Night-time markets, Hip-hop battles, Children's entertainment, Indigenous plant sale

TWO MARKETS

Predictably there are dozens of markets at this point in the season, and these two are guaranteed to be especially stylish and absolutely packed...but hard to resist anyway.  Neighbourgoods is having a rare night market tonight (Wednesday), and there's a new Designer-Maker market  featuring over 40 local designer exhibitors on the fanwalk near to the bridge  ... also tonight. 

AFRICAN BATTLE CRY: HIP HOP DANCE COMPETITION


Tomorrow at the Joseph Stone in Athlone is an event featuring hip-hop dance battles with talent from throughout the Western Cape.  A hip-hop development programme was started in 1996 and under the umbrella of a project called "Heal the Hood" this competition has happened annually ever since.  I've seen it on tv, badly filmed, and even then it's quite amazing, so it must be a thrill to watch it live.

Joseph Stone Auditorium  cnr Klipfontein & Protea Rds  Athlone  
Thursday 16  14h00
Cost: R 40    Tel: 021 706 0481




PEDRO AT THE KALK BAY THEATRE

A lovely description of the show from the theatre's newsletter:

At 11h00 every day Monday to Saturday is Pedro the Music Man with his enchanting brand of entertainment for younger theatre-goers - suitable for ages 4 to 10.  Pedro takes the kids on a magical, musical journey showing them how seaweed, stones, pumpkins and lots of other everyday things can be made into fantastical musical instruments.  Saturday's audience sang, hummed, clapped and danced with Pedro and didn't want to let him go. 

Every day except Sunday till Thurs 23   11h00
Kalk Bay Theatre
Book by phoning 073-2205430

FYNBOS SUMMER SALE

Early in this blog's life, I listed a fynbos sale/open day at Good Hope Nursery in Scarborough.  I went out there that day and it was so well worth the journey - a beautiful array of indigenous plants at 20% discount, expert advice.   This Thurday their fynbos Summer Sale is happening with the same deal on plants plus children's activities, food stalls, talks at 11h00 and free guided fynbos walk at 13h00.  Drive through Scarborough and at the T-junction turn right - it's along that road on the left.

Good Hope Nursery  Plateau Rd  outside Scarborough   Time:
Thursday 16   10h00 -  16h00
Tel: 021 780 9299 / 072 234 4804

Play about art, art about flowers, stories about music, music and dance about Harlem, poems about.....

THIS WEEK

It feels like a rather random set of events this week, and quite a few of them quite frothy.  Don't forget the on-going events listed in the blog before last, including the exhibitions at SANG.

ART AT THE LITTLE THEATRE

Art is directed by Marthinus Basson with three graduate actors from Stellenbosch university drama school.   By French playwright Yasmina Reza, the play was first performed in 1994 and since been translated into 20 languages and had a huge success.     It's described by reviewers as very funny, witty and sharp.  Three friends get together and one of them proudly displays an all-white painting which he has bought for 200,000 francs.  The ensuing disagreement about the painting leads to an intense verbal duel which is more about friendship than about art.

The Little Theatre    Hiddingh Campus
Wednesday 8, Friday 10   20h00
(next week Tuesday 14 Thursday 16 Saturday 18)
Tel: 079 054 6238   www.teaterteater.com

 POETRY AT  KALK BAY BOOKS

1.

Nigerian/British poet Akwe Amosu will be introduced by poet Ingrid de Kok at Kalk Bay Books on Tuesday evening and she'll read from her first collection Not Goodbye. Amosu is a human rights activist and writer/broadcaster specializing in Africa. In these poems she "meditates on a rich range of experiences in Africa and elswhere, and on the joys and sorrows of attachment....in  language that alternates between sharp analysis, lyrical precision and lamentation."

Kalk Bay Books

Tuesday 7   18h00 for 18h30


2.
OFF THE WALL POETRY EVENING

Off the Wall will be hosting their last session for the year at Kalk Bay Books on Wednesday.  Guest poet will be Finuala Dowling, who has recently won the Olive Schreiner prize for her wonderful Notes from the Dementia Ward;  there's also an open mic.

Kalk Bay Books
Wednesday 8   19h00

MICHAELIS ART SCHOOL GRADUATE EXHIBITION

The annual exhibition of work by final year students opens at Michaelis on Wednesday evening.

Michaelis School of Fine Art
Opening  Wednesday 8    18h00
Thereafter  Tuesday to Friday  11h00 to 16h00 and Saturday  10h00 to  13h00




CASA LABIA IN BLOOM

In the exquisite upstairs space of the recently renovated Casa Labia in Muizenberg (reclaimed by the family from the state in a scandalous court case) is an exhibition "celebrating our indigenous Flowers in Paint, Print, Photography, Sculpture, Ceramics, Jewelry & Floral Design."  Curated by Africa Nova, it's worth the outing, and there's good food at the fancy new cafe.

Till 29th January 2011
Casa Labia  Museum    192 Main Road   Muizenberg
Tuesdays to Saturdays    10h00 to 16h00








FREE FLIGHT DOES COTTON CLUB MOVES

If you're in the mood for some super-light entertainment, Free Flight Dance company is opening a "sexy, jazzy and high-spirited" show at the Baxter this Thursday called Cotton Club Moves.  Director Adele Blank "was inspired by that era in Harlem’s history when all these legendary artists - musicians, singers and dancers - were launched from the Cotton Club. Many different genres including tapping and hoofing were platformed there."  As in the old South Africa, black performers could light up the stage but were not allowed  in the audience.

Flipside at the Baxter
from Thursday 9   18h00

VINTAGE AND COLLECTIBLES FAIR

The Sunday vintage market at the Old Biscuit Mill is back - much less crowded than the Saturday market and a lovely experience.

Old  Biscuit Mill    Albert Road   Woodstock
Sunday 12  10h00 - 15h00

PEDRO THE MUSIC MAN AT the KALK BAY THEATRE

Some more unbiased reporting: Pedro is doing two musical story-telling shows for children (aged about 4 to 9) at the Kalk Bay Theatre, starting on Saturday and running till the 23rd.  The first show this week has original stories each featuring a magical African instrument; next week will be some great tales from Zimbabwe.   Children love him, and parents will have a good time too - at Pedro's school shows the teachers laugh at least much as the children do, and there's the wonder of the music.

