Experiencing the artistic side of Jozi: A play, a concert and a talent show

A post from two weeks ago....

This week is definitely a highlight as I got to experience the artistic side of Jozi, with a play, a concert and a talent exhibition. 

On Tuesday, Thembi (my coworker) invited me to attend a play with her at Market theatre in Newtown.  I have previously been recommended by Sarah that I must go check out Market theatre with Thembi one day and I was quite excited to experience a South African play.  As mentioned in a previous post (re: Sophiatown), Newtown is probably as close to the CBD as you want to go (that is safe to go to). It is also the area where a lot of famous South African musician and artists used to hang out. 

The play that we saw was called “Death of a Colonialist”.  The play’s main character is a history professor living in the inland area that is between Durban and Port Elizabeth.  It centers around his passion for history and how he was being replaced by the younger generation of teachers because of his traditional ways of teaching, his dealing with a wife that has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, his two children who have since moved away from their home country South Africa.  It was definitely a dramatic play.  The main character, according to Thembi, is quite famous.  And indeed, he was quite good.  I was moved and felt for the characters in the play (got stressed out, like how i do when i watch something heavy).  In addition, the play centers around history lessons that he gave.  The set was set up such that the audience were like his students sitting in the lecture.  Hence, I managed to learn quite a bit about the war between the colonialists and the Xhosa warriors (Yes I later learned that the “X” is like a tongue sound, but more on that later – for now, pronounce it as “Kho- sa”).  I learned all about why Xhosa warriors would take the mud from the soil, mix it in with a red substance and then smear it all over themselves.  It was a way of protecting themselves with the blessing from their ancestors who were buried in the soil.  It was their way of protecting themselves before going to battle.

Thanks to Thembi, I also had a chance to see the Nelson Mandela bridge up close when we went to Market Theatre.  On a side note, Thembi drove me home that night (thanks!!) and when we were driving back from Market Theatre, I finally experienced what driving for a single women at night is supposed to be.  We drove through red lights, stop signs, drove wrong way into a one way street, just because you can in Jozi when you feel unsafe!

my coworker thembi :)

market theatre

The stage

On Thursday, I went to a concert of a South African band named Civil Twilight who is now based in the US of A.  Kanya’s friend Rachel, who I met at Kanya’s baby shower, has invited me about a month ago to attend this concert. I went to look them up and after sampling Civil twilight’s music on their website (you can do the same here), I decided it would be very fun to go.

So on Thursday night, a big group of Rachel’s friends and friends of friends ended up at Cantina Tequila (right outside of Kanyas house in the Fourways’ area) for some Mexican Dinner prior to attending the show at Tanz Café.  It was so great to meet a lot of Rachel’s friend and her husband Ryan.  Rachel also recommended a delicious dinner for me, which is the Enchilada (I had the beef one, and her the chicken).  It was by far the most exciting main that came to the table (oh, except for the appetizers, they were delicious chips).   We finished dinner at about 8:30pm and then headed over to the concert area.

Beef enchilada 

Interestingly enough, the concert tickets say that doors open at 7pm.  And there seems to be a rumour that the opening band will start playing at 8:30pm, so we felt like we were already going to be late.  However, when we got there at around 8:35pm, nothing seems to have started yet.  At around 9pm, the opening band finally came on stage and we were excited.  The band’s name was “Gangs of ballet” (really??? What does that mean?? I’m not trying to be mean.. but … it’s just such a strange name).  It was a 4 person band, with your typical lead singer who also plays guitar, a keyboard person, another guitarist, and a drummer.  They were okay, the lead seems to be more interested in the attention the audience was giving him than actually in his music.  The rest of his band were quite focused on the music though, so that made up for it.  They played for about half an hour and at that point I was starting to get very sleepy =\  But I stuck it out and lasted until Civil Twilight came out! 

the lead singer who was totally focused on the audience's attention

Civil twilight came on stage at around 10pm.  Everyone was even more excited than for Gangs of Ballet (as expected).  Civil Twilight played a couple of songs (and the couple that were standing behind me who knew every word to Gangs of Ballet also seemed to know every word to Civil Twilight).  Unfortunately as  they continued to play, I was getting even more sleepy and to think that I’ll have to drive another half an hour home after that, and wake up early the next day.. I decided to bail out early.  Hopefully I was not too much of a party pooper.

