When Life Happens: HIV and AIDS Arts & Culture Festival
We’re warmed by the notion behind the term ‘When life Happens’, specifically with regards to HIV and AIDS, it takes away the stigma, negativity and fear that cloud the disease, demystifying it into something that does happen, has happened and can happen, to thousands of people around us. In support of those millions of people to whom ‘life happened’ and who are living with HIV and AIDS, make sure to get down to Arts and Culture Festival in Newtown the first week of December, featuring some of SA’s most intriguing cultural artists like choreographers Gregory Maqoma and PJ Sabbagha, DJ Khenzero, singer Fifi and lots lots more… When Life Happens: HIV and AIDS focused Arts and Culture Festival 3rd to 14 December 2008 Newtown, Johannesburg Program follows: VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION 10am to 5pm daily @ Museum Africa from 3rd to 14th December An exciting exhibition by a group of talented emerging artists, who have each been specially commissioned to create several new works for the 2008 Festival. Artists exhibiting include Phumzile Buthelezi, Happy Dlame, Michel Mhlungu, Yvonne Harvey, Vusi Mfupi, Themba Mofekeng and Mandla Manana. The commissioned artists were invited to contribute new works with the intention of exploring, investigating and communicating their thoughts and perspectives on the current HIV and AIDS situation in South Africa. MURAL In creation from 4th December @ the corner of Miriam Makeba Street and Carr Street, Newtown The visual arts curators for the 2008 When Life Happens Festival, Mandla Manana and Themba Mofekeng, will be creating a new HIV and AIDS-focused wall mural from Thursday, 4th December. Each year, When Life Happens has made a contribution to the growing collection of murals in Newtown. This year, the area’s street children will participate in the mural project. MASS ART INSTALLATION/INTERVENTION 5th and 6th December @ Mary Fitzgerald Square, through the day Bronwyn Lace and a team of performers and artists from the Bag Factory will be creating an exciting and provocative outdoor performance intervention and mass installation artwork. A first for Newtown, this commissioned, site-specific land art installation will unfold and unravel over the course of two days on Mary Fitzgerald Square. Watch that space! PERFORMANCE POETRY AND MUSIC Thursday, 4th December @ The Bassline from 7.30pm till 11pm Over the past four years, this event has grown into one of the highlights of the festival programme, attracting maximum-capacity audiences of free-thinking and spirited revelers and activists. This year will be no different: an insightful, provocative and entertaining party with a message. The musicians, DJs, poets and wordsmiths throwing themselves and their art behind the cause include DJ Khenzero, Fifi, Pokah, Nomsa Mazwai, Ntsiki...
Lerato Mogoathle – Our African Pride
She’s one superbrave continental jet-setter, Lerato Mogoathle is currently uprooting fertile earth all over West Africa as she digs into the highs and lows of our mixed up continent. Get inspired by her moving African travel stories in the City Press (do yourselves a favour) and pack your own backpack for a true African discovery… We’re blessed to be in constant touch with her and to receive page-turning updates on the marvellous world of Miss L Boogie, today she shares her Salif Keita adventure with us. Represent Sisi! Sharpile for your words! : Picture this, if you will. You are a music journalist jaded with the mainstream pop culture, hungry for more African music and currently travelling around West Africa, the region whose music, cultures and literature fuelled your obsession for experiencing Africa. You arrive in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and love what you see when it is a poster announcing Salif Keita’s concert in two weeks. The first time I saw Salif Keita on stage was in 2004 when he was being awarded a lifetime achievement award at the Kora All African Music Awards. Dressed in white, he literally descended on stage, glowing under the lights. This is the image, and admiration for his music and increasing obsession with Malian music that leads me to Yamasoukrrou, the capital of Ivory Coast. The newspapers said the show starts at 6pm. I arrived there in the nick of time, only to wait and wait for what felt like eternity to start. The ball starts rolling three hours later, with sound checks and opening acts that, as entertaining as they were, only made me my waiting that unbearable. The Malian great Keita gets on the stage. The hall falls silent. We know we are about to experience a moment in time, not any other live show. He starts the show by kneeling before us; thanking us for being with him that night. He opens with two acoustic songs. The first feels like a worship session; calming, serene and with that haunting voice, a channeling of Allah’s presence and manifestation in the moment. The second song is a duet with Ivorian superstar Aisha. They are a class act, delivering a performance that seems like they are always practicing how to deliver the song. We watch in silence. Then Salif raises his hand. The 11 piece band, whose sound check lasts as long as they need to make sure everything comes out PERFECT, joins him. It was the second best live show I have ever been to. The other also belongs to Salif, a day later in the town of Bouake. We rise and...
