#AftertheSunset

So I went to this cool film screening this past Tuesday hosted at Radar Advertising Agency in Cape Town.  The organisers, Tiisestso Molobi and Mangaliso Sobukwe, decided to give the screening the apt title “After the Sunset.”  We were also lucky enough to have a conversation after the screening hosted by Dr Olusengun Morakinyo with Mme Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge as the honoured guest.  The film on show was a two and a half hour documentary, “Death of Apartheid.”

A few things struck me as interesting as I was watching the film:

Kwela from Hip Hop to Poetry Sessions: Tshwane Street Culture & Music.

My life as a performing poet has seen me travel across South Africa in search of poetry sessions where I can share poesy with those willing and able to hear and listen.  During these travels, I have observed similarities in the cultures, or sub-cultures, and music of said sessions.  These include a preference for hip-hop culture and dress as well as hip-hop music, particularly conscious rap.  These observations have led to the current endeavour or excursion, in which I ask the questions, “Has American hip-hop culture and music impacted on South African street music and culture?” and “Is this influence a new occurrence?  Are there other examples of South African musical culture being influenced by American music and culture?”  Another question that glared at the writer from the onset is, “What philosophical socio-political questions are raised by this transcultural exchange?”

Vote For @thabisonkoana Your Favorite #wordsmith !!

"Freedom"

Yothu Yindi

“Freedom”

By Thabiso wa ga Nkoana

When thinking of world music, it is often the case that people envisage an obscure sound, created on some rudimentary instruments and recorded by an old, bearded, scruffy looking, white, male, music scholar.  A sound that seems not to have a place in this MTV crazed society of ours.  This is not the case with Yothu Yindi’s 1993 offering Freedom.