Music, poetry, theatre and dance are on the menu for arts lovers in Gqeberha as the inaugural Mandela Bay Arts Festival kicks off on Friday.
From 6pm, six productions of different genres will light up stages at three different venues to ensure no Nelson Mandela Bay arts lover is left out.
Dancers Sinoxolo Botha and Odwa Zwedala, musicians Wandiswa Gogela, Sibongile Tsoni and Ahlumile Mankeya and choreographer and director Nomaxabiso Rala will take to the dance floor to deliver Rala’s dance production, Paths Crossing.
Paths Crossing interrogates human bodies and their interaction with outside elements.
“The production is an exploration of who we are in relation to life, who we are alongside this life,” Rala says.
Rala started contemporary dance in 1998 and has conducted dance workshops in a number of schools in Gqeberha and East London.
Having started her dance education at Moving Into Dance Mophathong, she specialised in afro fusion, contemporary dance, history of dance and arts management.
She joined the East London Guild Theatre Dance Company in 2007 and has been a part of the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex’s Dance Season and the
Woman in Arts Manyano Festival.
The dance production will be at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex at 6pm on Friday and again on Thursday.
A mixture of experienced and new comedians are set to tickle the audience’s funny bones with the travelling comedy production, Stand Up People.
Comedians include Siphelele Qoqoshe, Tsepiso Nzayo, Sqhazolo, Lonwabo Xatasi, Philile Mnunwa, Nkosinathi Maki, Ngcaphephe, Mbu Msongelwa, TD Jokes and Phakamisa Fayindlala while DJ MissJay will be behind the decks.
The show will start at the Masifunde Changemaker Academy at 6pm on Friday and move to the St Thomas High School Auditorium at 7pm on Saturday, Mandela Bay Theatre Complex at 7pm on Wednesday and the Mendi Art Centre at 7pm on Thursday.
For music lovers, Walmer musician Joliza brings his Bhacasoul Experience — a live music concert that pays homage to Joliza’s Bhaca ethnicity — to the Mendi Arts Centre at 6pm on Friday and 8pm at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex on Saturday next week.
Though he was born in Gqeberha, Joliza’s family is from Emawusheni village which was originally inhabited by a tribe known as Amawushe in KwaBhaca (formerly Mount Frere) in the former Transkei.
Even though his music reflects some elements of Afro soul, jazz and maskandi, Joliza calls his sound Bhaca soul music, a genre which leans more on traditional Bhaca rhythm elements of ukucwiya (spiritual singing), ukuvalela (spiritual humming) and ukusina (spiritual dancing).
Veteran musician Sizwe Zako and his accompanying band present KwaXhosa — a music concert focused on highlighting the arts, culture and history of the amaXhosa — at the Athenaeum from 7pm on Friday, the Mendi Arts Centre at 7pm on Wednesday and back at the Athenaeum at 8pm on Friday next week.
Zako will take to the stage as the show’s musical director and first keys player.
He is accompanied by Khaya on second keys, Thembani on Bass, Mncedisi on percussions and Siya Koyo on vocals.
Nelson Mandela Bay dancer Junior Ferreira leads The Uprising, a moving production which tells the story of the famous 1976 uprising through dance and music, at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex at 8pm on Friday.
The show will return to the same stage on Thursday at 8pm.
The multi-award winning dancer’s previous productions include Marikana: A Greener Tomorrow, Women Die Here, The Whirlwind: Dawie Sterman Story and Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom.
The production will be at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex’s The Barn at 8pm on Friday, at 2pm on Saturday and Sunday as well as 2pm on October 1.
