Culture

Culture

Durban Pride: rooted in political protest
Amid rainbow-coloured fanfare and celebrations, LGBTQIA+ people call for inclusivity by remembering those who have been killed for being queer.
By: Jan Bornman
1 Jul 2019
Culture

Political Songs | Leopold – Crystal Axis
The Kenyan punk outfit picks up where Mark Twain left off more than a century earlier, satirising Belgian King Leopold II’s atrocities in colonial Congo.
By: Charles Leonard
28 Jun 2019
Culture

Text Messages | History repeats itself in Iran
Alexander the Great retaliated for the fall of the Acropolis by destroying the palace complex of Persepolis. Trump appears to want to emulate such large-scale destruction in Iran.
By: Darryl Accone
27 Jun 2019
Culture

Jonas Gwangwa’s music and life embody resistance against apartheid
After enduring forms of brutal and subtle subjugation under apartheid and in exile, this jazz great’s expression of defiance was honed to a fine art.
By: Gwen Ansell
27 Jun 2019
Culture

Making the ‘magic’ music for Uprize!
Indie label Mushroom Hour combined the soul jazz of Chicago with what jazz musicians were doing in Mzansi to create the soundtrack for Sifiso Khanyile’s documentary on the 1976 uprising.
By: Tseliso Monaheng
26 Jun 2019
Culture

Ndhiko Xaba: Way too hip
From the streets of Pietermaritzburg to Joburg’s Dorkay House and the jazz lofts of Chicago, this musician was a giant who fearlessly influenced many during his lifetime.
By: Gwen Ansell
25 Jun 2019
Culture

Kitty Phetla: On pointe and in the realm of the ancestors
Standard Bank’s 2019 Young Artist winner for dance, Kitty Phetla, doesn’t believe in the glory of kudos. It’s all about mastering the craft, she says.
By: Robyn Sassen
24 Jun 2019
Culture

Political Songs | Equal Rights – Ishawna
Dancehall is littered with blatant misogyny and homophobia and Ishawna takes it on with her defiant lyrics, dividing listeners into lovers and haters.
By: Charles Leonard
21 Jun 2019
Culture

Overcoming borders and prejudice with theatre
Based on the true testimony of four asylum seekers and a fictitious home affairs official, Frontières stages the realities of what it means to be a refugee in South Africa.
By: Jan Bornman
20 Jun 2019
Culture

Text Messages | Hailing all jesters
A true jester, a seeker and teller of truth through wit and satire, upholds the ‘dignity of the downtrodden’. Unlike certain buffoons of the modern sort who play at politics.
By: Darryl Accone
20 Jun 2019
Culture

Theatre Review | The man who tried to kill apartheid
On stage, Renos Spanoudes brings to life the beleaguered existence of Dimitri Tsafendas, the man who killed HF Verwoerd, the fascist architect of apartheid.
By: Bafana Khumalo
19 Jun 2019
Culture

The art of archiving in Africa
The And Counting exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery considers memory and the challenges of archiving art in Zambia, a country that has no institutional collections.
By: Fezokuhle Mthonti
18 Jun 2019
Culture

Political Songs | What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
Rejected by other musicians as too political, Gaye reworked the original to make it a sad, beautiful, world-weary reflection on 1970s America – and Motown’s fastest-selling single.
By: Charles Leonard
14 Jun 2019
Culture

Text Messages | Home is where the hound is
The homing instinct is ancient, atavistic and profound. But as Homer makes clear, people are not always the drawcard.
By: Darryl Accone
13 Jun 2019
Culture

Film Review | Fanon: Not just your average dissident
Hassane Mezine’s film contributes aptly to the litany on political thinker Frantz Fanon, offering significant insights into his life and his contemporary influence.
By: Rachida Lamri
12 Jun 2019
Culture

Zimbabwe’s mbira maestro of the ages
Stella Chiweshe defied detractors to become the foremost player of the ancient instrument, bringing an intrinsically Sub-Saharan African sound to stages all over the world.
By: Percy Zvomuya
11 Jun 2019
Culture

Coconut Kelz’s funny bone
Through seat-of-her-pants observational comedy, satirist Lesego Tlhabi’s character brings to life the anti-black attitudes that pepper South African politics and popular culture.
By: Fezokuhle Mthonti
10 Jun 2019
Culture

Political Songs | Nuclear War – Sun Ra
The nuclear threat is as prominent now under trigger-happy Trump as it was when Sun Ra sang ‘It’s gonna blast you so high’ during the Reagan era.
By: Charles Leonard
7 Jun 2019
Culture

Text Messages | Joy to the world
Joy in its many forms is very present, despite what the news media machine would have us believe. And it is never more so than in the wake of lengthy hardships overcome.
By: Darryl Accone
6 Jun 2019
Culture

Sjava, the people’s champion
Dressed like a man of the people for the Samas, the trap artist’s new award-winning genre-bending album echoes everyday life in South Africa.
By: Sabelo Mkhabela
5 Jun 2019
Culture

Queer ancestor Kewpie created her own freedom
A new photographic exhibition celebrating the life of drag artist and hairdresser Kewpie in District Six during apartheid is like ‘meeting a queer ancestor for the first time’.
By: Tshegofatso Senne
4 Jun 2019