Represent BigUps: KayaKweru in Ponto D’Ouro
BigUps to Clive and his team at KayaKweru in the village of Ponta D’Ouro in southern Mozambique for their wonderful hospitality. Some of you will remember the competition we held earlier this year – the prize was a 5 days of bliss holiday at the Kaya Kweru resort for two Represent subscribers. According to our winners, it was a great break from Jozi and a must-do for some peace of mind (remember to subscribe to Represent to enter future fabulara competitions). Unfortunately Editorista could not make it, but her chommies Ips and Eug accompanied the winners and took great care of them. Sharpile dudes for your love and support! Click here to see all the photo’s of Ponta, KayaKweru and our winners having a blast. How about your next holiday at KayaKweru http://www.kaya-kweru.com/ in Mozi? Here’s the story from Ips that may just convince you: Bongani has won a competition on http://represent.johannvisagie.com/ and his prize is a trip to Ponta D’Ouro, Mozambique with a partner. We, Eugene and I (Ipuseng), are the lucky buggers that get to take them there. We had concerns when we were told the names of our co-travellers. Bongani was taking Jabu with him, so naturally the image that comes to mind is two Jozi chaps, with hormones in tow, a free trip to Moz and the scary notion of showing this place a thing or two. This, in our minds, would entail stalking the local female species, overindulgence in alcohol, and the inevitable lateness for every activity lined up. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Bongani was taking his girlfriend Jabulile. They turn out to be a really cool young couple that care about little else but each other…phew, relief! Most are accustomed to getting to Moz via the Komatipoort border. We were going to the Southern most part and to get there you essentially follow the N2 and N17, passing towns like Trichard, Ermelo, Piet Retief, Pongola. I mean who do you know that has been to these places? Perhaps one’s eyes as the weather report flashes past after the news. It’s a beautiful drive though, nature showing off at every opportunity. The toll gates you pass through are two in total and the damage is a laughable ten rand. A pleasant change when you imagine the R200 you pay in toll money to get to and from Durban. You must be warned though that those snoozy towns also breed a particular kind of over-eager driver every so often. We were bullied by a Baba Sibanibani, in his ‘been to hell and back on these wheels and I’m not tired yet’ nineteen ancient white Cressida. He overtakes when...
Recipe for Heating up a Cold Jozi Night
Thanks to Heather for her tips on how to stay warm this winter but still get out on the town: After hibernating for the past couple of months, I decided to break the cycle on one of the coldest weeks Jozi has had so far! But I think I got it right…. A romantic dinner for two, some red hot jazz and drinks with friends AND I managed to do it all in one place! Yes, I would say that the most important ingredient for this recipe is The Market Theatre. That old lady is like going home to Mom’s cooking, and she’s made foie gras. Gramadoelas welcomed, with their buffet and red wine to warm the senses. How fabulous to roll out of the restaurant at 19h58 and walk over to the theatre and seated by 20h00. Currently on at The Market Theatre is the Total MIAGI festival 2007. No MIAGI is not a Japanese Karate Master, MIAGI stands for Music Is A Good Investment. Indeed. On until the 27th of May – all around Jozi Last night we caught all female Jazz Quartet (but there were only three – best I get Nancy Drew on this). Think Erikah Badu, crossed with Cassandra Wilson and through in a bit of Billy Holiday and you kinda get what I’m talking about. They were supported, and I mean supported, by their band. You really go the feeling the band enjoyed making music with them, they had a lovely rapport. Melanie, Denys and Mandisa each took their turn to shine on the stage graced with rose-petals. There were a couple of technical hitches – the techie on stage adjusting microphones and a bit of confusion as to the playlist, but somehow it didn’t bother me. It seemed charming and gave insight into them as people. I think they love what they do. After a quick wine during the interval, the extremely talented Jonathan Crossley was on with his band of merry men from Knysna. Now this is someone who plays the guitar as if he was making love to it. He seems to enter a state of transcendence when he plays and up to a point if felt almost voyeuristic watching him. This performance was hampered by what seemed like quite a big technical glitch, in that (and please forgive my basic music knowledge) something came loose on the amplifier so as the band was really getting into their session, there was an irritating thumping from the amp. It was very distracting, and marred some fabulous piano work by Martin Wolfaard. You could see this was almost painful to Jonathan. The...
Represent Recommends: CLEO Magazine
Summing it up in a few words for those of us short on time: Try it. If you’re a girlygirl, you’ll love it. If you’re a fashionable girlygirl you’ll like it. If you’re a working girl with a girlygirl sideline you’ll adore it. Watch out Heat, Glamour et al, newly-launched magazine Cleo packs a mean punch. It’s so full it’s almost too full, a little cleaning up and touch of minimalism in the layout could make for easier reading… but what girl can complain about a page-turner that features numerous hot mature men representin’ from chocolate to indie and easy content that appeals to the Jozipolitan in you (that’s you Representers). You can feel that Cleo is birthed in Jozi (as opposed to CT) and it’s full of local faces, opinions and celebs, with a good (nice and low) percentage of international flavour and a slight Aussie undertone here and there. Trendy, juicy and sexy – Cleo has a bit of everything – the digital side was well covered (cool website too) and we were delighted to see some full-page adverts for two new venues (gonna check them out.) We used our VISA card (debit of course ;0 )at our latest favourite shop (again) Big Blue and got the mag for free. *We didn’t know about the launch 🙁 * so we’re not sure what Cleo magazine costs but can guess about R20 something. It’s worth a bash ladies. Let’s see how the team takes a formidable launch edition forward. Bonne Chance mate! ...