Kalk Bay Theatre
Saturday 11 to Thursday 23     11h00



Book News & World Music in a Short Listing

THIS WEEK

Last week the cultural menu was so packed and I expected that this one would be similar, building up to the summer season ...   but in fact it's unusually quiet and empty.   And not for the first time, the two events that I really want to go to in this relatively uneventful week, happen at exactly the same minute.

WEDNESDAY PM ONE:  BOOK LOUNGE BIRTHDAY

The Book Lounge are celebrating their third birthday and we're all invited to the party.  It's at the shop on Wednesday afternoon and it takes the form an an indoor picnic and their ritual naming of the best books of the year.  Plus a tantalizing announcement which promises to be great news to all who love books.... It should be a very fun and celebratory occasion.

The Book Lounge
Wednesday 1 December 17h30




WEDNESDAY PM TWO:  ARI SITAS BOOK LAUNCH

Also an appropriate place to celebrate good book news,  the Wolpe Trust is hosting the launch of The Mandela Decade: Labour, Culture and Society in Post-Apartheid South Africa by Ari Sitas, professor of sociology at UCT.   Ari will be joined by speakers  Prof. Pitika Ntuli (sculptor and expert in African indigenous knowledge systems) and Barbara Hogan,  and between the three of them it should be an extremely engaging intellectual experience.

Wednesday 1 December   17h30 for 18h00
UCT   Leslie Building  LT 2B




SACRED INDIAN MUSIC AT THE ALLIANCE

On Thursday  night is a "sacred world-music experience" which sounds quite fascinating -  and a little challenging!  A group with the rather awkward name of Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits present a programme of music which fuses kirtan, a form of devotional music from India, with  "rich ethnic rhythms and fresh western harmonies and grooves."   It's a participatory experience for the audience, with the band leading call and answer songs and chants over about two hours during which they claim "you will not be able to resist the urge to dance and sing." 
A review from The Boston Globe describes "a hybrid of ancient Indian sacred music and modern Western styles. Sitars, mridanga drums, and chanted vocals meld smoothly with guitars and the occasional hip-hop vocal flow..."

Alliance Francaise   155 Loop Street
Thursday 2    20h30
R80

JAMES GRACE CLASSICAL GUITAR CONCERT

James Grace is one of South Africa's leading classical guitarists.  At the Centre for the Book on Friday evening he performs songs from his three albums Cafe Latino, Sevilla - Music of Spain, and World Cafe.   Have a listen on his website to samples from all three.

Centre for the Book  62 Queen Victoria St   19h00
Cost: R 60 
Tel: 0861 742 667   www.jamesgrace.co.za
   

On in Theatres Museums Bookshops Bakery Church Warehouse & Wine Farm

5:20 OPERAS

This week only at the Baxter, a programme of five new South African operas each 20 minutes long.  Presented by Cape Town Opera, UCT Opera School and Gipca, FIVE:20 features work by Hendrik Hofmeyr, Peter Klatzow, Peter Louis van Dijk, Bongani Ndodana-Breen and Martin Watt, with plots based on Saartjie Baartman, Lucy Lloyd and the Bushmen, xenophobia, the assassination of Chris Hani and Breyten Breytenbach's prison poetry.  Directed by Geoffrey Hyland and Marcus Desando. There is also a special guest performance of Nick Fells's Sublimation from a conceptually similar concert staged in Scotland.

Baxter Theatre
Tues 23, Weds 24, Fri 26, Sat 27   19h00
021 685 7880   www.baxter.co.za    R150 and R100

GUITAR MAESTROS AT THE OLYMPIA BAKERY

Acoustic guitar wizard Antonio Forcione has a formidable international record of concerts and collaborations and rave reviews. He will team up with Tony Cox and Cape Town flamenco guitarist Saudiq Khan for five shows only at the Olympia Bakery this week.   The Stage magazine wrote about Forcione: “A performer of world class status ... forceful and with an enviable technique, he takes the guitar to new levels of expression combining its melodic powers with dramatic percussive effects. He boldly goes where no guitarist has gone before and the results are quite spectacular ..."

Olympia Bakery,
Wednesday 24 to Sunday 28   20h00
Cost R180
www.antonioforcione.com
www.computicket.com




SOLMS-DELTA SUMMER CONCERT

This summer concert is a good opportunity to visit the Solms-Delta wine estate near Franschoek which has departed in such significant ways from the mainstream way of doing things on the winelands, with the workers owning a one-third stake in the the estate. One project worth seeing is a museum about slavery in the area, and there's also a programme to "preserve and celebrate the joyous, resilient and defiant musical traditions of the Cape winelands."  In this concert blues guitarist Hannes Coetzee performs with local bands Delta Soetstemme, Delta Langbroeke and Lekker Lekker Delta.

Solms-Delta Wine Estate, Delta Road (off the R45)  
Saturday 27  18h30 to 21h30
Cost: R 170 (incl. buffet) (< 12 R 85)    Tel: 021 874 3937 ext 115 

CAPE DANCE COMPANY AT ARTSCAPE

The Cape Dance Company celebrates its 15th year with a diverse season at the Artscape Theatre from Wednesday. The company performed at the Edinburgh festival recently and reviews were mixed, but this new season includes some choreographic works that sound really worth seeing.  One of these is Enemy Behind the Gates an award-winning contemporary ballet by Christopher Huggins, ex-Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Other works on the programme are by Alfred Hinkel of Jazzart, Brazilian/American Carlos Dos Santos and "cult classic" On the Wings of Sue by French choreographer Redha, re-staged here by Esther Nasser.

Opens Wednesday 24, runs till 4 December   20h15
Artscape Dial-a-seat 021 4217695

ENTER THE MAIDS

Asanda Phewa was UCT's "best theatre-maker of 2008". This production, to be staged in an historic church, is her "interjection" of Jean Genet's 1952 play The Maids. 

