5 mins with Balkanology – 12th June, 44 Stanley- Milpark
Up your crazy factor – dance to a brass band and fling your hard-earned cash at a miniature mongolian double humped camel at Balkanoloy next weekend the 12th of June at 44 Stanley. Tempting? Just do it. What is Balkanology all about? We asked Ma’or, one of the organisers to break it down: Balkanology has been running for four years. The events have grown from 600 people in the first to 2500 people in the seventh. To date there have been seven parties in CT and two in JHB. In short, Balkanology is a massive themed party. We choose our venues very carefully and put emphasis on decor and music. Music is mostly Balkan remixed. So traditional music that has a driving bass and full of electronic and modern touches making it more palatable to the western ear. Through the decor we try and create a gypsy village gone carnival, so, hay bales, wagon wheels, live stock (for real goats, chicken, sheep…) carnival lighting, food stalls etc. We also incorporate many actors. Often the punters don’t know that they are actors simply because most of the guests come in costume as well. The actors however carry a story with them. For example, the one party was Balkanology The Great Balkan wedding where two fictitious characters Milovan & Biljana got married. The flyer to the party looked like an invite to a wedding. the whole marketing campaign was based on a real wedding, interviews on the radio claimed that it was real etc. On the night a real wedding took place with actors. A Russian orthodox style ceremony down to the T. After that we had ‘War & Peace’ with similar art instillations and actors being widows, soldiers, suicide bombers etc. Then came ‘The Gypsy Wake’ where the guests were welcomed at the entrance by the grieving family. Crying on your shoulder or simply shaking your hand thanking you for coming. Sad music played while the open coffin was on display. At around 22:30 the father of the deceased gave a speech on what a special person Milovan was and how he would have loved us all to party for him and then the party kicks off. Then there was ‘The Resurrection’ then ‘Metamorphosis’ etc. What nations make up the Balkans and what do they offer the world? The nations that make up the Balkans are: * Albania * Bosnia and Herzegovina * Bulgaria * Croatia * Greece * Kosovo (partially recognized) * Macedonia * Montenegro * Serbia Other countries sometimes included are: * Moldova * Romania * Slovenia * Turkey They offer amazing music and a true glimpse into...
Represent ♥’s Everyday Tweeple – Meet @umlungux
And with @umlungux, Represent ♥’s Everyday Tweeple series just gets sicker. If you haven’t got it yet, we’re sharing our own twisted bouquet of everyday Southern African hearts and minds with you, we hope you’re keeping up. It’s takes a lot of different people to truly Represent. So we’ve still got a long way to go. Don’t forget to follow us on @sisiwami. Sharpile Garth Shoebridge for the hawtness and for being toi… * Name: Garth Shoebridge * Location: Melville, Jozi * Bio: There ain’t room enough in one line for me and my summary What does the X stand for? I don’t know if you remember, but back in the day there was a left wing political party who’s leader renamed himself to Khoisan X (After Malcolm X). I thought this was such a dickhead move, that when I had the opportunity to use umlungux, it only felt right to continue the idiotic tradition. My partner and myself decided to call our company umlungu in 1999. And I have used umlungux ever since. Over the years the best mutation of it that I use is oom lungu. Here’s some room, tell us your summary A failed rockstar, pornstar and deathstar, umlungux divides his time between gun and drug running, running a small digital agency in Jozi, and trying to perfect a bubblegum flavoured strain of mary jane on his plot. Why Melville? Melville is where the company router and server is. During the day it’s got a fantastic vibe and when on its best behaviour, it reminds me a bit of Yeoville. At night it becomes a very good place to practice your “Don’t fuck with me” walk. I used this to good effect when in Nuremburg, Germany recently. To answer your next question, the trademarked “Don’t fuck with me” walk consists of wearing Michelle Pfeiffer’s cat suit but cutting a hole for your dick and balls to hang out. Seems to have worked thus far. Melville is also the Yang to my Ying which is a smallholding 20mins south of Johannesburg. The contradiction between the somewhat urban Melville and Farm like home environment is invigorating. (see attached pics of our 4.2 Hectares of south african happiness) WTF is a sushiup? Vegetable, Animal or mineral. Some of us that have met on Twitter get together over dinner every now and then – at a Sushiup Tell us 5 things that are Very Bouffant for you right now 1. The never-ending rollercoaster of a journey that is living in a house with 4 females (1 missus and 3 daughters) 2. My job – working with things that go click-in-the-night...
