“Creating stories that can [travel] across borders, not just those of South Africa but Africa and the world at large. More than that it’s [also just about] showing that the youth of South Africa have great stories to tell — not only that but we can tell them in a way that is cinematically pleasing,…
if i sang the blues would that be new ? or knew ? would boos follow blues ? would blood follow, bud, flower, flow, ‘sang–froid’, cold-blooded, hot-blooded, male :: if i sang frigid would that be cool ? jazzy ? jizz, buzz, the word :: do i have the rite to write the body ? the…
Although not originally from Johannesburg; “the place of gold, the end of the road for broken souls… [place of] big cribs, small shacks, schemes that fall flat and dreams for more cash”, uSanele has been a part of the big decaying-with-human-touch-city’s creative scene for many years in counting now. Specifically, its artistic space of hip…
[I asked her] what does it feel like to be a hurricane? To be movement To be wave To be woman made word A swirling mess of sound with [screaming at the] centre The silence of every word said against [her] swirling in the eye of [her] perfect storm. — Maneo Mohale, Hurricane The perfect…
Mandla held his breath, as Teboho baptised him in a puddle of sweat on his chest. Their entangled bodies glistened like stars, clad in nothing but the dazzling quality that only night could reveal. A serpentine wind found a gap in the shut window and swirled graciously in the heat like a procession of relatives…
For the past couple of years it’s seemed to have been raining DJs in the South African music scene, let me speak about Joburg and Cape Town in particular as those are the geo-political and cultural spaces within our country I am most personally familiar with. If I had a dime for every homie with…
“Maybe in our bodies there’s a whole world of mythology? Maybe there exists some sort of reflection of the great and the small, the human body joining within itself everything with everything – stories and heroes, gods and animals, the order of plants and the harmony of minerals?” Olga Tokarczuk What does it mean for…
Francis Buseko took a chance on themselves six years ago when they left their home country of Zambia to pursue a career in modelling in South Africa. It sounded absurd to all around them at the time but a thirst for success and an innate sense that it is, indeed, theirs for the taking, left…
If this isn’t a name you’ve seen before on, at least, a dozen lineups for some of the most prestigious music events in South Africa, then you’ll be grateful we’ve brought her to your attention now. One of the most prolific live mix DJs in the Johannesburg events scene began her career four years ago…
Music producers are the sonic architects of popular culture. Great producers capture the raw feeling of performers, while also knowing how to use the trickery in the studio space to create fresh sounds. It’s especially evident in hip hop, where beatmakers play a foundational role. The Bomb Squad, Dr. Dre, RZA, Timbaland, The Neptunes, Kayne…
South Africa is built on violences that are unsolved and remain un-checked. A conscious decision is made by many artists to unpack colonial history examining its visible traces on modern day South African society. They deplore its continuum of racist thought. The main tenets of sexism, racism and apartheid remain inseparable from South African life…
To be “feminist” in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression. ― bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism This Womxn’s month as we reflect on a notion that is both so vital yet so patronising we need to…
