FAREWELL NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL



SIPHO HARRY ORIO



This is sadly my last day in Grahamstown and my last day at the National Arts Festival, it was fun, it was memorable, I had the best time exploring, attending shows, shopping around the market, meeting new and exciting people and not to mention important people. I learnt a lot during these eleven days, I learnt hard work, team work and dedication and pesistence. my fellow FJPs, especially Akhona Valashiya who was my mentor and my Festival guide, FJP Co-ordinator Nqobile Buthelezi and FJP trainer Nyx Mclean were all great, I got along very well with everyone and now saying goodbye is so sad. I look forward to seeing the FJPs again in September at the Highway Africa Conference and having a lot of fun again. 

                                                          By Akhona Valashiya

Rhodes University's passionate Pharmacy student

Thando Mthyole, final year Pharmacy student at Rhodes University

Pharmaceutical studies to most would sound like difficult studies to pursue but not to the passionate and determined final year pharmaceutical student Thando Mtyhole. Having grown up in the rural Eastern Cape, Pharmaceutical studies were only a dream until he got the opportunity to study at Rhodes University. “The course is challenging but manageable, it just needs dedication, determination and hard work”, he says.

Grahamstown is an academic town and full of history, it is Thando’s fourth year living and studying here and says he loves it because it is small and safe and with a lot of facilities to assist students in their studies. This outstanding determined student says he is enjoying the National Arts Festival but thinks the hype of it is fading away along the years  because some people feel excluded from it and feel like it is a high class thing for certain people.

Thando says he wants to be an inspiration to the kids in his small town of Lady Frere and wants to encourage them to pursue studies in medicine and pharmaceuticals because they offer great opportunities and anyone can do them, he says he wants to go back to his home town after graduation to work towards building his community.

By Akhona Valashiya

EVERY DAY LIFE

Almost lost in thought but concentrating on work.

They do it every day with renewed passion each day.

Cold, wet or warm life to them goes on,

They should be away playing,

Circumstances force working.

Looking at them is almost heartbreaking,

 Their life remains a mystery if you don’t know their history.

BY AKHONA VALASHIYA

“Wathint' abafazi wathint’ imbokodo!”

Her beaded necklace captures and stimulates her distinct and native nature. Small and hallow, delicate, strong and sparkling crystal stone beads are a refection of her heart. Long straight strikingly built strings reflect on her strong and struck soul. Ancient glowing golden brown gems dug deep in the mellows of the earth, yellow and warm as the suns mighty rays, wistful ashy black streams of pure velvet, white crystals as soft as snow, all of these blissfully enriched colours are a reflection of her skin. The diamonds and squares, circles and triangles, ovals and rectangles, bold and dim shades, the highlights and the cut lines that are dashed into her life, the chords, buttons, needles and wires connecting her to the rest of the world; these are all reflections the paths she has taken, the direction she is yet to take and those which will be told of her by others. Her snap glows in the anguish and the intensity of her strings, as the tears of beads fall apart her pain scatters an immense cry of a wounded lioness. She will lick her wound and as it heals, build another string of beads to add to her beautiful ensemble. She wears her beauty around her neck and it numbly stings in with the sweetness of a honeybee’s aroma. She is a magnificent creation of wisdom and spirit, she is the purport of solid strength and cannot be moved. You strike a woman you strike a rock; “Wathinta abafazi wathinta imbokodo”.


By Bongiwe Tutu

Streaming beyond the radio voice

By: Bongiwe Tutu

Another year has come to pass and the time for the Eastern Cape to shine has flared upon us once more. We are now joined by a variety of talented artists from all over the world at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. “Whether you’re a theatre-goer, a dance lover, a jazz fundi or a film buff, the programme offers plenty to keep you busy as you step into our bubble of AMAZ!NG once again” said Ayanda Mjekula, National Arts Festival Board Chairman. I met with a very well known radio enthusiasm artist Viv Bozack from Algoa FM who shares his first experience as a live broadcaster at the National Arts Festival.