Central Methodist Church

Corner Longmarket and Burg Streets

Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27    20h00

Book at 021 4473683 or  artsadmin@mweb.co.za

GRAND OPENING OF FIVE EXHIBITIONS AT SANG

SA National Gallery will be launching  five new or new-ish exhibitions at a "grand opening" on Saturday.
1) Borders, an exhibition from the Bamako Encounters 8th African Photographic Biennale.
2) A retrospective of Louis Maqhubela
3) Photography by Roger Ballen
4) Imagining Beauty in which textiles and items of adornment from Iziko’s permanent collections are put together with a selection of award-winning fashion designers such as Black Coffee, Craig Native, Darkie and others. "Included are works of superb southern African beadwork; the work of Michael Kra’s collaboration with San artists; and the edgy designs of Beloved Beads, a fusion of the best British and African designs. A rare Rwandan crown, worn by the royalty of the Great Lakes region shortly before its collapse, as depicted in Irma Stern’s famous portrait of Queen Gicanda in 1942, is also on view."
5) In Context was originally conceived as a series of site-specific exhibitions and interventions in and around Johannesburg over the period of the FIFA World Cup in June 2010. It features "a diverse group of contemporary international and South African artists who explore the dynamics and tensions of place, in reference to the African continent."

SA National Gallery

Opening on Saturday 27 November at 17h30 for 18h00

WRITING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

The winners of the 2009 Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature, Alex Smith (for Agency Blue) and Adeline Radloff (for Sidekick) will be in discussion about writing for young people at the Book Lounge this Tuesday evening.

Book Lounge
Tuesday 23     18h00




DEEPER THAN COLOUR: EU LITERARY AWARD WINNER

James Clelland has won the 2010 EU Literary Award for this novel which deals with the effect that South Africa's border war had on young white conscripts.  The Jury for the award commented:  “Deeper than Colour tells a tale that is seldom told in the new South Africa: the effects of supporting apartheid on the white population. A bitter and disturbing but compulsively readable book, Deeper than Colour raises unsettling questions about our socially fractured society.”

Book Lounge
Wednesday 24  17h30




POETRY AT THE BOOK LOUNGE

In my last posting I wrote about It's Difficult to Explain, an anthology of poems by students of Finuala Dowling's class, which includes a brief memoir of her experiences as a poetry teacher. For "all who prefer their poetry with more than a dash of intelligence and noticeably devoid of sentimentality"  it will be launched at the Book Lounge on Thursday.

Book Lounge
Thursday 25   17h30 for 18h00

AUTOBIOGRAPHY: IN THE DARK WITH MY DRESS ON FIRE

This is the haunting title of the autobiography by Blanche La Guma who "lived out her passionate commitment to justice"  as a nurse-midwife in poor black communities, supporter of her writer-activist husband Alex La Guma, mother of two sons, and as an underground activist.   It will be launched together with a biography of Alex La Guma by Roger Field, at Lobby Books this Thursday, with Albie Sachs as guest speaker.

Lobby Books  Spin Street  Cape Town
Thursday 25   17h30
RSVP to aspath@idasa.org.za

MADE IN TRANSLATION: IMAGES FROM AND OF THE LANDSCAPE

This new exhibition at the SA Museum deals with copies made of rock paintings and engravings, which are seen as acts of translation. "It showcases a diverse range of translations including the works of copyists from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. A collection by Leo Frobenius who explored southern Africa with a team of ethnographers and artists between 1928 and 1930 reveals the remarkable large-scale copies his project produced. Included in the exhibition are copies by, amongst others, George Stow, Helen Tongue, Dorothea Bleek, Joseph Orpen and Charles Schunke. It also includes insights of contemporary scholars, historical and contemporary photographs, and translations of San texts and stories."  Curated by Pippa Skotnes of Michaelis art school and Petro Keene of Iziko museums.

The South African Museum
Opened Sunday 21 November and will run till November 2011

VIRTUAL EARTH

While at the SA Museum, you might want to take young visitors to the newly-opened Virtual Earth.  This is a Gaiasphere, "an interactive digital theatre housed in a back-projected hemisphere with which animations of changes happening on the earth’s surface can be shown."  From a touch screen you will be able to select different views of our changing earth, such as the earth at night, ozone hole evolution, earth surface temperatures, earth core structure etc.

SA Museum
20 November to August 2011




SHOPPING  NEWS:  BLUE BIRD GARAGE MARKET

A new neighborhood market has recently opened in Muizenberg.  Blue Bird Garage is  on every Friday afternoon into evening in a beautiful old converted warehouse just next to the railway line in Albertyn Road.  There's lots of home-made food, craft, jewellery, clothing and book stalls, and a kids' corner.  The organizers say they are planning a Sunday antique and vintage market some time soon.

Blue Bird Garage Albertyn Road  Muizenberg
15h00 to 21h00 every Friday

Gardens and Textiles, Dancers and Poets, Painters who Print

ELGIN GARDENS THIS WEEKEND
See the last item in last week's blog for this garden-lover's pleasure weekend.

FROM SUZANI TO SHWE-SHWE

At the Artvark gallery this week  only "a celebration of the tradition of cloth making and its decoration, from the suzani embroidered cloth of Uzbekistan to traditional South African textiles."  Some cloths will be on sale.
Artvark Gallery in the Cape Quarter - must be a new, we  know them from Kalk Bay - call  021 4186572.
Till Sunday 7 9h00 18h00 

PAINTERS WHO PRINT EXHIBITION

Over the past twenty years at The Artists Press, Mark Attwood has noticed that artists who are primarily painters tend to make the most exceptional prints. This "alchemy" will be seen in  a selection of work at the Press including Kim Berman, Karin Daymond, Johann Louw, Robert Hodgins, Penny Siopis, Judith Mason, Deborah Bell, Colbert Mashile, Pat Mautloa and Andre Naude.

Gallery Grande Provence    Franschoek
31 October - 1 December



Colbert Mashile The Barometer
Medium: nine colour lithograph

UCT DANCE AT THE BAXTER

An interesting work from the UCT School of Dance annual showcase.   "Stravinsky’s compelling score forms the backdrop to an exploration of ritual, tradition and notions of modernity. Choreographed by Maxwell Xolani Rani, pioneer of Intsika technique, and Jamila Rodrigues, studying for a Master's in Choreography, the work challenges normative stereotypes of African dance and peoples of the African continent. "  The second half of the programme focuses on an eclectic mix of dance languages in an adaptation of Carmen.
Baxter Theatre
Thursday 4 to Saturday 6   19h30

LAUNCH OF LA DJUDERIA DE RHODES

Author Isaac Habib is a "first-generation son among a handful of Sephardic survivor-families from the Island of Rhodes who found their way to Cape Town."  This book of poetry is a memento of the life of that community, and while I don't know the poet's work I'm interested enough by the fact that it is written in Ladino, the ancient Judeo-Spanish language spoken on Rhodes, with  literal translations into English and French.

