launch of their authorised biography, Biografie Van n Bende.
Penned by Annie Klopper, the biography charts how church buddies Francois (vocals), Wynand (bass), Hunter (guitar), Johnny (guitar) and Jaco (drums) became rock gods and pretty much sucked the entire ‘Belville Rock City’ scene out of their collective thumbs through blood, sweat and a few good business decisions.
Klein Libertas Theatre, Stellenbosch, March 21, 1pm. Entrance is R60. Mercury Live, Devilliers Street, Zonnebloem, March 23, 8pm. Entrance is R70 (pre-sold) or R80 (door).
- ‘Fire walk with me” is the ear-catching theme for the 6th instalment of this marginalised music festival. Sound familiar? Fans of director David Lynch’s Twin Peaks should be nodding. Relax, this doesn’t mean that the performers will be channeling Bob’s infamous blood lust. Instead an impressive cast of improvisers, storytellers and dancers are challenged to share their passion through their artistic interpretation of the theme. The Darkroom Collective’s Shane Cooper (bass), Jonno Sweetman (drums) and Mark Fransman (sax) open audiences ears at the Theatre in the District, in District Six on March 18.
The festival’s also about ‘cultural exchange’. Award-winning drummer Kesivan Naidoo mixes it up with German saxophonist O. Fox. Also expect passionate exchanges between Ola Høyer (double bass), Torgrim Mellum Stene (storyteller) and Morten Minothi Kristiansen (guitar). Iconic Xhosa composer, singer, story-teller and multi instrumentalist Madosini shares some of her retro futuristic compositions for uhadi, umrhubhe and isitolotolo at Campfire in Gugulethu NY 131 on March 19. The passionate exchanges at Olympia Cafe in Kalk Bay on March 20 look equally intriguing. Lisa Bauer (voice, electronics) sits in with sax and drum duo Howell & Starcke, and bassist Ola Høyer meets guitarist Reza Kohta with Leila Anderson (performance) also in the mix.
Shows start at 8pm. Admission is R70. Website: www.edgeofwrong.com