Stopgap: The PIC’s loan to Eskom was made to deal with the crisis at the utility caused by corruption and out-of-control costs.
THE PLAY LIST
Season High: Little Dragon. I started the week off with this album when I came across a Little Dragon performance on KEXP’s YouTube page. Season High, their 2017 release, starts off with Japanese-sounding keyboards, then it launches into the electronic fusion of house and dub music that I would describe as Little Dragon’s sound, although I stand to be corrected. It’s not very different in sound from the band’s previous albums, although there aren’t any ballads in these 10 new tunes, some of which have been inspired by South African house. (MB)
Public Enemies: Jay-Z vs Kanye. In the age of Insta-everything, I guess it figures that a microwavable documentary would follow. I watched this based purely on hype and it leaves me with a bit of a dirty feeling. The two protagonists, Kanye West and Jay-Z, seem not to have been directly interviewed, which is okay, but it does leave one wondering what the people in our life would do for a smallanyana 15 minutes. Cute early footage of Kanye though. (KS)
THE READING LIST
Milan Kundera: The Art of the Novel. I recently received Milan Kundera’s The Art of the Novel as an apology gift from someone. Although I’m not past the first chapter, I know that this is going to be a deeply influential book on my development as a writer and thinker. Delving into the significance of Cervantes’ Don Quixote has led me to a deeper exploration of the work of writers such as Flaubert and Tolstoy and their relevance still today. The words are inextricable to the wisdom in this classic that is gently opening up knowledge. (MB)
Joburg Review of Books. Struggling with a piece of writing this week, I popped over to the Johannesburg Review of Books site in the hopes that some beautiful reviewing might get the blood flowing. Bongani Madondo’s review of Flowers from a Broken Smile was a tender tribute to Mac Manaka, a poet well on his way to greatness. (KS)
The Lists are compiled by Friday editor Milisuthando Bongela and arts writer
Kwanele Sosibo