Alliance Française  155 Loop Street
Wednesday 3 November 2010
19h, Free Entrance




BOOK LAUNCH: THE FOSSIL ARTIST

I don't know Graeme Friedman's writing but this sounds like a good premise for a story: "Needing desperately to find out what really happened to his fossil-hunter father (the protagonist) begins a quest that will lead him to the very core of the biggest scientific fraud of all time – the forgery of the Piltdown Man fossils – and to a discovery what it really means to be able to love."  The author will be in conversation with Ronnie Govender, author of The Lahnee's Pleasure and Song of the Atman.

Hosted by the Book Lounge but note the venue:  Sendiggestig Museum    40 Long Street.
Thursday 4  16h30 for 18h00



  
IT'S DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN

This is the title of an anthology of poems by students of Finuala Dowling's class, including a brief memoir of her experiences as a poetry teacher.  "This collection will appeal to all who prefer their poetry with more than a dash of intelligence and noticeably devoid of sentimentality"  and I'm sure a good time is to be had at the launch.

Kalk Bay Books
Friday 5   18h00 for 18h30

Open Gardens, African Photography, French Cinema, New Plays

THE NIGHT DOCTOR

A new play that strikes me as interesting is on at the Artscape Arena till the end of this week. Directed by Liz Mills and written by Juliet Jenkin (who had a critical success with The Boy Who Fell From the Roof) The Night Doctor is about "night of crisis ... when Catherine, a young South African doctor, arrives at her parents’ home in Pietermaritzburg, announcing that she has quit the practice of medicine.  Juliet Jenkin’s latest play, The Night Doctor is full of her characteristic ironic wit as she explores the South African collision of violence and belonging, and what it really means to help people."

Artscape Arena
Tuesday 26   19h30
Wednesday to Saturday 27 to 30     20h15
R80




I, CLAUDIA

I loved this production when I saw it at the Baxter studio a couple of years ago, a small, heart-breaking and funny play from Canada.  Now at the Kalk Bay Theatre I, Claudia is directed by Lara Bye and performed by Susan Danford who uses masks in her portrayal of all four characters. The main one is a "funny, misfit adolescent.... reeling from the after-effects of her parents' divorce, dealing with school assignments and coping with puberty ...  she takes refuge in the school caretaker's room where she hides all that is secret and dear to her." 
 

Kalk Bay Theatre
Wednesday to Saturday  20h30  
R100    073 220 5430 




AS TERRAS DO FIM DO MUNDO (THE LANDS OF THE END OF THE WORLD)

I am told that this exhibition is a good one - Jo Ratcliffe's black and white photographs that trace the places in Angola where the South African army fought the Border War. The images capture "the eerie silences of the traces of war."  Ratcliffe's earlier exhibition Terreno Ocupado in 2007 showed Luanda five years after the civil war ended.

Michael Stevenson  Gallery    160 Sir Lowry Road   Woodstock
Monday to Friday  9h00 to 17h00  Saturday 10h00 to 13h00

 

BORDERS

More photography from and of Africa, Borders opens at SANG this week.   It features work distilled from the Bamako African Photographic Biennale,  which  features contemporary photography from across the continent and its diaspora.  Here are the gallery's notes on the exhibition's theme:

Most of the borders of African states recognised today were drawn by the European imperial powers during the Berlin Conference in 1884. The often-arbitrary delineation of territories has provoked conflicts around issues of sovereignty, the distribution of economic resources or ethnic grouping. Repressive methods are used to counter the migration flows set in motion by political turmoil or economic hardship, while immigrants are usually perceived as ‘other’, foreigners viewed with suspicion and distrust – as was experienced in the xenophobic violence in South Africa in 2008. Yet, a border is also a place of meeting and exchange. It may be seen as a space for transformation, and a real or imagined territory of openness, while forms of transgression may be perceived symbolically as ‘crossing’ borders.
In Borders, 40 photographers and 13 video artists, including several South Africans, engage with the concept, whether interpreted in terms that are geographical, political, social, aesthetic or metaphysical.

South African National Gallery
Opening Tuesday 26   till the end of  January
Enquiries: Pam Warne 021 481 3956  pwarne@iziko.org.za.



 

SOUND ART

The is the last week for the exhibition called Echoes by Australian artist Philip Samartzis who is the Senior Lecturer in Sound at the RMIT University in Melbourne and  is  "regarded as being at the forefront of Sound Art internationally."   His work is being shown with that of South African James Webb.

SA National Gallery
Tuesday to Sunday




RIDICULE AT CINE-CLUB

This is an extremely entertaining and sophisticated film which I saw on the circuit some years ago (it was made in 1996.)    Ridicule is set in the 18th century at the court of Versailles "where social status can rise and fall based on one’s ability to mete out witty insults and avoid ridicule oneself."  It tells the story of a minor aristocrat who, unusually, cares about social justice and who goes to the court to get backing to drain the swamps that are causing death and disease among the peasants.  He has to learn the art of wit (l'esprit) to be recognized by the corrupt and callous aristocrats he meets there.

Alliance Francaise  155 Loop Street
Tuesday 26   19h00
Free entrance  




OPEN GARDENS

The height of spring, the entrance of summer, the last weekend in October, this is the season for open gardens.
There's a Constantia route which I haven't done before, and a more extensive network of gardens in the Elgin area which I have seen and some of them are a great treat.  If you haven't seen it before don't miss beautiful Freshwoods, it will change your conception of a rose garden. I also love Wildekranz an 1812 house and garden full of good South African art.  I tried to make a shortlist but so many of them sound worth the detour; have a look at the websites and make your own choice.

