I woke up to a thought that I should build a grave .
Concept : Asanda Chuma Sopotela
Performer: Asanda Chuma Sopotela
Stage hands: Thembelani Diko
Art works by Anathi Sopotela
Baleli ngangubo-nye: Esifuthweni. – Asanda Chuma Sopotela
Bhacasoul Music – Thandikhaya “Joliza” Magayiyana
A showcase of Bhacasoul music by Joliza Magayiyana and his band. Although some maybe tempted to classify Joliza’s sound as Afro soul, but when you listen carefully it is not as simple as that. Hence Joliza labels his genre “Bhacasoul music”. The label pays homage to his ethnicity – Bhaca – into which he was born. Even though he was born in Port Elizabeth, Joliza’s family is from Emawusheni village in Mount Frere, a place dominated by AmaBhaca in the former Transkei. Although reflecting characteristics of Afro soul, Joliza’s sound leans towards African traditional music known as maskandi or umbhaqanga, a genre that contributed a lot during his upbringing.
Thandikhaya “Joliza” Magayiyana – Producer & Lead vocalist
Sivuyile Scott Msizi – 2nd keyboard & vocals
Mandilakhe Chaga – Lead guitar & vocals
Siphiwo Manyonga – 1st keyboard
Sipho Gqirana – Base guitar
Chumani Blou – Conga drums
Azibuye – Electric South
A workshop with Dylan Valley, alumni of the New Dimensions Lab, an annual residential training lab run by Electric South which brings together a diverse group of African artists to develop stories through creative technologies alongside leading industry mentors in the XR community. Azibuye – The Occupation, Dylan’s project to come from the 2018 lab, was the first ever South African VR/360 work to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. He talks about the process of adapting one’s story to suit the 360 video format, challenges and possibilities to expect when working in VR and key takeaways from the Sundance New Frontier showcase. Electric South is an NPO that provides mentorship, production services, funding and exhibition for a network of artists across Africa to explore their worlds through immersive, interactive stories including virtual and augmented reality, and other digital media. We believe that new technologies must open up spaces for original voices and underrepresented narratives. Our role is to support the first wave of African creators of immersive, interactive stories through training, production and distribution.
Dylan Valley – Director
Story Train – African Storytelling with ASSITEJ SA
Kganya – Lulu Mlangeni
The concept of KGANYA is developed from making reference to beliefs and divine approach that are functional to humanity existence. Through dance movements the KGANYA narrative will be portrayed by four female dancers including the choreographer Lulu Mlangeni. The use of spoken text will give context on religion, culture and symbolism that form part of a philosophical platform from which both good and bad draw some sense of hope. KGANYA speaks about being hopeful and touches on compassion, forgiveness, hypocrisy, immortality, truth, love, sacrifice, betrayal, different language and ways of communication. The assumption is that life is about staying alive and making it through by surviving in a world of scarcity and peril.
Concept and Choreography: Lulu Mlangeni
Dancers: Lulu Mlangeni, Khaya Ndlovu, Megan Goliath, Noxolo Dlamini
Rehearsal Director: Gladys Agulhas
Dramaturgy: Sibulele Gcilitshana
Music Compostion: Gino Brown
Text: Smangaliso Ngwenya
Lighting and Set Designer: Oliver Hauser
Technical Director: Oliver Hauser
Costume: Amanda Laird Cherry
The Rebirth of IQHAWE – IQHAWE & Co. (Oupa Sibeko and Nicola Pilkington)
The Rebirth of IQHAWE is a short experimental dance film, exploring the potential to hybridize Sibeko’s Butoh-inspired performance practice into the film form: fragmenting, collaging and refiguring the body in time and space as a means to capture the corporeal expression of the movement. While by the modern Japanese movement practice of Butoh explores the connection of the body to mind and soul; the film attempts to channel the kinaesthetic energy of the body through the lens, the cut and the screen’s ability to bend time and space. The film was a direct response to Reeds of IQHAWE, Sibeko’s performance art and photographic series, exploring the body and its capacity for the sacred and the socio-political. By drawing on his seSotho ancestry and the Butoh movement practice, IQHAWE investigates the possibility of ceremonial and aesthetic fusion. Rebirth of IQHAWE premiered as part of an installation at the Wits Art Museum in 2017 and has been screened at film festivals around the globe, including the International Video Art House Festival in Madrid; Instants Vidéo Numériques et poétiques in Marseille; and the 6th International Meeting on Videodance and Videoperformance.
Concept by Nicola Pilkington and Oupa Sibeko
Performed by Oupa Sibeko
Videography and Edit by Nicola Pilkington
Score by Geoffrey Diver
Tlhago – King Debs
The film ‘Tlhago’ explores issues of mourning the cultural and natural worlds we have lost. Thom van Dooren writes that “mourning is a process of learning and transformation to accommodate a changed reality. Mourning is about dwelling with a loss and so coming to appreciate what it means, how the world has changed, and how we must ourselves change and renew our relationships if we are to move forward from here… genuine mourning should open us into an awareness of our dependence on and relationships with those countless others being driven over the edge of extinction.” The film is meant to be a commentary about the processing of my situation within the current epoch and a reflection of the debilitating feelings of powerlessness I feel in the face of the massive issues we are facing.