Represent Introduces: Anthea Moys
Representah Alana Cremonte is a big fan of performance artist Anthea Moys who is currently dabbling in the inner city… Alana wanted to share the love so that perhaps you too can take a ‘ncane break, a petit pause, una momenta… and smell…the… uh… jacarandas…while reflecting on this mad thing we call life. Sharpile Alana!: Why are so many people so caught up in their day to day fast-forward, that they forget how easy it is to just take a step back, pause and choose their next direction before moving forth? I guess they haven’t even realised that they need this luxury. Whether or not that has to do with the fact that this idea hasn’t been properly marketed with an ad campaign yet, is totally besides the point and I think it was small-minded of you to bring it up. To be fair, life does seem to be moving at a tremendous pace these days. So much so that even if you wanted to just stop and smell the roses, you’d find yourself at the back of the queue and desperately treading water. So, imagine if you had a moment of play forced on you. What if, you were interrupted from your hustle and bustle by “Jozi’s Golden Girls”. A gaggle of grannies, performing a choreographed dance routine in the middle of your city square. Gold and black tracksuits sparkling in the midday sun, good time music as their soundtrack and a young girl in the middle, joining in, almost a part of their world. Anthea Moys is the performance artist whose incredibly relevant work finds her positioned, both figuratively and literally, in the middle of people’s lives. She is constantly daring South Africa to stop and ask, why? The question is, if confronted with some of her work, would you stop and take it all in? At the very least you’d have to commit to a smile, right? Most people find a sigh of relief in her performance art. She doesn’t rely on shock tactics to get her message across, but rather, gently holds that proverbial mirror up to show her audience a piece of themselves they have forgotten. The world has charmed her and she openly admits to being curious of “people in their little worlds”. And that’s what she has consciously worked on showing us, a little glimpse and a “momentary gift” that unites you, so very specially, to anyone else involved. The moment is yours and you can hold your opinion of it close to you heart as you revel in the fact that you are sharing something that will never be recreated, just...
Democracy. Your Voice, Your Video.
CALL FOR ENTRY!! It’s Simple: You need to be over 18 and have an opinion on democracy… Your video needs to complete the phrase ‘Democracy is…’, it needs to be no longer than 3 minutes and it must be submitted before the 31 January 2009 onto the Youtube documentary challenge site. It can be in animation, documentary, live action, fiction or narrative style, it must be in English or with English subtitles and you can only submit ONE entry. HOW SIMPLE IS THAT??? Excited? And you don’t even know who it’s for yet or what the (amazing) prize is? (read all the smallprint/rules here and some more info below and… get going…) The Prize: * An all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York and Hollywood. * Gala screenings of the winning videos in Hollywood, New York and Washington * Exposure to filmmakers and the U.S. film and television industry. * Meetings with democracy advocates from government, media and civil society. The Winners: # Seven winners – one each from the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Middle East/North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South & Central Asia, East Asia/Pacific and one anonymous winner – will be announced in mid-June 2009. # In October 2009, the six publicly identified winners, one from each of the six geographic regions, will travel to the United States to claim their prize. How will my video be judged? Your video will be judged on overall impact, creativity and production values. If your video is selected as a finalist, it will compete against other videos from your region in a global online vote to determine the winner. A full explanation of the judging process can be found in the contest rules. Who is running the competition? It’s run by the United States Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs, supported by numerous partners including the United Nations… SO get thinking… AND GET FILMING… More info: The Democracy Video Challenge, a global call to action celebrating democracy, launched today during International Democracy Day at the United Nations. The Challenge invites citizens from around the world to create short videos that complete the phrase: “Democracy is…” in an effort to enhance the global dialogue on democracy. The Democracy Video Challenge is a new effort supported by a unique partnership comprised of democracy and youth organizations, the film and entertainment industry, academia, and the U.S. government. Richard Engel, NBC’s chief foreign affairs correspondent, served as Master of Ceremonies for the contest’s global launch. (Partners represented at the launch are listed below.) “Film is a window into our common humanity – the challenges and joys that make up the universal human experience – no matter...
Do Not Date this Man. Classic!
We’ve been enamoured with DoNotDateHim for a few days now, a brazen online project instigated by a mysterious ‘Yolande’ who has created a space for (South African) WOMEN to vent their anger and emotions at men who have used and abused them while at the same time warning other women to be careful of stalkers, creeps and just plain pigs. Scandalous, slanderous, shocking and pretty frightening, ditch your tabloids and read this site. We’re not sure it’s going to be online for long, as we’re sure some of the men PICTURED on the site will be suing shortly… Obviously it’s very one-sided with men not being able to defend themselves and women being able to vent as much as they like, so read with a healthy dose of skepticism and remember ‘there are always two sides to every story’ but even more importantly ‘there’s no smoke without fire.‘ Either way, we’re delighted women are speaking up and we love our multi-culturalism, quite clearly South African women are united by our wicked sense of humour despite the (at time horrific) odds, our imutable strength and resilience…What was that saying Abafazi… Imbokodvo… strike a woman you strike a rock… Have a laugh at some of the idiots on this site. Silly men. Thank goodness there are some good ones out there. Some classic quotes: “He is short, has extra teeth which grew on top of the original teeth in his gums , wears speedo undies 24/7 “, “Dames, hierdie man “charm” jou van jou voete af…”not to tall, but dark and handsome”. Jy dink dit is die beste ding wat met jou gebeur sedert gesnyde brood…BUT BEWARE!!!” and “Hierdie pes van ‘n man is ‘n ateis, maar vertel almal hys ‘n christen.” Beware of this Guy. He will smooth talk you with poems and love songs and when you need love he is slutting around in the gym or swilling beer. Hou verby!...
Represent’s watching: DJ BlaQt
DJ BlaQt doesn’t only have a MySpace blog updating us on all his parties and what went down, he also performs at The House of Nsako in one of our FAVOURITE Jozi suburbs, Brixton (show it more love people, it’s an iconic suburb in need of TLC, spokespeople and preservation) and he showcases great singers like Nthabi… he’s also a nationwide artist, playing at fabulous festivals like Chimurenga’s PanAfricanSpaceStation in CT… But more importantly, he’s seriously got his finger clicking through the Web 2.0 good behaviour manual: his emails are non-intrusive but consistent, his websites and flyers are well designed and interactive and most importantly, like the rest of the music industry throughout the world, he’s making music samplers available for fans to download and sample, so they know what they get when they rock his party. Oh and did we mention we love his tunes? We’re watching you DJ BlaQt. Naas one. Represent! The B-Side presents...
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