Constantia Valley Garden Club - Open Gardens 2010
Friday 29  14h00 to 17h30  and Saturday 30  10h00 to 17h00
Tickets R50 for all five gardens, includes tea, in aid of food garden ngo's.

Elgin Open Gardens 2010
Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 October
Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 November
10h00 to 17h00 
www.elginopengardens.co.za

A week's holiday

Cape Town Confidential is on holiday this week.    Back next Monday,  26 October.

Debates, Discussions, Lectures, Photography, Aloes, Musical Theatre, Movies under the Stars

This week theatre, gallery and movie listings take second place to an unusually full and exciting menu of talks, debates and discussions.  They fill every weekday evening, starting with two events tonight.




TODAY: GEOFF BUDLENDER ON SOCIAL JUSTICE

From the SJC (Social Justice Coalition) comes an invitation to the Irene Grootboom Memorial lecture today;  advocate Geoff Budlender's subject is "how to maintain and advance the legacy of Irene Grootboom, a renowned housing activist who died homeless."

Monday 11   18h00
Community House    41 Salt River Road




SHELLEY BARRY - GREAT TEXTS/BIG QUESTIONS

The Gipca talk this week looks very compelling.  Filmmaker and disability rights activist Shelley Barry will speak about her experience of making films from a wheelchair and will illustrate her talk with extracts from some of the short films that she has made in different genres.  Among others there will be extracts from "Whole-A Trinity of Being" about the taxi wars and "Str/oll - a wheelchair user navigates the streets of Manhattan."

Thursday 14  17h00
Hiddingh Hall   Hiddingh Campus
For more information call 021 480 7156 or e-mail fin-gipca@uct.ac.za




LECTURE ON WRITING LIFE STORIES

The Cape Town Society for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is hosting a lecture called Writing my life: Life writing, Psychoanalysis, and the Insider Voice by Leslie Swartz, professor of psychology at Stellenbosch.  "Since the time of Freud, we have been trained to believe that people may not be the best authorities to understand their own behaviour.  We dismiss personal accounts as 'subjective', unscientific, determined by forces beyond conscious control, and open to bias. .. Despite this, there is increasing interest in letting people speak for themselves, in giving people 'voice'.  Personal accounts fascinate: the memoir industry is booming and 'reality' shows dominate television  This talk will explore the different ways in which people claim to be representing the truth about themselves and about other people, and will explore the borderlands between social science, psychotherapy, gossip and entertainment."

Thursday 14    20h00
Centre for the Book   62 Queen Victoria Street  
R40   No bookings




LAUNCH PROGRAMME OF THE INSTITUTE FOR HUMANITIES IN AFRICA

This new insititute  at UCT launches with a fortnight of debates, discussions, lectures and presentations.   The institute has been created to "champion interdisciplinary research" and to "run initiatives that will bridge the divide between the UCT academy and wider publics in Cape Town."   Interestingly it is "nestled philosophically and organisationally between the faculties of Humanities and Law."  Listed below is a selection of this week's events:

Monday: Human, Humane, Humanist
Chaired by Njabulo Ndebele, this includes Steven Lukes from NYU "On Being Human", Deborah Posel on "Human Complicities" and Neville Alexander  on "A New Humanism for the 21st Century"
CAS Gallery   Oppenheimer Building   Upper Campus
Monday 11    18h00 to 19h30

Tuesday lunchtime: Is there something different about violence in Africa?
With Jonny Steinberg among others.
Tuesday 12   13h00 to 14h30
HUMA seminar room    4th floor  Oppenheimer Building   Upper Campus

Tuesday afternoon: Talking from left fields: making news in USA, Uganda, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa
With editors and journalists from all these countries including SA's Mondli Makhanya and Nic Dawes.
Tuesday 12    17h30 for 18h00
Kramer LT3     Middle Campus

Thursday: Durkheim and the idea of Law
With Steven Lukes from NYU and academics from  Law and Criminology at UCT.
Thurday 14     18h00 to 19h30
Moot Court     Kramer    Middle Campus

Friday: The view from the brain: Neuropsychology and the question of being human
With Mark Solms, with Steven Lukes of NYU and John Parkington of Archaeology.
Friday 15    13h00 to 14h30
HUMA seminar room    4th floor  Oppenheimer Building   Upper Campus
 



PHOTOGRAPHY: A NEW BEGINNING

Araminta de Clermont came to public attention last year with an exhibition of amazing photographs of girls in their matric dance dresses, posing at home in various townships around Cape Town.  A new exhibition called A New Beginning features a series of photographs of "recently initiated young Xhosa and Sotho men" from the same geographical area.  "A watershed for many young men, the initiation process gives an opportunity to start anew. The exhibition examines the conflicts and syntheses between tradition and contemporary urban living..."

Till 30 October
Joao Ferreira Gallery




THE RAGGED TROUSERED PHILANTHOPISTS

The Fugard's resident Isango Portobello company this week previews a musical play based on the novel of this title by Robert Tressell written a hundred years ago.  From the description of the book on Amazon:

'The present system means joyless drudgery, semi-starvation, rags and premature death; and they vote for it and uphold it. Let them have what they vote for! Let them drudge and let them starve!' There is no other novel quite like The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. George Orwell called it 'a wonderful book'; its readers have become a living part of its remarkable history. Tressell's novel is about survival on the underside of the Edwardian Twilight, about exploitative employment when the only safety nets are charity, workhouse, and grave. Following the fortunes of a group of painters and decorators and their families, and the attempts to rouse their political will by the Socialist visionary Frank Owen, the book is both a highly entertaining story and a passionate appeal for a fairer way of life. It asks questions that are still being asked today: why do your wages bear no relation to the value of your work? Why do fat cats get richer when you don't? Tressell's answers are 'The Great Money Trick' and the 'philanthropy' of an unenlightened workforce, who give away their rights and aspirations to a decent life so freely. Intellectually enlightening, deeply moving and gloriously funny (complete with exploding clergyman), The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a book that changes lives.'

Fugard Theatre   021 461 4554
Tuesday to Saturday  19h30   Saturday matinee 15h00
Previews Friday 15 - Wednesday 20




A LESSON ABOUT ALOES

The free Wednesday morning talk at Kirstenbosch is by Jaap Viljoen and is about new garden aloes.