Through urban’s Eyes: The View From her Camera
Sharpile to @_thanda_ aka Thanda Kunene for asking great questions of such an inspirational young South African creative, urbanmosadi. We ♥ the way urban describes why she loves living in Cape Town as well as her nickname for Johannesburg… and our favourite line from the interview has to be… “I seem to thrive outside of my comfort-zone, and in this case being away from home, is the only way I grow.” Representahs, make sure to shift your comfort zone every now and then – while you can, and always DO what you love. We’ll leave it up to Thanda and Urban to convince you: Tiisetso Molobi AKA Urban Mosadi is an ever-changing soul with plenty of thoughts and silent serenity. She speaks deeply about her love of photography and the need for vintage in one’s life… The name is Urban Mosadi. How did it come into existence? urbanmosadi (with the lower case) urbanwoman. I needed to open up a new email account and I needed a name that described who I was, and what I wanted to become. Mosadi means woman. The t.molobi@blahblah was really not an option for me. For the longest time I have been a tom-boy, so wanting to blossom into a woman/lady one day, made it easy for me to stick with the word and name. I have had this alias for about 5 years now. Although I still have tom-boy tendencies, I feel like I’m evolving into this urbanmosadi I envisioned years back successfully. You now reside in the windy city of Cape Town. What made you change scenery from Joburg which is also your home town? I’m a rolling stone. The moment I am in myJoHo for too long I start getting ants in my dashiki pants…lol. After coming back from living in Los Angeles for most of last year (2009) I wanted to find a place that I could connect with back home, Capetown is alot like LA, or LA is alot like Capetown. Lots of landscape similarities, I reckon the C in Capetown definitely stands for Creativity. I love that about this city. Call it what you will Slaapstad, Apetown Little Europe, but there is an organic creative buzz about this town. I also love that folks out here are mad stylish. I love love that. But over and above that, I needed a place that would be kind to my heart. I seem to thrive outside of my comfort-zone, and in this case being away from home, is the only way I grow. I never understood the “cut throat” term used to describe myJoHo…I still don’t. I’m actually starting to...
South Africa, the world loves you. Much Love, Editorista
As many of you may know, I, Editorista, currently reside in Belgium and have been living here for a while now. I have to tell you that right now, everywhere I look, whether it be a corny advert on TV(see below), a 20 page spread in a music magazine (see below below), the front cover of a holiday brochure or the clothing rack in a supermarket, South Africa is EVERYWHERE. Or should I say, Afrique du Sud. I have been documenting all the places I see our name on my twitter feed @sisiwami – please do follow me to stay in touch. Today, however has taken the cake, or should that be ze gateau! While strolling through the park in my city, I was handed a can of Fanta, and guess what the flavour was??? See the photo! South Africa.Exotic. I kid you not, see CocaCola Belgium’s website here. So… how do we taste you may ask? Pretty damn Schweet! Forget the naysayers, the world loves South Africa and many people recognise our young democracy as somewhere really special. A friend said to me the other day: “what’s it like to come from a place that’s on everyone’s lips – in a good way”. I tell you what, it feels freaking awesome. Now if only ALL South Africans could adore our country as much as we do. Here’s to a successful World Cup, I know we’re gonna prove them all right. I’m so glad I’ll be there. See you soon! Bisous! May 19th: La nouvelle revue d’histoire also have South Africa on the front cover http://bit.ly/boPhJe May 19th: Dutch publishers have done an entire special edition of their mag on Zuid-Afrika this month http://bit.ly/c1fsjT May 16th: here is the ridiculous advert playing every day here in Belgium with the guy ‘speaking in & dancing Zulu’ http://bit.ly/dnVTkF rofl&smh May 15th: In Monocle this month: Ready for kick off – South Africa http://bit.ly/bZ6IzN May 20th: still speechless. DL creates special world cup sauce… South African Jambo. Isn’t that swahili? Cheap shot....
Unlikely Johannesburg – Part One
The other day I got a call from New York – a friend’s Uncle on his way to the World Cup in South Africa called me to get some advice. His faraway voice calmly explained that bien sûr, he was excited to be visiting South Africa, but after reading a couple of recent scathing media reports citing violence, violence, violence, he was beginning to question the wisdom of choosing to stay in Johannesburg for their entire visit. Ironically enough, I was on a train out of Brussels and nowhere near the city of my birth, I have been away from Jozi for over two years now, so despite my heart & head being firmly rooted there, I couldn’t say I’m a local right now. This recent absence, coupled with the fact that talking rather loudly on a cellphone in downtime traintime in this part of the world incites targeted headrest incineration, meant that I had to think fast. And so, I took the path of least resistance, I told him to relax and enjoy himself, that yes, Johannesburg had a dangerous side, but that everything was going to be just fine. The police are on diet and the security companies on high alert, I told him, big brother is awake; ‘people are living there and life goes on’ I drawled- conscience of my slow accent I fell on old ways of explaining things away. Let me explain, when I read the email preceding the call and saw that he and his family were staying in Johannesburg only, for nearly two weeks i.e. for their entire visit…I felt a thrilled kind of fluttering in my chest. At last, I thought, our soulful neglected city, most often treated as a trampoline for tourists to bounce off to some other fabulous beached or bushed corner of our country, was being taken seriously as a tourism destination. By a New Yorker nogal! Let’s face it, when have I, or you for that matter, ever met tourists who have come to South Africa with only one destination on their list: the scary city of Johannesburg? I could feel the swelling pride in my voice as I described to him the place he was lucky to be visiting and the place that I can never quite shake off, that always pulls me back no matter how much of my oyster I believe the world to be. I was flattered, appeased and willing to please. And so, I started to tell him the inside story that any (and only) good Johannesburg-loving citizen can and probably will tell you. We’ll all agree Johannesburg is a bit of...
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