What’s On: November 20 -26

Bongeziwe Mabandla.

Bongeziwe Mabandla, Workers’ Museum, Newtown, Johannesburg, November 21. Afro-folk singer-songwriter Mabandla plays for Consciousness Café’s first birthday. The event will kick off with a dialogue at 11am, followed by an afternoon arts and craft market, a film screening, live music, comedy and spoken word. Entrance is free. consciousnesscafe.co.za

Jazz at The Orbit, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. November 20, 8.30pm: Saxophonist McCoy Mrubata with pianist Paul Hanmer (R120). November 20, 8.30pm: Lindiwe Maxolo plays South African standards and songs from her debut album (R120). November 22, 6pm: Zoe Modiga Quintet, featuring Thandi Ntuli on piano and Benjamin Jephta on bass (R120). November 24, 8pm: Science and cocktails with jazz (R120). November 25, 8pm: En Fuego, the Orbit Afro-Cuban Salsa Band (R100). November 26, 8pm: Jazz and funk trombonist Fred Wesley and the New JBs, November 26 (R180) — see below. November 27, 8.30pm: Carlo Mombelli Trio, featuring Keenan Ahrends and Tumi Mogorosi (R150).

Buddy Wells, Straight No Chaser, 79 Buitekant Street, Cape Town, November 20, 8.30pm and 10pm: Saxophonist Wells leads his quintet of Shane Cooper (bass), Keenan Ahrends (guitar), Jonno Sweetman (drums) and Steven Sokuyeka (trombone) through original compositions. Tickets R80 a set or R140 all night. Also at Straight No Chaser, November 21, 7pm: Electro-swing combo Rumspringer play a mix of vintage swing, jazz, house and EDM. Tickets R40.

The Slash Experience, The Jazzy Rainbow, 93 Smiso Nkwanyana Road, Durban. November 20, 8pm: The Slash Experience is led by trumpeter Siyanda “Slash” Zulu. Also at The Jazzy Rainbow, November 21, 7pm: Duane Nichols and friends.

Fred Wesley and the New JBs, Bat Centre, 45 Maritime Place, Durban, on November 25, at 8pm, and at the

Baxter Theatre Concert Hall, Main Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town, November 21. Tickets R150.

Cognac and house DJs, 1715 by Martell Cognac, Sandton Eye, Radisson Blu Gautrain hotel, November 20 to 21, 9pm to 2am. House DJs Kent, Just Mo and Pex Africah play sets at Martell Cognac’s first pop-up cognac bar in South Africa this weekend. Entrance R100. 1715.co.za

Walter Oltmann, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town. Oltmann presents Cradle, new works comprising aluminium wire weavings, drawings, prints and watercolours. Until December 12. www.goodman-gallery.com

Helena Hugo, Alliance Francaise, 17 Lower Park Drive, Parkview, Johannesburg. Hugo shows a series of realistically rendered portraits of sugarcane cutters. Until November 21. www.alliance.org.za

Bambo Sibiya, Pretoria Art Museum, corner Schoeman and Wessel Streets, Arcadia, Pretoria. Sibiya showcases Umlambo Uziwa ngeDondolo, in association with the Alliance Francaise Network South Africa and Absa. Until December 13. www.tshwane.gov.za

Jonathan Hindson, Gallery Momo, 52 7th Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg. Hindson, a South African-born, France-based artist, exhibits artworks exploring the idea of home. Until January 15. gallerymomo.com

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Vansa, King Kong Building, 6 Verwey Street, Johannesburg. Sunstrum opens Beacon, an installation featuring wall drawings, animations and sound compsitions, on November 24. Show runs until January 15. www.vansa.co.za

Summer Fling, The Space Between Gallery, The Loft, 139 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town. Group exhibition; from November 26 to December 19. www.facebook.com/SBGalleryStudio

Kemang Wa Lehulere, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town. History Will Break Your Heart is the new show by 2015 Standard Bank Young Artist Wa Lehulere, who uses video, installations and drawings to explore the contradictions of personal and collective memory, as well as historical omission. Wa Lehulere describes this exhibition as “a protest against forgetting”. Until January 20 2016. iziko.org.za

Songs from Jazz Town, Market Theatre, Newtown, and the Windybrow Theatre, Hillbrow, Johannesburg. The Market Theatre’s artistic director James Ngcobo celebrates musical legends with a production that zooms in on the evolution of popular music from the 1950s onwards. Tickets R90 to R190. markettheatre.co.za

The Return of Elvis Du Pisanie, Market Theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg. Paul Slabolepszy’s play explores post-traumatic stress disorder in the aftermath of war through the story of a newly retrenched salesman who decides to end his life. Lionel Newton leads the cast; André Odendaal directs. November 24 to December 13, 8:15pm. Tickets R90 to R180; available from Computicket. markettheatre.co.za

The Imagined Land, State Theatre, Pretoria. A witty drama echoing the lives of novelists Nadine Gordimer and Doris Lessing. A famous Zimbabwean novelist, who is about to undergo brain surgery, meets a young biographer who wants to tell her life story. Directed by Malcolm Purkey, starring Nat Ramabulana, Janna Ramos Violante and Fiona Ramsay. Show starts at 8:15pm. Until November 28. Tickets R40 to R100; available at Computicket. statetheatre.co.za

Four: 30 Operas Made in South Africa, Artscape Theatre Centre, Cape Town, November 25 to 28, 6pm and 7:30pm. Artscape showcases homegrown operas that bring a fresh feel to contemporary African stories: The Application, Blood of Mine, Bessie: The Blue-Eyed Xhosa and Anti-Laius. A collaboration between Cape Town Opera and the UCT Opera School. artscape.co.za

Italian Film Focus, The Labia, Cape Town, until November 26. The 15th annual fest showcases new Italian cinema, with eight movies this year. Two are by celebrated directors Paolo e Emilio Taviani (Wondrous Boccaccio) and Cristina Comencini (Latin Lover), and there are novelties such as E-Bola, the first educational movie about the epidemic, and the documentary When Italy Ate in Black and White, an original experiment with the story and philosophy of Italian cuisine. Debates, openings and workshops at local film schools are part of the festival. Several Italian producers, writers and directors will be involved.

Beats of the Antonov, The Bioscope, Maboneng, Johannesburg, November 23 to 26. Beats of the Antonov, directed by Hajooj Kuka, is a feature documentary about the people of the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Sudan during the civil war. It follows their everyday lives after the loss of their homes and livelihoods, also showing how they still celebrate their heritage and culture in the midst of pain. thebioscope.co.za