NOT THE LONDON BOOK FAIR AT THE BOOK LOUNGE TONIGHT
Last minute news of a feast of an event at the Book Lounge tonight! A group of South African writers and publishers were due to go to the London Book Fair this weekend just gone by but couldn't fly because of the volcanic ash debacle. With incredible spontaneity and spirit, they've pulled together an event called "Not the London Book Fair" to happen at the Book Lounge tonight. The London fair has a special South African focus this year, and here is the line-up of people "so far" from Book SA's website:
"
* Antjie Krog, whose most recent book Begging To Be Black winds up questions ... she began asking in Country Of My Skull;
* Imraan Coovadia, who’ll talk about his tour de force novels, including his recent High Low In-between;
* Fiona Snyckers, author of the bubbly, witty chick-lit-with- heart Trinity series;
* Entrepreneur and cultural connoisseur Victor Dlamini will bring his expertise to the interviewing panel;
* Arthur Attwell of Electric Book Works, joint winner of the international Young Publisher of the Year award and electronic publishing guru;
* Colleen Higgs of Modjaji Books, rapidly filling a niche as South Africa’s premier publisher of quality poetry, fiction and memoir by women, with a frontlist of exciting new books;
* Ben Williams, writer, web journalist and driving force behind BOOK SA
"This line-up is subject to change as we add more writers and voices… come prepared to be surprised and delighted ... This event has the blessing of the official London Book Fair ... Readings, panels, debate and interviews will be live-reported through to the LBF, so those at the LBF will still get a sense of the richness and freshness of our talent." (http://book.co.za/)
Tonight Monday 19 April
The Book Lounge, cnr of Roeland and Buitenkant Street, central Cape Town.
18h00 till late.
ORFEU NEGRO
The Alliance Francaise in Loop Street hosts an on-going cultural programme that is a big gift to Cape Town. On Wednesdays there's a "cine-club" which shows French films free of charge; and there're also regular music concerts with very affordable ticket prices, often with very special musicians.
This Wednesday the cine-club is showing Orfeu Negro, directed by Marcel Camus in 1959. The setting of the film is the Rio Carnival, and it's loosely inspired by the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. All of the reviews that I tracked down say that the point of the film is not really the story of the lovers, but rather the the carnival itself - the visual spectacle (Marcel Camus was also a painter), the samba dancing, and the famous and "intoxicating" bossa nova soundtrack. I found a 1959 review from the New York Times which succinctly describes the action in the language of the time:
"It is a tragic story of a Negro chap and a Negro girl who meet at the time of the annual blowout, fall suddenly and rapturously in love, whirl through the night in a furious revel and fall off a cliff in the dawn." The same reviewer complains that the English sub-titles lack the samba beat, a constant presence in the film; he says, "A cat with a cool vocabulary should have been turned loose on them."
* Antjie Krog, whose most recent book Begging To Be Black winds up questions ... she began asking in Country Of My Skull;
* Imraan Coovadia, who’ll talk about his tour de force novels, including his recent High Low In-between;
* Fiona Snyckers, author of the bubbly, witty chick-lit-with- heart Trinity series;
* Entrepreneur and cultural connoisseur Victor Dlamini will bring his expertise to the interviewing panel;
* Arthur Attwell of Electric Book Works, joint winner of the international Young Publisher of the Year award and electronic publishing guru;
* Colleen Higgs of Modjaji Books, rapidly filling a niche as South Africa’s premier publisher of quality poetry, fiction and memoir by women, with a frontlist of exciting new books;
* Ben Williams, writer, web journalist and driving force behind BOOK SA
"This line-up is subject to change as we add more writers and voices… come prepared to be surprised and delighted ... This event has the blessing of the official London Book Fair ... Readings, panels, debate and interviews will be live-reported through to the LBF, so those at the LBF will still get a sense of the richness and freshness of our talent." (http://book.co.za/)
Tonight Monday 19 April
The Book Lounge, cnr of Roeland and Buitenkant Street, central Cape Town.
18h00 till late.