Represent Review: Steve Hofmeyr @ Emperor’s
Love him or hate him, Steve Hofmeyr is one of the country’s most successful artists and without a doubt has sweated and persevered through the years to maintain his position as Afrikaans music’s golden boy. Word has it he is also a serious blogger with a massive following (here) – we like the digital touch Steve. SO we sent off one of our Representah’s to check him out in a Kris Kristofferson tribute at Emperor’s Palace. Thanks to Werner for the review: Steve Hofmeyr – Help me make it through the night. Date and time : Wednesday, May 16, 2007 – Saturday, June 02, 2007 Cost : Tickets from R120 Property : Emperors Palace Venue : Theatre of Marcellus I recently had the wonderful opportunity of attending a Steve Hofmeyr performance at Emperor’s Palace. The production was based on Kris Kristofferson classics and was named “Help me make it through the night”. I’m extremely glad to report that as per usual, we were not disappointed. In fact, it just proved once again that South Africa is filled to the brim with incredible talent. Steve transported us to an era where nothing but music mattered and did so with his usual charming and cool demeanor. During the performance he revived some of the Kris Kristofferson classics in such a way that even the original artist would have been proud. It turns out that I am in fact a closet Kris fan after all! Steve explained that Kris was one of his fathers all time favorite performers and after the hour long performance, I think many people could see why. Kris is an incredible performer himself, but I think the part that impressed me most was his absolutely amazing life. He dated Janis Joplin for quite a while and as we all know, that was no mean feat. He was nominated for an Oscar and for a BAFTA award and has won a Golden Globe! He even landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s front lawn to get his attention! Steve would have made this legend a very proud man with his absolutely superb performance. Steve is well known for his very distinctive voice and I’m sure that everyone that attended the night would agree that he would have been the number one pick to perform the Kris classics. I found the entire production incredibly moving and once Steve explained the father connection it made a lot of sense – I wish that he had started the performance rather than ending it with his explanation, but it didn’t deter from the absolute pleasure in any way. Something else that struck me about the night, was the...
Just who is milking it?
If you’re a drinker of long-life milk as I am, you may have noticed that there has been NO LONG LIFE MILK on the shelves for the past month nearly. And when we say NO MILK we mean it – there’s a huge gap on the milk shelves at all 5 of the supermarkets in our area….Spot the lonely full fat box lying on it’s side waiting for a full-fatter to snatch it up, or the soya milk boxes who stand confidently tall waiting for dairy drinkers to convert (out of desperation mind you). Well soya milk is supposed to be better for you, especially for your heart. Maybe it’s the push we need to get healthy? Maybe not. I’m starting to resent rationing my cups of tea a day so that I can save milk for my cereal. Spoilt? Maybe. Better get used to it – looks like it won’t ease off ’till Spring. The Star tells us it’s all about the money. Why does that not suprise us? We’re sick of greedy people, companies and big shots screwing the little guys. Come on farmers, tell us like it is. Supermarkets we’d like to understand your mark up from R1,80 a litre to R5, R6 even R7 something. What I always think in these situations is about the little, little guy – the unemployed, the poor, the old… how on earth do they afford milk? Here’s the story from IOL – click here for more: Milk will be in short supply until September or October and the industry is blaming supermarkets. The number of dairy farmers has been whittled down from 80 000 to only 3 350 over 40 years. The Competition Commission is probing the role of dominant milk buyers, including Clover and Parmalat, in keeping dairy farmers’ prices...
Represent Review: The Maids @ WITS
Sharpile Linda for the review – catch The Maids at WITS before the 26th May: Do yourself a favour – read the play by Jean Genet (or read something about it) before you go and watch this stage adaptation. The opening scenes are vague, abstract. I felt a bit lost in the beginning, but I was fine again when I eventually realised that there were two characters playing each of the maids. The first scene opens in a boudoir, opulent with red velvets white lace and flowers, where the two maids, Solange and Claire (played by four characters) take turns acting out the part of their employer, Madame. This ritual, which they perform nightly, is great parody, mimicking and exaggerating Madame’s whims and irrational demands – almost reminiscent of our own “Madam and Eve”, only more sinister. In the maids’ game, they try to kill Madame. Madame is obnoxious and completely self-absorbed, languishing after her lover (Monsieur) who is in prison because a whistleblower alerted the police to his involvement in shady dealings. The master/slave relationship is depicted with poignancy and depth. The maids envy Madame’s lifestyle and wealth, but pity her loneliness and are at turns amused and disgusted by her condescending attitude towards them. Madame is plagued by guilt and sometimes irritation at the maids’ obsequiousness, but also has a malicious streak. In one scene she gives them gifts – a fine evening gown and a fur coat, but soon changes her mind and takes the gifts back, paying scant attention to the maids’ humiliation and disappointment. The maids’ imaginary desire to kill Madame has self-destructive consequences for them, but I won’t give away the story. The acting is superb and there are some really intense moments. The play has some powerful messages about the imbalance of power in domestic workers’ relationships with their employers. In one scene, Claire makes a profound statement, “her joy feeds off our shame”, which certainly gave me pause for thought. I would love for someone to take the bold step of adapting this to a South African context. Catch this play at the Wits Amphitheatre from 16th to 26th May. Tickets at Computicket....
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