FILM:THE RISING SON OF THE SOIL

                                                   The South African London - UK   

                                          
                                
 Like the sun,Lebogang Rasethaba`s film career is rising fast in the East.In the second of a series of three profiles of young South African artists making waves with their art internationally,Daluxolo Moloantoa chops it up,without the chopsticks,with the Beijing-based film producer.

There is a scene in the film Metro by Lebogang Rasethaba where he is walking along a busy Beijing street, on the run from crooked cops who are out to extort some money from him, and he is speaking fluent Mandarin into a cellphone. Put aside the striking juxtaposition of a towering black man amongst a sea of “little people”, what leaves you utterly gobsmacked is the ease he displays at speaking the language, like… well… a Chinese man eating with chopsticks.

You don’t often get a lad  originally from Soweto spewing smooth Mandarin, and living in China,nogal. But Rasethaba does, and, like the sun, his star is rising fast in the East. Just as it would have struck you as unlikely that people of Chinese origin would be classified as black South Africans, it is quite interesting to know of how he came to work and study film there.

I moved to China in 2007 for various whys and wherefores, mostly generic,” he explains. “I wanted to see the world and do something epic … all the usual reasons for a youngster coming from the townships. My father was on a government-related visit here some years back, and he called me up from a bar and said, ‘What are your thoughts on living in China?’… At the time I was working as a junior copywriter at advertising agency JWT and looking to make the transition into film. So I was like yeah, why not? I got this scholarship to come over and study for a masters degree in filmmaking.”
 
Place seems to be a significant thread that runs through Rasethaba`s life. He spent a lot of his childhood and adolescence trudging along with his family from place to place for various reasons. Perhaps it was not then a stroke of fate that place has formed the basis of his social inspection in his films so far.

                                 
 “I spent a lot of time hanging out with bouncers from nightclubs, prostitutes, car guards… all these people who were in South Africa illegally. Even though the film was picked up and shown by a terrestrial TV channel, I still think that a lot of South Africans do not have a clue on what most these people go through to survive as illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.”

Place, or rather displacement, is a continuing theme in his next effort. Sino (2009) tells the story of two African students in Beijing, dealing with the challenges of resettlement and adaptation in a foreign country.

“Making Sino was important to me because of my own personal experience, and of other students and immigrants here, be they from Africa, Europe or Middle Eastern,” he explains. “Relocation is a universal subject and the implications thereof vary from place to place. I wanted to put it in an African context because I had a much deeper understanding of it through my own experiences here.” The film is part one of a trilogy and is to be followed by a second installment, with the working title Awake.

He followed this introductory Chinese film with Metro, a short film he released early in 2010.This first foray into fiction revolves around despair, and looks at the life of a tormented foreign university student who gets caught up in the Chinese underworld as a result of negligence by his funders to provide him with his monthly living stipend. The short film won acclaim from critics and it was shown at a number of international film festivals.

                                       

Who inspires or influences his work? 

“I think it is very indeterminate, it depends on what I am working on or what I am feeling at the time. But there are some mainstays, directors Ousmane Sembene, and Spike Lee. I like work by various directors of the French New Wave era, John Kani, Errol Morris, Werner Hertzog and Zola Maseko amongst others.”

 He points to a number of local films which he says left a distinctive mark on his imagination growing up. “Sarafina is an obvious one. Mapantsula, Last Grave At Dimbaza, Zulu Love Letter. My only gripe with the South African film industry is that, like a lot of what happens in other parts of the world, you have people making films and telling other people`s stories, and narrating experiences which they haven`t had access to or experienced themselves. It is a sad situation when you have your own heroes portrayed by outsiders.”  

Finally, what type of film can be described as a trademark Lebogang Rasethaba film?

“I don’t know, I think I would not like to give my films an absolute tag, but if I were I would say something more or less along the lines of altruistic. It is what I hope resonates through in all my work.”

                                   

 
 

Mo-laudi: Afro-beat`s international scene

                                           

                                                                      The South African London - UK

                           
IN the third of a series looking at South African artists making an impact abroad DALUXOLO MOLOANTOA chats to Mo-laudi, a music artist who’s making a name for himself, and his blend of Afro-beat,in Europe and on the international scene.