ORFEU NEGRO
The Alliance Francaise in Loop Street hosts an on-going cultural programme that is a big gift to Cape Town. On Wednesdays there's a "cine-club" which shows French films free of charge; and there're also regular music concerts with very affordable ticket prices, often with very special musicians.
This Wednesday the cine-club is showing Orfeu Negro, directed by Marcel Camus in 1959. The setting of the film is the Rio Carnival, and it's loosely inspired by the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. All of the reviews that I tracked down say that the point of the film is not really the story of the lovers, but rather the the carnival itself - the visual spectacle (Marcel Camus was also a painter), the samba dancing, and the famous and "intoxicating" bossa nova soundtrack. I found a 1959 review from the New York Times which succinctly describes the action in the language of the time:
"It is a tragic story of a Negro chap and a Negro girl who meet at the time of the annual blowout, fall suddenly and rapturously in love, whirl through the night in a furious revel and fall off a cliff in the dawn." The same reviewer complains that the English sub-titles lack the samba beat, a constant presence in the film; he says, "A cat with a cool vocabulary should have been turned loose on them."
Wednesday 21 April 19h00 Free entrance
Alliance Francaise 155 Loop Street 021 423 56 99
LITTLE BRAZIL CULTURAL DAY
To tie in with the movie, the Alliance is hosting an event in partnership with Little Brazil, a group that holds regular Brazilian parties and this time presents "Little Brazil Cutural Day." There'll be food, music, batucada, dance presentations, art, and capoeira. Tickets are R100 including food.
Thursday 22 April 20h30
For tickets contact Alliance Francaise (see above) or Carol 0768966709
JUNGIAN SOCIETY TALK: EXILED FROM THE KINGDOM
There is a talk at the Jungian Society on Tuesday which caught my interest chiefly because of the unexpected element of music. The talk by Paul Ashton is titled "EXILED FROM THE KINGDOM: Euripedes Trojan Women, Eleni Karaindrou's music, and some other music that makes exile seem worse and yet more tolerable."
Paul Ashton is a Cape Town psychiatrist and Jungian analyst with "a deep interest in literature, art and music."
Eleni Karaindrou is a Greek composer who writes music for film and theatre. Euripedes' Trojan Women was a very early and fierce protest against war, and in Karaindrou's score for a 2001 production she was mindful of the parallels with the recent war in the Balkans. She uses traditional folk instruments from around the Mediterranean, such as the lyre, the lute and the flute, but her compositions are described as stark,modern and timeless, and are noted for their expressive power.
Tuesday 20 20h00
Iziko Museum Queen Victoria St
for information
021 6896090
FINAL WEEK FOR MIKHAEL SUBOTSKY WITH PATRICK WATERHOUSE AT THE GOODMAN
Do not miss this exhibition which ends its run on Saturday. A collaboration between photographer Mikhael Subotzky and British artist Patrick Waterhouse, the work deals with the Ponte building, the tall round block that is "an iconic structure in Johannesburg’s skyline", part of the city's mythology and a hub for recent immigrants from Africa. The two artists " combine photography, historical archives, found objects, and interviews to create a body of work that spans the pre-history of the building, its spectacular decline, and the recent attempts at its transformation."
Tues 20 to Saturday 24 April
Goodman Gallery Sir Lowry Road Woodstock
Do not miss this exhibition which ends its run on Saturday. A collaboration between photographer Mikhael Subotzky and British artist Patrick Waterhouse, the work deals with the Ponte building, the tall round block that is "an iconic structure in Johannesburg’s skyline", part of the city's mythology and a hub for recent immigrants from Africa. The two artists " combine photography, historical archives, found objects, and interviews to create a body of work that spans the pre-history of the building, its spectacular decline, and the recent attempts at its transformation."