Viv Bozack, a resident of Port Elizabeth, born in Lusikisiki in the Transkei, states that he has been with the Algoa FM family for “four years, one month and two days” and he expressively declared his love for every single second he spares on radio. “I’m all about self-determination and positive living. The earth, the children, the music, the red, gold and green! It’s just wonderful being at the Festival; it’s like an ultimate melting pot of talented and great people all in one place, and so far so great” said Bozack.

Algoa FM (94.7) is one of the biggest radio stations representing all aspects of South African culture and heritage. The station has successfully captured eight hundred thousand listeners over the years and it is yet to grow as it has been broadcasting live with Viv Bozack from the Rhodes University Campus since Thursday the 30th and will be sustaining their enlightening shows to the public until the 8th of July.

Bozack is presenting the Lunch-Time Show which is broadcasting live from 12h00 till 15h00 at the Rhodes University Campus. “Since it is my first time broadcasting at the Festival I plan to make it very well fulfilled! I’m aiming to see three shows per day” he exclaimed with a glaring and anxious smile on his face.

Furthermore beyond the radio voice, Bozack has a passion for music specifically of the hip hop genre. He is also an MC persona, hosting hip hop gigs every Thursday nights in Port Elizabeth titled “Bring it to the Cypher”. He also hosts the Friday Music Club at 14h30 every Fridays for local musicians of the Eastern Cape.

The artist appreciates the National Arts Festival as he feels that it’s a very great platform not only to meet new people and get to know more about them in exploring the “ultimate melting pot” but it is also a great foundation to grow as an individual in doing what you enjoy the most. His life philosophy is simply, as he puts it “play hard and work harder”.

Contact Viv Bozack at: viv.n@algoafm.co.za , http://facebook.com/viv.b.ngomane , http://www.algoafm.co.za/
Contact reporter at: bongiwetutu@yahoo.com , http://twitter.com/TheBeeSting

FJP Winter School has been fest of words and pictures

The Future Journalists Programme Winter School appears to have been a good one.

All 18 students have been updating the FJP Twitter account almost every hour (which is warp speed at the Fountain Labs!)

They've also been producing copy like crazy.

A big thank you to Highway Africa and Rhodes Journalism for making this happen.

I am very proud of Prof. Guy Berger, Chris Kabwato, and Moagisi Letlhaku. It's they who have made FJP possible.

Thank you, thank you.
Sim

My Black Little Heart a Dark Offering Indeed

Set and shot in Durban, Claire Angelique’s debut feature film ‘My Black Little Heart’ explores streets and avenues the Tshwane Tourism Board leaves off its attractions list and its municipality outright denies exist. This gut wrenching “semi-biographical” piece sheds light on Durban’s dark and septic underbelly, a world plagued by self mutilators, addicts, prostitutes, street delinquents, hustlers, gangsters and ex-cons.

Flung back and forth between the beachfront based porn industry and the inner city drug racket My Black Little Heart's protagonist, Chloe (played by Angelique) is subjected to countless debasing sexual acts while battling addiction to crack and heroin. One can’t help but feel a strong sense of claustrophobia no matter how big the theatre they’re in may be. Although set in Durban Angilique rarely gives us moments ease, or sight of sky or sea for that matter. Instead her locations are littered with rotting mattresses, peeling walls in grotty little holes crammed with drug paraphernalia and strange sex toys. Anthony Dod Mantle’s (Slumdog Millionaire) cinematography backed by an amazingly poignant soundtrack by Chris Letcher gives My Black Little Heart a gratuitous flare and aesthetic the likes of which have never been seen on South African screens.

After 80 minutes of circling the drain audiences might expect, better yet, hope and pray for ‘happy ending’ where Chloe licks her habit and gets a job in reception or data entry, but I’m afraid there isn’t one. Although the last scene is set in rehab, there is no ‘back from the brink’ recovery. Instead there’s an uncompromising aesthetic and message to the movie - there’s no easy way out and addiction finally gets repetitive, boring, mundane, crummy and squalid, you soil your soul.

