While Condry Ziqubu’s rise as a star of South Africa’s ‘bubblegum’ disco era may have appeared rapid, before his big break as a solo artist in 1983, Ziqubu had already been working professionally in the music industry for 15 years. A regular on the local soul scene since the late 1960s in groups such as…
American singer Mark Lanegan’s haunted baritone is a force of nature. His deep, gloomy voice sings of the darkest nights of the soul, the deepest heart-breaks and emotional bruises, broken dreams, desperate addiction and longing, failure, desolation and death. From his work with Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, right through to his…
The text that is to follow is an exercise of sorts between writer Kneo Mokgopa and myself. An attempt at writing together from afar and from places of familiar difference, of Vinolia Mashego, who was affectionally known as V Mash to us and the rest of the nation. To write of her in remembrance and…
The 1960s and 1970s were defined by a raging atmosphere of revolt and riot. From the US to East Asia; feminist, Black power, anti-war and queer liberation struggles shocked and shook the establishment. These social upheavals were accompanied by a cultural revolution in pop music, film, fashion and drug experimentation.With their collaboratively edited collection Sticking…
Genevieve Nnaji, Ini Edo, Omoni Oboli, Oge Okoye, Stephanie Okereke, Monalisa Chinda, Uche Jombo, Rita Dominic, Dakore Egbuson, Stella Damasus. Names one may be quick to overlook or read past, however, names that belong to individuals who have become near institutional entities in our current day to day virtual world encounters, visual language systems and…
Punk, indie and metal subcultures are inspiring and exciting, but they can also be very silly! From the hyper-macho obsession with being edgy to the pedants defining true fandom and accusing others of the cardinal sin of being ‘poseurs’, it’s ripe for parody. And that’s exactly what the wonderful satirical website The Hard Times has…
The beginning of social media and the influencer economy resulted in the democratisation of influence. The power that was once in the hands of kings, queens, and nobles swiftly made its way to the hands of A-list celebrities, then finally to the hands of the masses; the ‘ordinary’ people. Whilst social hierarchies are constantly being…
* Please note that this article makes use of the term “witches” as an all encompassing term that includes voodoo priestesses and rootworkers In the city of New Orleans, Louisiana rests a mausoleum of one of the most celebrated Black witches to ever live; Marie Laveau. Known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, her…
Which stories would I highlight – the underground anecdotes and thrillers; the days and nights of love and war; the weapons I carried (a Makarov in my shoulder bag in Gaborone, the AK next to my bed in Lusaka) – “a gun in trained hands is knowledge, its hinges and oily places as intimate as a…
Kewpie was a hairdresser and celebrated queer figure from District Six. She was born in 1941 and identified as gender fluid according to available knowledge. She preferred the use of feminine pronouns as did her friends, though she did not strictly regard herself as either male or female. After her dreams of becoming a dancer…
You never know where the decisions you make will take you. Back in 2011, I got a few friends together to start a blog that would focus on the Durban music and art scene that we thought wasn’t getting the love it deserved. That, and try way too hard to be Vice. Forgive us, we…
As your body descends into the underground the darkness slowly caresses your cheek. You are met by a crude yet unflinching interior as you try and find a seat to call yours for the night. A safe space, a ‘third space’, this is Cape Town underground. Loud, dark, dingy. A live jazz band competes with…