King Debs – Producer, Director, DOP, Sound Design, Artist
Zaf’ingane Ancestral Jazz – LIso The Musician
Liso the Musician teamed up with the South African number 1 music video director & cinematographer Motion Billy to create the most amazing virtual performance for this years National Arts Festival. This live band performance calls South Africans to pray to God and praise the Ancestors to help us in this time of the pandemic disease and it speaks of social ills that kills us all. ZAF’INGANE The musician will be accompanied by multiracial South Africa’s most amazing instrumentalists such as Ray Morgan (Drums), Bradley Prince (Lead Guitar), Stephen De Souza (Bass Guitar), Lwazi Knowledge Masuku with Sonwabile Mhlonyane, Mendy George and Anathi Mboyana as backing vocalists. Liso the Musician performance will also feature the legendary South African television and theatre award winning actor Tshamano Sebe, whom many will hear him sing for the first time live” This performance aims to be theatrical, story driven and spiritual.
Concept by Liso the Musician & The Sindos
Produced byKASI RC & Mandisi Sindo
Production Manager: George Kirkins
Cinematographer & Editor: Motion Billy
Artists:
Ray Morgan (Drums)
Bradley Prince (Lead Guitar)
Stephen De Souza (Bass Guitar)
Swazi Masuku (Keyboard)
Sonwabile Mhlonyane (Backing Vocalist)
Mendy George (Backing Vocalist)
Anathi Mboyana (Backing Vocalist)
Special S/O to Tshamano Sebe
Swan Song – MARU Factory (Pty) Ltd
#I’mnotdyingjustmeantforflying There is an ancient belief that swans burst into song with their final breath. Set in a tiny box flat in Johannesburg, Swan Song is a coming of age tale, tracing the journey of a young Tswana woman from Taung born with a winged scapula – a symbol that mirrors a constant struggle for belonging, of home. Swan Song wrestles with the metaphors of grief and love mapping the way in which they physically manifest and become intertwined with life. The film draws the audience into her nest, an intimate space where they witness her grappling to tie together past and present, working through her memories as if enduring physical labour, en pointe. As she descends into her final moments; she pivots from the crippling vulnerability that loving demands, to the brazen fearlessness of having loved.
SWAN SONG, a Maru Factory Film produced in association with Nicolette J Moses, co-produced by the National Arts Festival, presented as part of the Virtual National Arts Festival 2020
Writer: Buhle Ngaba
Performer: Buhle Ngaba
Director: Ilana Cilliers
Director of photography 1: Nicola Pilkington
Director of photography 2: Matt Griffiths
Original Score: Ilana Cilliers
Original Artwork: Amy Rusch
Video Art: Sitaara Stodel
Choreography: Shaun Oelf
Lighting and Technical Design: Matt Griffiths
Production Design: Ilana Cilliers & Amy Rusch
Post-production & Film Edit: Nicola Pilkington, Ilana Cilliers & Matt Griffiths.
FOR NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL:
Merle Gideon – Onsite Venue Manager
Moegamat Cloete – Stage Services
FOR ARTSCAPE:
Marius Golding – Director of Operations
Yusuf Abrahams – General Manager Stage Services
Liam Cookson – Head of Sound
Faheem Bardien – Head of Lighting
Moegsien Davids – Stage Manager
David van Deventer – Front of House Manager
David Pamplin – Front of House
Manual Benans – Health & Safety and Security Manager
The original stage production was first performed at Uitkampteater, KKNK (2017)
Producer: Maru Factory
Writer: Buhle Ngaba
Performer: Buhle Ngaba
Director: Ilana Cilliers
Original score: Ilana Cilliers
Original artwork: Amy Rusch
Production Design: Ilana Cilliers & Amy Rusch
Stage Manager: Amy Rusch
The stage production was staged and performed at: The Alexander Bar (2018)
The Fugard Studio – Shakespeare For Social Justice Conference (2019) Vrystaatfees (2019)
Posthuman – A joint work between musician / composer Franco Prinsloo (SA) and visual artist Sonya Rademeyer (SA)
Posthuman is a joint work between award winning composer/musician Franco Prinsloo and visual artist Sonya Rademeyer. The project was created within the confines of the lockdown and across geographical distance, challenging traditional methods of creating. Having done collaborative work before, both artist and musician were able to respond and interpret one another’s work in a way that oscillates collectively, making it in itself a ‘dance for two’ (pas de deux.) The musical composition of the same title ‘Pas de Deux’ from the album Sunnyside Suite, explores the idea of intersections as a place of flux where different roads both meet and part. The composition is not only incredibly well suited to the video footage that examines a post-human topography, but also in the way that the video echoes the musical idea of intersection at a metaphorical level. The joint-work therefore questions whether humankind finds itself as a cross road where certain choices need to be made.
Musician – Franco Prinsloo
Visual artist – Sonya Rademeyer
Vocals – Franco Prinsloo & Charlotte Botha
Video editor – MyMalaika_Photography