At a previous screening Angelique said “I wanted to create a work that delved deeply into the psychology and dark side of our nature, something that would be transcendental and complex. [Something] that hopefully wouldn’t undermine our audience’s intellect - as Hollywood blockbusters do. They feed the world with junk food and sooner or later it’s gonna to be bad for your health, mentally by watching this plethora of saturated fat. [When it comes to films] I don’t just want to go grab a pizza, I want the food to be the work, I want to feel full and be able to digest what I have seen and heard.”

When the end credits began running and the lights came on the screening audience I was part of seemed baffled, some shocked and squeamishly nauseated. I particularly felt restless and worn-out and quite distured.

A Girl's best friend at B2 Arena

A scene from the play "A Girl's Best Friend" where the bride-to-be passes out on the floor. Pic by Selina Bebaako-Mensah

Literature and Culture equals WordFest

It began as demonstration to promote writers and the work of the South African Library for the Blind. As EC MEC for Arts and Culture, Xoliswa Tom said, “Be proud of what you do.”

Writers came in their traditional attire to support the cultures that make South Africans proud, ranging from Xhosa, Zulu, SiSwati and Sesotho. Thoko Mgwebi’s poetry opened WordFest 2009. The programme notes were written in three isiXhosa, Sesotho and Afrikaans.

The ceremony began with a welcome address by the Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University, Dr. Saleem Badat who shared his views and concerns about language and culture.
“Words can librate us and can imprison us,” Dr. Badat said. “Universities need to build a lasting relationship with local schools so that children of the present generation are not left behind due to a lack of literacy.”

Amanda Onamandla Mathe—FJP

Siyabangena!

It might be winter but we are here to stay... festinos outside Dulces on High St.

Village Green Moves Show From Town to RU Campus

The National Arts Festival’s Transnet Village Green Market has moved from Fiddlers Green in the centre of Grahamstown to Rhodes University campus. The new digs are more spacious and promise a “family-friendly” environment and a bigger sales platform for South African crafts makers and vendors.

According to Festival CEO Tony Lankester, the move to the Great Fields Complex at was prompted by the need to “turn the Craft Market into something bigger”; one capable of competing on an international scale. Lankester said that the previous location at Fiddlers Green was “shabby, rundown and cramped [with] nowhere to move”. Rhodes University partnered with the Festival organisers in order to open up the campus to the townspeople ensuring that “everyone comes to Rhodes as equals”—an issue that was apparently emphasised by Rhodes Vice Chancellor Dr. Saleem Badat. Lankester admitted however, that there had been a lack of communication between the organisers and the community about the move.

This was on the backdrop of a meeting which was held on 16 June by members of the community, who were disappointed about not being kept in the loop. The community was only notified of the change through recent advertisements. Khaya Thonjeni, a member of the Grahamstown community, said that there was a perception in town that people would lose their festival income with the Market’s relocation to the more leafy Rhodes campus. Townspeople are “more comfortable [with] where it was, because Rhodes has a way of doing things,” Thonjeni said.

Luvuyo Booi, a young casual also expressed his unhappiness about the relocation and said many people such as himself faced constant harassment from security personnel when they are on campus. He said that at Fiddlers Green in town they could “move around freely like everybody else” but on campus they are treated with suspicion and in constant fear of arrest. Booi said move also made it difficult for him to earn an income as he used to wash cars near Fiddlers Green, which is impossible on campus.

Not everyone is so despondent of course. Dylan McGarry, a street performer and puppeteer said that the move was “good for street theatre” because the Great Field Complex provides a big field and stands for the street performers. He said that the positioning of the old venue was not “very equitable” but it was “less segregated at the centre of town” therefore there would need to be more publicity to bring the town’s people onto campus, who still “don’t feel they have access to Rhodes University”.

The Village Green Market is one of the most popular aspects of the Arts festival and seems to have found a comfortable new home on Rhodes campus.

• Reported and written by Chwayitisa Futshane, Colin Wardle, Ongeza Ndlakuse and Jane Mathebula.

Village Green relocates to Rhodes campus

Festival in big venue move
By FJP Reporters

With the National Arts Festival in its 35th and what promises to be its biggest year, the ever-popular and growing Transnet Village Green Fair has relocated to a bigger venue. In keeping with international arts and crafts trends, the Village Green Fair has relocated to the Great Field Complex on Rhodes campus, a larger and more people friendly venue.

