WeeklySA_AdminFUSION: Leading acts churn out rousing performances to remember…
By Priscilla Malinga
The Johannesburg Arts Alive 2024 Jazz in the Lights Music Festival Jazz, which took place last Saturday, is an apt celebration of an art form that has both captivated and inspired the world for generations.
The Johannesburg Zoo, the venue for the event, has proved to be a great place for families and friends to mingle against the backdrop of soothing jazz sounds produced by some of the best acts of the genre in the country.
The dazzling line up comprised – among others – Simphiwe Dana, Maleh, Ami Faku who rose to the occasion and put a spell on the crowd with electrifying performances on stage all day-long until the evening.
The arts festival always ends on a high note, proving once again that jazz in this country enjoys a rich and diverse tradition that intertwines with the country’s complex social, political and cultural landscape.
I was disappointed, though, that there was no dazzling light display to enhance the show’s ambience under the evening skies. We expected a spectacular fusion of lights that adorns the city during the festive season.
Simphiwe Dana is still a force to be reckoned with, giving a stellar performance to remember with her powerful vocals. Maleh, in her amazing printed dress and big afro hair, had the crowd singing along during her rendition of kemo Africa. Thankfully, the organisers always save the best for last – which explains why Amu Faku took the show to dizzying heights as the last act.
Impressed with the success of the show, arts, culture and heritage director Ntshuxeko Manganye said: “Jazz in The Lights has positioned itself as the model jazz festival to aspire to.
It has achieved the noble objectives of elevating the art form of Jazz in the country while unlocking economic opportunities for musicians and practitioners across the value chain. We are delighted to have delivered one of the most sought after jazz festivals in South Africa”.
During the day, hard-core jazz ensemble Abasemkhathini duo Nduduzo Makhathini and Mbuso Khoza serenaded the crowds with deep melodies. Otherartists included Andile Yenana, Herbie Tsoalie, Yonela Mnana, Kujenga, Siya Makuzeni, Billy Monama and Marcus Wyatt.
The hosts for the event were Rorisang Thandekiso as well as multifaceted artist Jefferson Tshabalala.
‘MISSING’ ART TREASURE TO BE UNVEILED TO PUBLIC
TROVE: Artist’s work rouses that which is most ancient and enduring and offers a vision for the future…
By Funeka Bambalele
Twenty art works belonging to seasoned visual artist Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi which got lost in 1991 en route to Sweden for an exhibition have returned home in South Africa after 32 years.
The works, which seemingly landed on the wrong hands, were located at some high school in Sweden recently. Thanks to the discovery, the beautiful treasures will now be shown for the first time in South Africa at the University of Johannesburg’s Gallery, Auckland Park. Titled E Ntlo E Etsamayang (The Walking House), theexhibition opens on April 6.
The show’s co-curator, Gabriel Baard, 81year-old artist, said: “I feel that [the artworks] were hidden for this communication to be extended.
“If the works had been exhibited and returned in 1991, they would most certainly have been sold and the communication ended. This body of work, brought into the world just before the dawn of our democracy and returned 30 years later, is a portrait of humanity in a kaleidoscopic montage of political turmoil, lost for three decades.
It represents a moment of antipodal communication frozen in time that is perhaps more poignant today than ever.”
According to Baard, the works in Ntlo E Etsamayang (The Walking House), represent a pivotal juncture in Sebidi’s practice; a stylistic transformation that is part figuration, part abstraction, yet continuously seeking to escape the boundaries of both.
“The artworks pulsate with energy, communicating Sebidi’s unbounded search into the relationship between humanism and spiritualism as they relate to the contemporary black African lived experience. She is deeply grounded in her rural upbringing and traditions but also finely attuned to the rhythms of the city in which she has spent much of her adult life. ”
In her work, Sebidi traverses mental and physical landscapes with an eye trained on the dangerous, the discomfiting, the traumatic and the ecstatic in human experience.
Her themes are wide-ranging: her cultural roots, the wisdom of the ancestors, the ravages of the modern world on the human psyche, the loss of tradition, the potential of human creativity to build relationships and restore the past.
“Sebidi’s work rouses that which is most ancient and enduring and offers a vision for the future. As she sees it, she’s here to teach people to see their lives and understand themselves.
The exhibition’s title draws on the words of her beloved grandmother, who said: “It is you I am building into a walking house destined for where our sun sets and rises to houses that, like you, are built from hard labour. It is here you will knock on the door of each house and be received.”
For the great work she has produced over the years, Sebidi has received accolades and made history in the process. In 1989 she was the first black woman to win the Standard Bank Young Artist award. A year later, she was awarded the Vita Art Award in 1990. In 2004, former president Thabo Mbeki awarded heer with the order of Ikhamanga in Silver.
Sebidi has participated in many group and solo shows. Her work is in many private and public collections in South Africa and abroad, including Iziko South African National Gallery, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, and the Smithsonian Institute.