Any artist worth their salt has graced a London stage at one point in their career, and Mo-laudi Bopape is no exception.An artist whose talents lie far beyond mere heritage curatorship and cultural rigidity, Mo-laudi is on a mission to free African music of the patronising and touristic tones that it has carried since the West showed renewed interest in it in the 1990s.

He is among a new generation of young, black, post-apartheid South African musicians who are making a global imprint through their artistic output, and he has been steadily raising his profile ever since he packed his bags and headed for Europe some 10 years back. So who exactly is the artist simply known as Mo-laudi?

“I am an African musician, on a mission to explore opportunities for African music, and how it could sound like for our generation,” articulates the second born of the arts-loving Bopape family. Mom and dad Bopape are long-time choral music administrators in Limpopo, and younger sister Dineo is a well-known South African visual illustrator.Unsurprisingly, London was his first port of call, and the place where he first cut his teeth on how to climb the ladder towards international musical acclaim.

Acclaim, indeed, has been long-time coming for the music production graduate who started emulating rap heroes RUN DMC, Public Enemy and Tupac Shakur at local talent contests in Seshego, Polokwane, as a youngster. The one regular employment he held down in his early days in London opened the path to his sturdy rise towards musical recognition.In fact, had he not been on duty one particular evening tending tables at a chic Notting Hill hang-out frequented by London`s arts set, he wouldn`t have come across the group of Welsh musicians with whom he would get his first break in treading the tricky terrain towards artistic recognition.

“I was serving them late afternoon drinks one midweek afternoon, and I overheard them talk about forming a new music band. I introduced myself and told them about my intentions,” he explains.

 "A few weeks later I was officially a new member of the newly-formed group W.O.M.B, short for Weapons of Mass Belief. It was a beginning of a remarkable music career, illustrious and still fledgling.”A host of producers came forth to help him and the new posse take their first steps out of the womb. Mo-laudi hit the ground running, contributing to the band`s socially conscious, and spellbinding blend of punk and hip hop, with verse after verse of highly-charged political mantras rapped and sung in English, and his native dialect Sepedi.

The result was Terrorist Youth, a 2005 EP which featured some well-known names behind the boards, amongst them Damian Taylor (Bjork, The Prodigy) and Graeme Stewart (Radiohead). The reviews spared no words in heaping applause on the effort, some singling out the South African band member for particular praise: “Frontman Mo-laudi is a Chuck D reincarnation – spitting lethal socio-political rhymes over the most hypnotic meld of rap and punk since Cypress Hill,” decreed London`s The Daily Telegraph.

“In addition to being exposed to such great talent, we started travelling extensively,” states Mo-laudi. Their trudging included a major tour in 2006 across the UK as part of BBC Radio 1`s “In New Music We Trust” tour, an annual summer showcase of British music`s likely contenders for musical kingship.The band also honoured a much-welcomed invitation to grace the stage at South by South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas (USA) on the back of their instantly-applauded debut effort.

Along with his MC duties in W.O.M.B, Mo-laudi set forth on a path to align himself closer to his purpose of finding his own voice – and a Thursday night spot as resident DJ at FAVELA, a North London club catering for aficionados of African and Latin American music, was the launch pad. His brew of experimental productions and a mix of nostalgic/contemporary African tunes, toasted with live rap in his mother-tongue, proved to be just what London`s afro music scene was missing.

Towards the end of the same year Puma came knocking with a personal sponsorship deal, and a one-time chance to preside over music proceedings at a celebration party for sponsorship companion Usain Bolt in Berlin, Germany.In 2007, while performing at Seccouse, a popular weekly Afro/French club night, members of London-based Swedish producers Radioclit, loved what they heard from the South African MC. They promptly roped him into The Very Best (TVB), a collaborative project between Radioclit and Malawian vocalist Esau Mwamwaya. This came at an appropriate time for him because of an apparent decline in sonic output from W.O.M.B, leading to the group closing shop.

The following year, when Seccouse wanted to extend its brand to Paris, they asked Mo-laudi to shift location to the City of Lights to handle the project. Since then he has equally divided his time between his obligation to The Very Best, and handling procedures on the DJ decks at Seccouse and various other festivals and shows internationally. The same year was to deliver him the opportunity to showcase his skills as an African MC worthy of serious note, through the much-anticipated release of Warm Heart of Africa, the debut album from TVB.