Kirstenbosch   Sanlam Hall (Gate 2)
Wednesday 13    10h30 - 11h30
Enquiries:Cathy Abott 021 465 -6440




MOVIES UNDER THE STARS

I love this idea, though I might be less enthusiastic on the night -  Cape Town so rarely gets balmy enough and we're a few months away from mid-summer.  But it is a fun idea.  Jonkershuis at Groot Constantia is showing "classic movies underneath the stars" and this Saturday it's a real temptation with  Some Like it Hot.
" Bring your own picnic blankets/cushions and order popcorn, a delicious picnic basket,snacks, beer or Groot Constantia wine from Jonkershuis (no outside foods and drinks permitted)"

Saturday 16     20h00
Entrance  R15   Numbers are limited    Book with Hailey on 021 794 6255

Great Dance, Great Texts, Photography, Sound Art, Poetry, Requiem

FOR ONE WEEK ONLY: DADA MASILO AT THE BAXTER

The hottest ticket of the week is dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo's Carmen at the Baxter from Tuesday to Sunday.  If you saw her Romeo and Juliet last year you'll need no persuading.  She's just done a new Swan Lake at Joburg's Arts Alive festival where this Carmen was a huge success last year.  Masilo says: 'I began with the idea of unravelling Carmen the woman – to search beneath the surface presented in the ballets and operas – to find the vulnerability beneath the cold, heartless exterior... Ultimately, I have created a narrative which allows me and the dancers to do what we love most – to dance.'  The music is Rodion Shchedrin's Carmen Suite - Ballet Suite for strings and percussion based on themes from Carmen by George Bizet, Bizet's Carmen Suites, Maria Callas singing the 'Habanera', and two sections of Arvo Pärt's Lamentate.

Baxter Theatre
Tuesday 5 to Sunday 10
Tues to Sat 20h00   Sun 14h30

 

LAST WEEK FOR  MOLLY BLOOM

Another extraordinary woman at the Baxter, Molly Bloom performed by Jennifer Steyn.  The "erotic, witty, bawdy, sensual, shocking , moving and highly entertaining stream-of-consciousness monologue" from James Joyce's Ulysses has been adapted and directed by Nicky Rebelo.

Baxter Studio
Till Saturday 9    20h15



VERDI'S REQUIEM
On Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon the Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town and the Symphony Choir of Cape Town perform Verdi’s loved and celebrated Requiem Mass.

City Hall
Thursday 8   20h00    Cost: R 150    
Sunday 10  16h00    Cost: R 130
Tel: 021 421 7695




GIPCA GREAT TEXTS/BIG QUESTIONS LECTURE

Ian Glenn, Professor of Media Studies at UCT,  is doing the Great Texts / Big Question lecture this Thursday, about the influence of eighteenth-century French explorer François le Vaillant who came to the Cape in 1781 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company to collect specimens of fauna and flora.  “Le Vaillant played a major role in establishing how Europe saw the Cape,” says Glenn. “He attempted to represent his South African experience in many ways - from the production of specimens, to lavishly illustrated bird books and travel accounts, and to innovative maps. In so doing, he created more than a single influential text, but rather a range of texts that shaped what came after him, both here and elsewhere. This work helped shape many modern media, genres and intellectual traditions. In many ways Le Vaillant is a founding figure of South African culture.”

Hiddingh Hall   Hiddingh Campus 

Thursday 7   17h00

021 480 7156

POETRY LAUNCH AT THE BOOK LOUNGE

Ingrid Andersen is an Anglican priest who  is the founding editor of an online literary journal called Incwadi, and works in the area of human rights and reconciliation.  Piece Work is her second volume of poems.
“Andersen's poems fuse the best of Imagism with a heartfelt compassion; with a few well-chosen words, she can turn the rawness and imprecision of emotion into poems that reach simultaneously for clarity and for the reader's heart. She is generous, careful, passionate – all these qualities make her work profound and accessible. “      Fiona Zerbst

Book Lounge
Wednesday 6   17h30 for 18h00

 

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION: PATMOS AND THE WAR AT SEA

Alastair Whitton was one of four South Africans selected for the 2009 African Photography Biennial where his work was hosted by the Musee Nationale du Mali in Bamako. He says the title refers "to territory and domain, both physical and spiritual as well as the war that ensues in the conquest thereof.   Each left-hand page of a work is made up of a selected text which I have translated into Braille. Each image is a carefully reconstructed view of a war scene from an archival/film source ...an attempt to make sense of what has been seen and recorded..."

From Tuesday 5 October to 6 November
iArt Gallery Wembley: A Project Room for Contemporary Art
 

 



SOUND INSTALLATION AT SANG

Echoes is a "sound art" project in which Australian Philip Samartzis will produce a surround-sound installation at the SA National Gallery.  He "uses recordings of natural and constructed environments which are arranged and mixed to reflect the acoustic and spatial complexities of everyday sound fields."   Curated by Jared Davis.

From 8 to 31 October


 

OPEN NIGHT AT SA OBSERVATORY

Another open night Saturday at the Observatory. Venus will be close to the moon.

SA Astronomical Observatory     Observatory Rd      Observatory
Saturday 10   20H00     Cost: Free

A week of music, music, music, plus a few notable book events too

MUSIC FROM DRC, ETHIOPIA, CAMEROON, SOUTH AFRICA

Thanks to the Pan African Space Station there is a festival of extraordinary music from all over the African continent in Cape Town this week.  All of the shows are only R30 pre-booked (at computicket) or R50 at the the door.



TUESDAY: STUDIO KABAKO

Perhaps not for the faint-hearted -  Studio Kabako is a dance collective from Kisangani in the DRC which "infuses the hybrid rhythms of Ndombolo music with hefty doses of punk rage and cosmic energy... they merge explosive dance and experimental theatre, mysticism, and millitancy, riddle and confrontation...weird worlds of sounds open up before us."   It includes the talents of a poet, choreographer, fashion designer and band.

City Hall
Tuesday 28  19h00



WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY:  BRICE WASSY TRIO AND IMPERIAL TIGER ORCHESTRA

Brice Wassy is a Cameroonian drummer and percussionist who has been a band-leader for Manu Dibango and Salif Keita and has worked with an impressive array of stars including Miriam Makeba and Busi Mhlongo.  His music is described as "bringing together jazz and Afro-pop... a full-frontal rhythmic attack, profoundly rooted in Africa, but open to all genres."