The last of my artistic/cultural experience this week was spent with Thembi again.  Thembi has invited me to her church’s talent exhibition in Soweto.  Because her car was having work done to it, we were going to meet up somewhere to drive to Soweto together.  So after a lovely brunch with my future classmate Xavier and his gf Amandine at Tasha’s café in Sandton and a walk around Sandton city, I went to Southgate mall in hopes to meet Thembi at our scheduled 4pm meet up time.

They bring you a lot of sauces @ Tasha's

Xavier's chicken salad  @ Tasha's

Amandine's chicken pita @ Tasha's

My Zuchinni and salmon Roti , delish!

At Nelson Mandela Square outside Sandton City!

When I got to Southgate mall, I called Thembi and realized that she was not able to arrange transportation and then I decided I should just go and get her even though she lives out in the east end of the city in Spruitview.  So armed with her address and a GPS that found only something similar in the same city and not a lot of airtime left on my phone, I braved my way through the Johannesburg suburb highway system and went to her rescue.  After about a half an hour drive, I finally made it to what should be her place.  I called and lucky for me, it was indeed Thembi’s house. 

Thembi and her cousin Q (I will need to get the spelling of her name from Thembi later, and yes Q is another tongue sound) jumped in the car and off we go to Soweto (Soweto stands for South West Township, it’s famous, but I can’t remember why, more on that on a separate post).  So as the name suggested, we needed to drive all the way back to the other end of the city.  This time, I did not use the GPS as Thembi knew where we needed to go.

So at approximately 6pm, we pulled into this church in the Soweto area where the talent exhibition was to be held.  Apparently there was a theme for the concert and it was the 60s.  Obviously, because I was not aware of it, I did not dress up for it accordingly.    After we finished parking, we stood outside the church to watch the pre-show that was on.  This experience was extremely interesting because I was the only non-coloured, non-black person in the crowd.  The adults were a bit better, but the kids just stared without holding anything back.  I guess it didn’t really bother me at all, they were just curious, actually the attention was kinda cute. (Thembi mentioned later that someone thanked her for bringing me since they thought they will never have an Asian visit this church).

the pre-show

kids staring at me ;)

little girl dancing to the music :D

After the pre-show, we went inside, and there were art displays, jewelery design on display and even a canvas where an artist will draw/paint during the duration of the show.  The show started and we were serenaded by beautiful songs in English and in zulu (Thembi is Zulu and so is most of her church).  There were poetries, dramas, recitals from the bible, and songs and band performances.  It was great to be in that environment even though I didn’t understand any of the Zulu performances.

Thembi was also quite the super star! (And her cousin Q too).  They were awesome and received standing ovations.  Apparently Q has her own music company and has a cd, speaking of which I need to get Thembi to get me one.  After the concert, they served boerwors in a roll (bun) and gave everyone salad and guava juice.  It was quite interesting to see everyone eat their salad with their hand (I did too since they didn’t give out forks, you’ve gotta blend in!!)

inside the church - art displays

very talented

they were really good!

saxophone and the band

Thembi the star!

African drums

Q the other star!

All the performers for a grand finale

They haven't had any asians there, but they do have asian influence! Chinese words on the male bathroom sign

After the concert, Thembi and Q were going to catch a ride with another lady so I used the good old GPS (thanks to Kanya and Avon) to get me home J Driving by myself in Soweto was a bit uncomfortable, but I made it just fine ;)

I think I definitely need to come back to Soweto for a real experience.  Need to look into booking that tour!

Finally, I also got a brief Zulu lesson with Thembi.  They are right about the some of the African language having the tongue sound.  So in Zulu it’s “X” and “Q”.  so to pronounce those properly, you make the clicking sound with your tongue.  So to make the “Q” sound, you have to open your mouth as if you’re biting an apple, then you click with your tonge.  In order to make the “x” sound, you squeeze your lips together and make it very forward, as if you’re about to kiss someone, and you click your tongue!   You can try to look it up on youtube!

My dinner @ vovo telo on wed - ham and brie pizza!

Appetizer at vovo telo - Crocodile Carpaccio!! That's right! it was quite good actually!