An extensive tour to promote the album followed, taking in festivals, in-store appearances and TV performances throughout Europe (including at the Glastonbury Festival), the US, Australia and Africa – headlining the annual Lake of Stars Festival in Malawi.Apart from his affiliation to TVB, he has shared the stage with a commendable list of acts as a DJ in live shows – Roy Ayers, Miriam Makeba, Salif Keita, Youssor Ndou, Ismael Lo, Fatboy Slim, The Editors, M.I.A, The Roots, Giles Peterson, DJ Oskido and a number of other South African artists on tour in Europe.

As a parting shot, I tell him of a statement made by Ntone Edjabe, publisher of the Cape Town afrochic magazine Chimurenga.He once said: “If an African musician is booked to perform at a gig, they expect him to come with djembe drums. He is not expected to bring a laptop along."

“It is very important that we, as Africans, preserve our musical roots, but we should also ensure that we open ourselves up to what`s going on in the rest of the world musically and otherwise. How about if an artist brings both djembe drums and a laptop,” he replies.

Undeniably, Mo-laudi is the quintessence of the place where African music finds itself in the new millennium – at the crossroads of cultural endorsement and international appeal.

Mo-laudi is featured in the new The Very Best album MTMTMK and is currently working on his full debut album scheduled for release later in the year.

The African Music Store:Cape Town`s calabash of Afro-Beat

     
                                                                       AfriPOP! Magazine  
 
                              

Standing by the entrance of the African Music Store on Long Street,Cape Town's celebrated bustling row of bars,eateries,bookstores and everything else bohemian under the African sun,i see a web of fascinating contrasts. The store is owned by an unlikely bunch given Cape Town's racially divided history – a trio of white African music lovers. It is also interesting to note that the music store is housed in an old Victorian building which used to be the residence of one of the Cape's 18^th century slave masters.

I  am waiting for Mark,one of the owners of the store who acts as the manager too. As I wait I read a magazine cut-out on the store's window. It is a cut-out of the top-ten list of the ten must-visit vynil record stores from around the world. At number 8 is the African Music Store,and it reads: “For one-oneupmanship on other vynil heads,dodge the car-jackers and make your way to the African Music Store in Cape Town,South Africa. It is your specialty store for the most terrifying strains of “world music”,including quaito. Quaito is a local genre made up of Zulu geezers shouting frantically over housey beats. You'll also find other freakish genres such as Congrotronic,where Congolese traditional tribal instruments are wired for sound by attaching them to lorry batteries..Not for the faint of your iPod.”

It is a cut-out from ARENA magazine,a UK dance music publication.

“Like everyone who stands to read it,we were also dumbfounded at first glance” says Mark. “But we chose to go along with it and expose its absurdity. We hope people who reads it gets the point.”

In the midst of negative perceptions about African music and the continent in general,the African Music Store has stood as an ambassador for African music in the centre of one of the continent's leading urban metropolis. For the last fifteen years the one-stop shop for music from across the continent has injected its immediate surroundings and the city with a platform to celebrate music and culture from all corners of the continent. 

An upbringing in the heartland of Zululand,where his parents owned a travel shop,exposed Mark to the strumming and singing of beautiful Zulu melodies by employees at his parent's business. Together with partners Helen Rose-Innes and Trevor Rosenfield they opened the African Music Store in 1997.Lured in by bouncing township bubblegum beats off Paul Simon's epic Afropop landmark album “Graceland”spilling out onto Long Street's perpetually overzealous sidewalks,a visitor to the store immediately feels the aura of the happily contagious and life-affirming inventiveness often associated with African music. Every wall is covered by racks of cd`s and vynils spanning the widest range of African music you can ever imagine. It is all here: Highlife, Mbalax,Makossa, Township Jazz, Soukous, Mbaqanga, Bikutsi,Benga Beat,Chimurenga.The list is endless. The contemporary section is also packed with nuggets: D`Banj from Nigeria is there,so are exciting band-to-watch-out-for Just A Band out of Nairobi,Kenya. Others occupying the section include my personal favourites The Very Best – a collaboration artists Johan Hugo(Sweden),Essau Mwamwaya(Malawi) and Mo-laudi(South Africa).