The Imperial Tiger Orchestra is based in Geneva and is brought to SA by Pro Helvetia.   They perform "songs of the Golden Age of modern Ethiopian music " but "are not to be mistaken for a covers band.  Instead the Imperial Tigers explore uncharted territory with their powerful instrumentation of horn, percussion and keyboards....hypnotic rhythms and fierce grooves... beautiful new pieces based on the Ethiopian originals."

Slave Church       40 Long Street
Wednesday 29   19h00

Albert Hall    208 Albert Road Woodstock
Friday 1 October  22h30



THURSDAY AND SATURDAY:  PHILIP TABANE

Philip Tabane and his Malombo Jazz Makers, an "ever-shifting cast of musicians" have been part of the South African music scene since the 1960s.  "The master lets loose with intricate improvisation and free-form solo-ing.....that speaks to the soul while insisting that you get up and dance."   The programme also features the Kyle Shepherd Trio.

St George's Cathedral
Thursday 30  19h30

Guga S'Thebe Centre   Washington Road   Langa
Saturday 2 October  12h00 - 18h00



FRIDAY AND SATURDAY: THANDISWA MAZWAI TRIO

Since her days as a member of 90s Afro-pop crew Bongo Maffin, Thandiswa Mazwai has gone solo and has "travelled deeper into traditional Zulu and Xhosa melodies and rhythms to map out a fiercely individual route from past to present, sign-posted with borrowing from jazz, funk, Mbaqanga, reggae, quasi-gospel and thumping kwaito."

Slave Church   40 Long Street   Cape Town
Friday 1  19h00

Guga S'Thebe Centre   Washington Road   Langa
Saturday 2 October  12h00 - 18h00




MORE MUSIC

In addition to this packed programme of music is a concert by Eric Omba "a guitarist and composer of Spanish, classical jazz, Latin American, African and French music" with an impressive list of collaborations behind him.  At the Alliance Francaise this Thursday he will be showcasing his band and guest stars including Steve Newman and Mambote, and his new album Bella Vie.

Alliance Francaise   155 Loop Street
Thursday 30   20h30    R60




THIS WEEK ONLY:  EXHIBITION AT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY

Photographs, rare books, and items from the manuscript collections of the SA National Library are on exhibition this week from Monday to Saturday.
National Library   5 Queen Victoria Street
Monday 27 to Saturday 1   10h00-17h00    
Free entry




DAMON GALGUT AT THE BOOK LOUNGE

Damon Galgut's In a Strange Room has been shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker prize and the Book Lounge has organized a "celebratory evening" at  which we're invited to "raise a glass of bubbly....and listen to Damon read from this quite astounding novel."

Book Lounge
Wednesday 29   17h30 for 18h00

Performances, Festivals, Celebrations, Big Questions

My apologies for posting this blog a day late.  The Monday deadline has not been abandoned, just very occasionally it's impossible and it stretches to Tuesday!  

ONE-OFF PERFORMANCE TONIGHT

Tonight is a one-off fundraising performance of Hatched by  Mamela Nyamza. She has been invited to present the show at this year's Danse l'Afrique in Bamako, Mali, one of the largest dance festivals in Africa, showcasing established choreographers around the African continent.  I retrieved my review of the show from an early blog posting:

After seeing Hatched, I would go out of my way to see anything by dancer/performance artist Mamela Nyamza. ... it's like a film in which almost not a single frame is wasted - there is so much that is beautiful, strange, and arresting. It works through images and movement, and I won't try to describe it further - just to recommend this incredible artist.

Fugard Theatre
Tuesday 21 20h00




LAST TWO NIGHTS: QAPHELA CAESAR

"Jay Pather’s contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar takes the audience through 14 rooms of the historic City Hall, alternating between installation and performing art while incorporating dance, spoken text, multimedia and opera."

City Hall
Tues 21 - Weds 22   20h00
Cost: R 65    Tel: 078 4060 509 




HERITAGE DAY CELEBRATIONS AT THE MUSEUMS

All Iziko museums are free of charge this week in honour of Heritage Day (the Planetarium and the Castle only on Friday.)  There are various talks, tours, performances, symposium - see Iziko's website www.izikomuseums.com

Pedro will be telling stories on the grass in front of the SA Museum on Thursday at 10h00.

For more information021-4813800 or email wkasibe@iziko.org.za




THREE TALKS CO-INCIDE ON THURSDAY

1. BOOK LAUNCH
"Writing the City into Being: Essays on Johannesburg 1998-2008 is Lindsay Bremner’s long-awaited collection of essays, spanning more than a decade of work on Johannesburg. It is both an unflinching analysis of the characteristics of an extraordinary city and a work of imagination – a bringing of the evasive city into being through writing. Her intimate knowledge of the city makes this a deeply personal but authoritative collection of essays."    Lindsay Bremner is Professor of Architecture at Temple University, Philadelphia, USA. She was formerly Chair of Architecture at Wits. She will be in conversation with Iain Low, Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture and Planning at UCT.

Book Lounge
Thursday 23   17h30 for 18h00.
021 462 2425

2.  GIPCA GREAT TEXTS/BIG QUESTIONS TALK

Here's the invite:

3. WOLPE TRUST DIALOGUE ON CORRUPTION

The Wolpe Trust Dialogues are always worth going to.  This one's on Corruption In Our Society.

Thursday 23   17h30 for 18h00
LT2  Zoology Building  Upper Campus  UCT

HOMESTEAD PARK MARKET

I heard of this market from the Book Lounge newsletter:
"On Friday, 24 September, Heritage Day, the Book Lounge will have a stall at the lovely Homestead Park Market in Upper Orange Street, Oranjezicht from 10 - 4pm. There will be crafts and food stalls to support, guided walks about the Heritage part and a jazz quartet, a fun outing for families who are staying in town over the long weekend. Please come along and support the Oranjezicht Higgovale Neighbourhood Watch who have organised this great day out."