According to National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester, this move promises to provide a new “family-friendly environment” that will accommodate more stalls for adults and amusement outlets for children. Organisers also hope to attract more international arts and crafts distributors.

Other new features at the new venue include plasma television screens in the new beer garden and Amazing Stage, a platform for Fringe performers to stage snippets from their work. It will also feature a new ticket office, a restaurant, an all-new Cuervo Music Room, and Wi-Fi access for those with laptop computers.

Additionally, the former Church Square Container Village has moved down to Fiddler’s Green, the former Transnet Village Green Fair grounds, promising a uniquely Street Theatre- laden African Arts and Crafts experience.

Reported and written by Chwayitisa Futshane, Colin Wardle, Ongeza Ndlakuse & Jane Mathebula

Celebrating South African Talent: The quiet Violence of Dreams

By: Nqobile Buthelezi

As the trio walked into Dulce's Cafe on High Street, their electric ambiance filled the room. Director, Neville Engelbrecht (right), Actress, Lebo Mashile (center) and Playwright, Ashraf Johaardien (left)were more than happy to give a minute from their busy schedule and share the reason for their visit to Grahamstown.

Mashile, Engelbrecht and Johaardien were at the 2008 National Arts Festival for the debut of their play, The Quiet Violence of Dreams, which is an adaptation of the book (entitle so) by the celebrated late South African writer, Sello Duiker.

Paying tribute Duiker's acclaimed novel, Johaardien emphasised that the script adaptation remains true to Duiker's original work. "It was a challenge to unpack Sello's mind to script as the narratives are woven into each other, that nonlinearity capturing the complexities of our lives today" said Johaardien.

Duiker's novel deals with sensitive issues in post apartheid South Africa with an emphasis on homosexuality, ascending black middle class and love. So intense is Duiker's engagement with these relavant issues that Engelbrecht had to consider the responsiveness of the audience when decoding the meanings in the play. " Mine was a challenge of extracting these issues from a page to public space and allowing the audience to channel the issues represented in the play into their own lives and recognise who they are in the system, without creating a space for condemnation" said Engelbrecht.

Mashile, who plays Mmabatho, the only female character, felt at home with the cast. "They're all exceedingly warm, there was instant chemistry and a special ensemble we remain." On social complications addressed, she emphasised the importance of engagement in terms of openly speaking about such issues that affect societies. "We live in a hypocritical society, dealing with spirituality, class, recently xenophobia and interracial relationships; so this play is bound to make a stir in society." Mashile finds comfort in her role as she relates to the character's self and obstacles. "Mmabatho is powerful, well educated and faces hardships with love and a friend who suffers a mental breakdown. Yet similar to me, she becomes anchored and self assured" said Mashile.

The production's strength is its star cast, namely; Antonio Lyons, Jacques Bessenger, Duke Motlanthe, Garth Collins and Elton Landrew. "In those moments of deep emotion, we offer each other a good sense of parenting, as they say; there is beauty in vulnerability" said Johaardien,

Making it's debut in this year's festival, The Quiet Violence of Dreams is a must watch. Beautifully executed, the audience connects with the issues at hand and their relevance is society. Speaking of aspirations, both the director and cast had confidence for a success at the festival and beyond.

FJP At the National Arts Festival 2008

The Future Journalists Programme is at the 2008 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

See our festival coverage and latest stories on our other blog:
http://fjp08.wordpress.com.

Dancing

This video was filmed at the Egazini Outreach Project in Joza Township in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Egazini is a place where children from the area can express and develop their different artistic talents. The video features a dance group made up of three young girls who create and perform their own dances as a way to express themselves.

Also shown in the video is the contrast between the apartheid history of the Egazini Otreach Project building, a building once occupied by riot police, and the positive role that the workshop now plays in the community.

Bongani Diko, the Director of the project, says that this project has had a positive impact on the community’s young people, through providing a recreational facility that keeps young people of the streets and out of trouble.

Since the project started, many youths have been kept from using drugs and being involved in crime.

The dance trio in this video will perform at this year’s National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. The arts festival takes place from 26 June to 5 July 2008.