Tues 20 to Saturday 24 April
Goodman Gallery Sir Lowry Road Woodstock
LAUNCH OF ZWELETHU MTHETHWA: PHOTOGRAPHS
Hosted by the Book Lounge at iArt Gallery, this is the launch of the first monograph of photographs by Zwelethu Mthethwa. The artist photographer from Durban studied art at Michaelis and then as a Fulbright scholar in the USA. He is best known for his photographic portraits, but his drawings and paintings are also widely exhibited. Mthethwa's projects have included the interiors of hostels and informal houses, and portraits of miners and other workers, including immigrants. He has some interesting things to say about why he works in colour: it allowed him to show the vibrant ways people decorated their homes using available materials and "black and white tends not to look at the esthetics," he says. Also, using colour allowed him to distance himself from apartheid-era news photography - art critic Okwui Enwezor writes, "According to Mthethwa's theory of color photography, black-and-white reportage was itself complicit in denying the indigent inhabitants of settlements any claim to subjecthood. It placed them within the status of news items: victims rather than persons, specimens instead of individuals."
Thursday 22 April 17h30 for 18h00
at the iArt Gallery, 71 Loop Street.
OPEN NIGHT AT THE OBSERVATORY AND TALK ON THE ART OF STARS
I've just received a reminder of the wonderful Open Nights which are held twice a month at the Cape Town Observatory. This Saturday there is a talk by Suki Lock of the Astronomical Society on "The Art of Stars."
Saturday 24 20h00 to 22h00
at the South African Astronomical Observatory just off Liesbeek Parkway (beyond the River Club)
THE INAUGURAL WATERFRONT BOOK FAIR
From this Tuesday to next Monday, there will be a charity sale with more than 30 tables of new and second-hand books at the V&A Waterfront. It benefits a wonderful cause: it's presented by Well Read Books, who sell collectable books in aid of Wola Nani, the NGO supporting women and children affected by AIDS. Among many other things, Wola Nani does craft development and has a shop above the Pan African Market which is well worth a visit (they created the iconic papier mache bowls with fishes, for example.)
The Book Fair runs from Tuesday 20 to Monday 26
Victoria Wharf
Hosted by the Book Lounge at iArt Gallery, this is the launch of the first monograph of photographs by Zwelethu Mthethwa. The artist photographer from Durban studied art at Michaelis and then as a Fulbright scholar in the USA. He is best known for his photographic portraits, but his drawings and paintings are also widely exhibited. Mthethwa's projects have included the interiors of hostels and informal houses, and portraits of miners and other workers, including immigrants. He has some interesting things to say about why he works in colour: it allowed him to show the vibrant ways people decorated their homes using available materials and "black and white tends not to look at the esthetics," he says. Also, using colour allowed him to distance himself from apartheid-era news photography - art critic Okwui Enwezor writes, "According to Mthethwa's theory of color photography, black-and-white reportage was itself complicit in denying the indigent inhabitants of settlements any claim to subjecthood. It placed them within the status of news items: victims rather than persons, specimens instead of individuals."
Thursday 22 April 17h30 for 18h00
at the iArt Gallery, 71 Loop Street.
OPEN NIGHT AT THE OBSERVATORY AND TALK ON THE ART OF STARS
I've just received a reminder of the wonderful Open Nights which are held twice a month at the Cape Town Observatory. This Saturday there is a talk by Suki Lock of the Astronomical Society on "The Art of Stars."
Saturday 24 20h00 to 22h00
at the South African Astronomical Observatory just off Liesbeek Parkway (beyond the River Club)
THE INAUGURAL WATERFRONT BOOK FAIR
From this Tuesday to next Monday, there will be a charity sale with more than 30 tables of new and second-hand books at the V&A Waterfront. It benefits a wonderful cause: it's presented by Well Read Books, who sell collectable books in aid of Wola Nani, the NGO supporting women and children affected by AIDS. Among many other things, Wola Nani does craft development and has a shop above the Pan African Market which is well worth a visit (they created the iconic papier mache bowls with fishes, for example.)
The Book Fair runs from Tuesday 20 to Monday 26
Victoria Wharf
THE GREAT MOSCOW CIRCUS
And just in case you want to fit some old-fashioned spectacle into a week full of book fairs, foreign films and phot0graphy - The Great Moscow Circus is in town. At the GrandWest Grand Arena in Cape Town from 16 to 27 April, the circius has no performing animals, only "a celebration of human mastery over physical limitations."