POETRY LAUNCH AT KALK BAY BOOKS

Leon de Kock will launch his new collection of poems, Bodyhood, at Kalk Bay Books on Friday. The "seductive and powerful new poems" are "at once reflective, wistful, wry and ironic, they chart the individual’s imprint on a world accessible only through the bonds and affiliations of an embodied life."

Leon de Kock is head of the School of Literature and Language Studies at Wits University. He has received the Pringle Prize for Poetry (1985), the FNB Vita/English Academy Prize for Poetry Translation (2000) and the SA Translators’ Award for Outstanding Translation (2000) for his translation of Marlene van Niekerk’s Triomf.

Kalk Bay Books
Friday 24  18h00

PIANO CONCERT

Spencer Myer is a graduate of the Juilliard School, "garnering stellar audience and critical acclaim from around the globe, rapidly establishing himself as one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation."  At the Baxter Concert Hall on Saturday he'll play Handel, Jancek, Beethoven, Schumann, Granados.

Baxter Concert Hall
Saturday 25    20h00

ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OPEN NIGHT

Another open night at the Observatory on Saturday, a chance to see the historic telescope and buildings as well as the night sky.

South African Astronomical Observatory    Observatory Rd   Observatory  
Saturday 25   20h00    Free entry
021 447 0025     enquiries@saao.ac.za

POETRY AFRICA IN CAPE TOWN

1. 

Poetry Africa has become a major festival on the Durban calendar, and this year they're adding on a tour to Cape Town, Harare and Blantyre (Malawi.)  The show's on Sunday at the CTICC and the programme includes touring poets from Malawi, Tanzania, Botswana, Jamaica, Zimbabwe as well as SA. 

CTICC
Sunday 26   19h30

2.
A Poetry Africa discussion, The Poet as Wayfarer, will take place on Monday at the Planetarium.This event is free.
The Planetarium     25 Queen Victoria Street

Monday September 27  17:30 

A week for performance art: Foofwa d'Imobilite, Hip Hop Indaba, Molly Bloom, Qaphela Caesar, Pianessence

A relatively unannotated listing for a week strong in performance art:




FOOFWA D'IMOBILITE DANCE EVENTS (REPEATED FROM LAST WEEK)

1: THE MAKING OF SPECTACLES
Acclaimed Swiss contemporary dance artist Foofwa d'Imobilité   and his company of dancers present two shows in Cape Town from Monday 13.   In The Making of Spectacles the audience is " the audience is invited to collaborate with the artistic team in order to compose a unique performance. The elements presented ie. dance phrases, dramatic scenarios, music, lighting design, and costuming are carefully crafted in advance and offered as tools to the spectators for the creation of a dance to their taste. After playful, democratic voting, where humor is invited, the spectators can enjoy the synthesis of their group decisions." (Sounds like Theatre Sports but I've never seen it applied to dance !)

Monday 13 and Tuesday 14   20h00
Little Theatre   Hiddingh Campus  021 4807129




2: PINA JACKSON IN MERCEMORIAM
"A choreographic comedy" by Foofwa d'Imobilite to look forward to next week.  The dancer explains:
"Since, within one month, three Greats of Dance died and since this dismal fate brought them together, I decided to evoke altogether the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, the Queen of Tanztheater, Pina Bausch, and the Emperor of Dance Revolution, Merce Cunningham, in a triple « humoriscritic » and vivifying tribute."

Wednesday 15   20h15   Theatre Arts Admin Collective   Methodist Church   Observatory  021 4473683
Thursday 16:  Hiddingh Hall   (details still to be published by Gipca)

 (www.foofwa.com)




MOLLY BLOOM AT THE BAXTER

"Molly is the wife of Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's classic novel Ulysses. In the final section of the book, lying in bed next to her snoring husband, she muses over her marriage, her lovers, her body and her children, among other topics. Acclaimed South African actress Jennifer Steyn performs Molly Bloom's erotic, witty, bawdy, sensual, shocking, moving and highly entertaining stream-of-consciousness monologue, which has been condensed and adapted for the stage, as well as directed, by Nicky Rebelo."

Baxter Studio
from Tuesday 14   20h15




ARTWORKS IN PROGRESS

On Wednesday is the opening of the Michaelis School of Fine Art's exhibition of works showcasing the creative activity of the school's academic staff.
Michaelis Galleries   Hiddingh Campus
Opening Wednesday 15 Sept     18h00 for 18h30
Till  6 October    Tue - Fri  10h00 to 15h00   Sat 10h00 to 12h00




ART: BLISSFUL DISTURBANCE
Already open at the Michaelis Galleries and on until 2 October is an exhibition of works by the Wits University Fine Art Masters students, curated by Portia Malatjie.
Michaelis Galleries   Hiddingh Campus
Till  2 October    Tue - Fri  10h00 to 15h00   Sat 10h00 to 12h00




AFRICAN HIP HOP INDABA
For two days on Friday and Saturday is the "African qualifier for the World Break dance Championships which will see various forms of dance including Nu Skool, Popping, Krump and U13 b-boy battles"
Good Hope Centre   Sir Lowry Rd
Friday 17 to Saturday 18     19h00
Cost: R 50
www.africanhiphopindaba.co.za




THEATRE: QAPHELA CAESAR

Opening on Saturday, Jay Pather’s contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar takes the audience through 14 rooms of the historic City Hall, alternating between installation and performing art while incorporating dance, spoken text, multimedia and opera. Each of the five performances of Qaphela Caesar are limited to an audience of 50 people.

City Hall   Saturday 18   19h45   Sunday 19 to Wednesday  22  20h00      
078 4060 509        ameejay@ananzi.co.za      www.gipca.uct.ac.za
Tickets are R65, available from Computicket www.computicket.com




PIANESSENCE ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Swiss musician Petra Ronner returns to South Africa to perform new pieces for piano and electronics. One show only, in Stellenbosch this Sunday. 
Konservatorium Fismer Hall    Stellenbosch University    Victoria St   Stellenbosch  
Sunday 19    16h00       R65 - R85
021 465 9033       communications@prohelvetia.org.za



LAST WEEK FOR PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION AT THE CASTLE

The recent conference on South African documentary photography was accompanied by this major exhibition "featuring the work of 56 photographers and more than 60 photographic essays."  

Castle of Good Hope
till 18 September