“We cover the entire spectrum of African music. We even have representatives in some European countries such as Germany and England who look out and send out the hottest Afro-pop releases from those territories” Mark makes the point.

It is not only about about music however,the store also runs a curio section where crafts and curios from rural community arts and crafts projects are sold. “We source our merchandise from communities all over South Africa and we sell them here. A huge chunk of the profits go back to the projects.”

The stores customers are mainly tourists from abroad. “Our youngest customer to date was a 6 year-old American boy who bought a cd to play for his classmates back home. He said he wanted them to see that he was really in Africa” Mark chuckles.

A consistent top-seller for the store to date is a compilation cd titled The Great South African Trip.

“It is one of the ultimate compendiums of South African music on a double CD. It is a feast of legendary music,filled with delicious tastes of the country's best-known and most talented artists of the last century. The music on the album is as South African as you can get. And of course,the album also includes an excerpt of Nelson Mandela`s famous inauguration speech” Mark says.

A number of prominent local and international artists,actors and other celebrities have come through the store's doors over the years. There are images of Mark,Trevor and Helen with some of the store's assistants and some well-known artists and actors adorning the walls.

“ We've had Youssour Ndou,Hugh Masekela, Mariam Makeba,Angelique Kidjo,Abdullah Ibrahim,Vusi Mahlasela amongst the luminaries of Afro-pop visiting us” he points out.”Internationally we've had musicians such as Josh Groban,Bono and The Edge,Chuck D,and Tinie Tempah come over. In terms of the international actors we`ve had Forrest Witaker,Thandie Newton,Denzel Washington and a few others come through during periods when they were shooting movies in Cape Town.”

Despite the onslaught of globilisation and the free availability of music from numerous others sources globally,it remains to be a remarkable testimony that small independently-run and operated African music stores like the African Music Store continue to maintain their presence and vibrancy.

On my exit,i read a sign high up on the door which reads: “Buying music is not an indulgence in luxury. It is an investment in your well-being.”

That should read: “Buying African music..” instead.

The African Music Store - 134 Long Street, Cape Town

Township Surfers Put Nation`s Rebirth On The Big Screen

                                                                  The Big Issue Magazine - Cape Town

                                                                  

Frenzied whispers of "the new Tsotsi" and "best SA film in years" have accompanied the build-up to the big screen release of Otelo Burning,which opened at cinemas nationwide as this edition hit the streets.After opening last year`s Durban International Film Festival,the isiZulu film about three township teens finding freedom through surfing during the dying days of apartheid went on a winning streak.It scooped the Audience Choice Award at the 2012 CinemaBC Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro,was on the selection list for the 2011 London International Film Festival,took Best Feature Film at this year`s Cape Winelands Film Festival and was nominated for 13 Africa Movie Academy Awards,winning two of the awards last month.Daluxolo Moloantoa spoke to writer/director Sara Blecher about her trailblazing film.

Lamontville has always had a clear claim to fame - its Premier Soccer League team, the Lamontville Golden Arrows.Less well known is the fact that within the sprawling Durban township lies a centre responsible for producing some of South Africa`s best water sportsmen.The Lamontville Swimming Pool has produced the likes of Sihle Xaba(actor,champion body boarder,surfer and lifeguard),UK-based water-polo player Ndumiso Buthelezi and countless top lifeguards and surfers.

Now,with the opening of Otelo Burning on big screens countrywide,the Lamontville Swimming Pool will finally be recognised for its role in transforming the lives of black youngsters in the late 1980`s and early 1990`s.Described by some as "City of God meets Blue Crush", Otelo Burning is essentially a coming of age film about yhree teenagers who discover a world previously closed to them through surfing.It is a world completely at odds with the township existence they are familiar with in the early 1990`s,where their daily is facing growing violence and the life-threatening political stand-off between the United Democratic and the Inkatha Freedom Party`s impis.

