Freedom to Dance at Arts Alive
Aug26

Freedom to Dance at Arts Alive

There’s one week to go till the City of Johannesburg’s nearly month-long Arts Alive festival kicks off on the 3rd of September  – we’re hoping you’ve already decided which part of the festival calls your name and booked your baby-sitter.  This year we’re spoilt for choice with a broad line up of dance, comedy, theatre, film, visual arts, poetry and music to choose from throughout September…  We’re going to be covering the Freedom to Dance House and Hip Hop event at Carfax that kicks off the festival  – here’s the deal: The stage is set, the line-up has been finalised, finishing touches are being made and the smell of excitement and anticipation is thick in the air. It’s that time of year again… the 2009 17th annual Joburg Arts Alive International Festival set to take place in Johannesburg between the 3rd and 27th of September. In addition to the numerous captivating art disciplines set to grace urban central Johannesburg such as, theatre, dance (from classical to contemporary and street), visual arts, comedy, spoken word and poetry, the festival will also play host to the Arts Alive Freedom to Dance extravaganza, taking place at Carfax – Jozi on Friday the 4th of September 2009. Aimed at youth, this evening will whet the appetite of the toughest music critic with performances by leading house and hip hop DJ’s from South Africa. Guests on the evening will also be privy tothe electric legendary beats of international house sensation Rocco who by reputation exceeds all expectations. A regular on the Europe, USA and Asia house scenes, Rocco’s Deep House is rapidly growing in popularity among South African audiences. Rocco has previously been welcomed to South African shores and has played for an astounding 3000 spectators. His most recent release called “Someday” on Real Tone Records struck a chord with international and South African audiences alike having made its way to the Traxsource’s charts for 3 weeks and already supported by Louie Vega, Mr V. and Laurent Garnier! The House Floor at Carfax will also play host to many talented South African DJ’S including MacG, Mo Flava, Willie, Oskido, Bouer and Monde. And who could forget to mention the infamously popular Black Coffee who began his DJ career in 1994 while still in High School? His Deep/Afro House, Soulful Lounge, and broken beats are known around the country and are testament to his excellence. If Hip Hop is more your scene then get ready for an evening filled with insane beats and wicked rhymes. With appearances by Beatoven, Vigi, and Tholi B the evening is set to rock all the way through to the...

Read More
2nd Annual Jozi International Comedy Festival
Jul21

2nd Annual Jozi International Comedy Festival

The second annual Jozi International Comedy Festival will be taking place at the end of August featuring a diverse line-up of 7 big hitters….Go Go Go… Last year, HuntaLive brought the broadest selection of comedy styles and material ever seen by Johannesburg fans to the Jozi International Comedy Festival, resulting in an annual event, now sponsored by Nando’s. The Nando’s Comedy Festival promises to be the highlight on the Johannesburg Comedy Calendar for 2009. The Festival, which will run over seven days, will consist of an international stand up theatre show – the “UN Comedy Show”, a late-night stand up show “UNhinged” and a local stand-up competition “Comedy Showdown”. The Nando’s Jozi Comedy Festival will run from 17th August to 23rd August 2009 and tickets can be purchased at Computicket www.computicket.com. Tickets are priced from R150 to R220. SHOW SCHEDULES & TIMES: UN Comedy Show: 17th – 21st August (Monday – Friday) at 20h00 (8pm) And 23rd August (Sunday) at 18h00 (6pm) UNhinged: 21st & 22nd August (Friday & Saturday) at 22h30 The UN Comedy Show will be hosted by international comedy icon, Angelo Tsarouchas (Canada), the larger than life, Actor/Comedian, who is without question, Canada’s next “big thing”. Dubbed “The Hitman of Hilarity”, Angelo definitely exudes star power. His trademark mobster resemblance, burly size and no hold back attitude have put him in high demand on the global comedy stage as well as in television and film projects on both sides of the border. Comedy heavy weight Ahmed Ahmed (Egypt) who regularly performs at The Comedy Store in Hollywood and has toured all across the US and Europe will make his debut appearance in South Africa. He was the winner of the first annual Richard Pryor Award for ethnic comedy at the Edinburgh Festival. He has appeared in several films and television shows such as Executive Decision, Swingers, Roseanne, JAG, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central, and MTV’s Punk’d with Ashton Kutcher. Comedy legend Steve Best (UK) will wow Jozi fans with his one-liners and props in an extremely visual comedy act. Likened to Steve Martin and Tommy Cooper, Steve has toured with Frank Skinner, Harry Hill, Craig Charles and Omid Djalili. He has performed all around the world including Hong Kong, Norway, The Falkland Islands, Kosovo, Bosnia, Bali, Jakarta and Denmark. After opening for Australia’s top comedian Carl Barron during his SA tour, David Kibuuka (Uganda) will return to the Jozi stage. “Dave” has a unique brand of humour that combines wit and intellect without losing touch with his audiences. He has also opened for the likes of Barry Hilton and John Vlismas on their...

Read More
Don’t Miss: Two eminent Jozi photographer’s exhibiting
Jul08

Don’t Miss: Two eminent Jozi photographer’s exhibiting

Get to the Brodie/Stevenson gallery next Monday night the 13 July 09  for a one-on-one walkabout with photographer Zanele Muholi.  Zanele will be showing visitors around the  her latest exhibit entitled Faces and Phases that opens tomorrow night. Musa Nxumalo will also be exhibiting his Alternative Kids at The Photo Workshop Gallery from 8 July -AND the two artists will be discussing ‘Sexuality and Subculture’ after Zanele’s walkabout… sho, lots to see – GO GO GO : Faces and Phases Brodie/Stevenson presents a solo exhibition by Zanele Muholi 9 July – 1 August 2009 Please join us for the opening on Thursday 9 July 2009 at 6pm Zanele Muholi will be giving a walkabout on Monday 13 July 2009 at 2pm at Brodie/Stevenson. The walkabout will be followed by a discussion between Zanele Muholi and Musa Nxumalo titled ‘Sexuality and Subculture’ to be held at the Market Photo Workshop.  The discussion will be held on Monday 13 July 2009 at 6pm at the Market Photo Workshop. Zanele Muholi’s exhibition Faces and Phases is showing at Brodie/Stevenson from 9 July – 1 August 2009. Faces and Phases is an ongoing series of black and white portraits that focuses on the commemoration and celebration of black lesbians’ lives, and challenges the public’s perceptions of female and male identity.Collectively, the portraits become an act of visual activism, the photographer’s response to the violation, rape and murder of innocents because of their sexualities and ethnicities. Depicting women of various ages and backgrounds, this gallery of images offers a powerful statement about the similarities and diversity that exists within the human race. For more information about Zanele Muholi’s exhibition please click here Brodie/Stevenson is located on the ground floor, 373 Jan Smuts Avenue, Craighall, Johannesburg. Hours are Tuesday to Friday, 10.30am to 5.30pm, and Saturday from 9.30am to 3pm. Email info@brodiestevenson.com. Telephone +27 (0)11 326 0034. Fax +27 (0)11 326 0041. For directions to Brodie/Stevenson please click here For directions to the Market Photo Workshop please click here Musa Nxumalo’s exhibition Alternative Kidz is at The Photo Workshop Gallery from 8 July – 9 August 2009. Musa Nxumalo is the 2008 Edward Ruiz Mentorship recipient; his exhibition documents urban black youth who choose to identify with alternative culture. In doing so, Nxumalo re-presents and repositions not only mainstream South African youth culture, but also the ability of alternative counter-culture to react against social stereotyping. In this context, alternative culture is both culturally dissonant and individually liberating. For more information about Musa Nxumalo’s exhibition please click...

Read More
Represent Interview: Mongezi Mtati – Netweb Events
Jul07

Represent Interview: Mongezi Mtati – Netweb Events

He’s a youthful left-handed Aquarian (but of course!), he started his first business at 16 selling goods at robots and fervently believes in the untapped potential of the millions of innovative South Africans out there all waiting to find out how to make their business idea work. Mongezi Mtati is selflessly hustling the often barren terrain between those with business knowledge and experience and those with ideas and enthusiasm, this conduit role has brought about the growing Netweb Events in Joburg. There’s one taking place tomorrow night in Melville, go go go (details below) – Represent managed to find out more about Mongezi and the Netweb Event concept: “When I started in business, I searched everywhere for opportunities and  work for the company. It was only much later that I discovered it was people who connected to any and everything that made companies what they are. The Netweb Event began from the premise that, there are many people with skills and expertise they are willing to share with others. However, with the rise of social media we network online mostly thus leaving a larger audience offline. Business changes hands over coffee and and a meal, which is where most small business have advantage. Your livlelihood could be sustained by that piece of business. The Netweb Event is a monthly networking dinner and talk that connects entrepreneurs. We are a developing community of passionate entrepreneurial minds, building an on offline community. As Howard Man, a speaker at our forthcoming Netweb Event says “80% of business is brought through by 20% of your contacts, focus on the 20%” Tell us a bit about your backstory Mongezi: I am from the East Rand, in the growing township of Vosloorus, where I lived most of my life and went to school. Some of my teenage years were also spent in a school at Welkom. After finishing high school, I began working part time as a filing clerk while studying banking with Technikon SA. It was more about archiving the largest heap of paper into a strongroom than work. My studies as a developing banker went uncompleted, and I then went and studied Human Resources 2 years later, which also wasn’t for me. What are you up to these days: Most of my time is spent doing research in business innovation, sourcing clients for Xenia Tech (an ICT company I’m co-founder of) and constantly growing the Netweb community. I’m a blogger and online entrepreneur, who hasn’t quite graduated to geek yet. When did you first venture into business? The earliest memory I have of venturing into business was after my 16th birthday where I...

Read More
Black Coffee rocks the runway in Berlin
Jul02

Black Coffee rocks the runway in Berlin

WOW< we’re blown away by Black Coffee‘s exceptional ‘ready to wear’ (pret à porter) runway show held yesterday in Berlin. Representing some of our finest South African talent, one of our favourite design houses, Black Coffee showed Europe just how to work it with finesse and originality – read all about it at the Frock Report. AND see the show for yourselves at the Lexposure website. Black Coffee, your time is now! You make us...

Read More
Introducing Joy Jones
Jun30

Introducing Joy Jones

A little birdie told us to watch out for Ms Joy Jones, the next big rootsy soulful diva in the running. So we give you the heads up. Only for the soulful. Her album Godchild is due out on the 7th of next month in the US. Watch Joy’s video below… enjoy: Joy Jones hopes that listeners of her new album will be touched by its messages and themes: “I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I want to say and the messages I want to put out. This is a labor of love and I hope that it translates and transforms into a tool for change. This journey to LP has largely been due to divine choreography, fabulous blessings and good folks. I am constantly amazed at the trajectory.” Afro-beat lullabies, future jazz/soul, protest songs and electronic hymns – expect all of this and more from the Joy Jones album so be prepared to have your ears and mind opened to new experiences! joy...

Read More