Mix the political turbulence of the day,betrayal and jealousy and you have the makings of a uniquely South African hit starring three up-and-coming young actors:Jafta Mamabolo(Jerusalema,Generations) as the protagonist Otelo,Tshepang Mohlomi(iZulu Lami) as Otelo`s younger brother Ntwe and Thomas Gumede(A Place Called Home) as New Year,Otelo`s best friend.The film is not award-winning director Sara Bleche`s maiden voyage into the world of young Zulu boys and the open sea as their backround.She previuosly directed the TV drama series Bay of Plenty,chronicling the lives of a group of Zulu lifeguards on Durban`s beacfront.And she seems to have a thing about surfing,releasing Surfing Soweto in 2011,a documentary following the lives - and deaths - of a group of Soweto "train surfers".

But take a step back.Why of all sports, surfing as the central theme to a coming of age moviewhich ties into a nation`s painful rebirth?

"Ask any surfer,surfing is about as close as you can get to expiriencing true freedom.When one is surfing all the negative things that one has to deal with in one`s daily life simply go out the window.You are right there,in that moment..and the only thing that exists is you and the wave.This is the reason why i used surfing as a metaphor for freedom in the movie.I wanted to depict and explore the current state of our freedom in South Africa today" she explains.

MEANING OF FREEDOM

More than just surfing and seeking freedom,Otelo Burning is about what happens once freedom is attained. "Once people have achieved freedom" Blecher continues "it also means means that they have attained the right to become human again in all forms.To love again,to respect each other again,and to learn to see innate value in one another all over again."Otelo Burrning,however, delves far deeper than the intial joy of discovering freedom. "Being human" she adds, "also means having to deal to deal with the unhelpfullness of greed,corruption,jealousy and other social vices.Ultimately it is these sins which begin to cause the rot and eat away at that freedom.The movie is saying that we need to be vigilant and guard against such a scenario unfolding in our country today."

"We make movies with foreign audiences in mind and it does not work because it compromises the movie`s authenticity.If the story works for a local audience it will work for a foreign audience" - Sara Blecher

At this point it becomes easy to draw a comparison to Lord of The Flies,William Golding`s 1954 novel about a group of young boys stranded on an island after a plane crash,who turn on each other in a quest for survival.But Blecher is quick to refute the comparison."Whereas Lord of The Flies is about universal values of individual welfare versus the common good and the gradual regress of humanity to a primitive state, Otelo Burning examines human nature in the unique context of South Africa`s metamorphosis of in the early 1990`s."

It was a conscious decision taken by Blecher to tell the story against the backdrop of the political uphevals of the early 1990`s,as she feels that this period in the country`s history needs to be relooked at. "Just as we had the TRC hearings on atrocities commited during apartheid,we also need to have a TRC-type commision on the tragic events of that period" she emphasises.

 Blecher`s film also examines a curious aspect of Zulu culture - the nature of the relationship between Zulu people and the sea.Historically resident along Kwa-Zulu Natal`s coastline,Zulu people have always embraced a distant relationship with the sea.They belive that there is danger lurking beneath the sea`s waves, and therefore a gulf exists between the two.It is in this context that "ukundiza emanzini" - flying on water,becomes so attractive to the boys.It represents a shift from tradition.
The director also stuck to her guns about going against the grain and keeping the movie in isiZulu and not casting big-name American actors. " I am a firm believer in the local film industry`s ability to tell real South African stories" she explains. " I belive that if a movie is about South Africa then it has to be real.One of the main motives behind shooting in isisZulu was for the community of Lamontville and other Durban townships to watch the film and say..yes that is us."

"Imagine if the Bond movies were made in French?" she continues, "it wouldn`t be authentic because the story itself is not French.Very often we make movies with a foreign audience in mind,and it does not work because it compromises the movie`s authenticity.If the story works for a local audience it will work for a foreign audience" she says,pointing to the success of Oscar-winning local drama Tsotsi.

Blecher also kept the soundtrack 100% local.Amongst the artists featured on it are rap connoisseurs Tumi and The Volume,soulstress Zaki Ibrahim and hip-hop afficionado Reason.In another SA movie release first, the entire soundtrack is freely available as a download on the official movie site.

All this was achieved on a shoe-string budget.No kudos for guessing it,but the greatest challenge she faced in making the movie was, indeed, funding."Our local industry is terribly under-resourced financially" says Blecher "Due to lack of finance we had to resort to turning the story into a televsion series until we could raise the needed finance to begin shooting it as a movie."

For Blecher,the long struggle to get Otelo Burning to the big screen has been worth it,though,and not only for the accolades the film keeps collecting.

"In the end," she says, "the movie is about SouthAfrica`s growing pains,and the need to guard against complacency.It is also a celebration of the country`s unique attributes.It can go a long way in helping to heal the political,economic and emotional rifts amongst us."

Sacrifice Pays Off For Young Actor

                                                                            The Big Issue Magazine,Cape Town

                                                                         
"My first time seeing the ocean was out of the country.I was 14 years old and an ambassador for UNICEF.On one trip we visited Greece and that`s where i went to the beach for the first time.,"recalls Jafta Mamabolo.The irony taht he,who only saw the sea for the first time in his teens,should play the lead role in a surfing movie doesn`t escape the actor best known for starring in another South African hit Jerusalema,and his role as the troubled Matthew in soapie Generations.

Mamabolo is fresh off the plane from a trip to Lagos,Nigeria,where he attended the 13th African Movie Academy Awards(AMAA).Thirteen seems to be a lucky number for the young star of Otelo Burning,which was nominated for a record 13 awards at the AMAAs,scooping two of them - Cinematography and Best Child Actor for co-star Tshepang Mohlomi,for his potrayal of Otelo`s brother Ntwe.

Mamabolo tells how seeing the ocean for the first time was a relevation,as he`d grown up in Mahaneng,a rural village near Marble Hall in Limpopo.Here it was virtually impossible for locals to take trips to the coast - all they knew about the seaside was what they saw on their television sets.If,by some stroke of fate,Mamabolo had had an upbringing near the coastline,then he would have found it a tad easier to take on his newest role.But it was in this tiny village off the beaten track that his love for acting first began to take shape.He spent nights with friends peeping through neighbours` windows trying to catch a glimpse of local drama series under the cover of darkness.He recalls his fascination with the slivers he could see,but not hear.

Early start

At just 24,Mamabolo has come a long way from Mahaneng and sneeking tv peeks through curtains.But he did start early,virtually growing up in front of the television cameras.At the tender ge of 11,after a family relocation to Johannesburg,he started out as a presenter on kids programmes such as YO!TV,Craze and The Molo Show.While attending the National School of The Arts,Mamabolo - who speaks six of the country`s 11 official languages and plans to take up a seventh this year - made his acting debut in the SABC 1 youth drama series Soul Buddyz.He later appeared as an assortment of characters in drama series The Lighthouse, Red Ribbon and Generations.His big break came in 2008 when he was cast as the young Kunene in the movie Jerusalema, a potrayal which earned him a chorus of congratulatory reviews from local movie fans and critics alike.

Variety and overcoming a challenge are aspects of key importance in his career - a sort iof a growth indicator.It is something he hopes is sufficiently demonstrated in his latest role.

"Preparing for my role as Otelo was the most intricate time i`ve ever had in preparing for a character" he stresses."I had to go from a non-starter to a sufficiently good surfer in two weeks.I also had to delve deep into complex aspects of Otelo`s personality,something which proved to be tricky at times."

Good relationships

Another aspect he considers important in the filmmaking process is nurturing of reelationships with his fellow actors, on and off set. "Ours is an industry where one works constantly with the same group of people,so its important to nurture good relationships with whomever you are engaged with on every project."Proof of this was evident in the making of Otelo Burning."I starred in a role alongside Thomas Gumede - playing Otelo`s best friend New Year, and Nolwazi Shange - playing Otelo`s love interest Dezi - in Soul City a few months before we started working on Otelo Burning.It helped that we knew each other so well before shooting,especially with Nolwazi as it made things a bit easier particularly with the romance scenes" he quips. "Sihle Xaba - who plays Mandla a seasoned surfer who introduces Otelo to surfing - is the one guy i am totally indebted to because he surfs for real and was the one to take me through the paces of learning how to surf" adds Mamabolo."And Tshepang,who plays my younger brother Ntwe,was just a blessing to have around.He is this kid with a passion for film way beyond his age."

Speaking to the rest of the Otelo Burning crew,the admiration and respect is clearly mutual.

"Jafta`s talent and commitment to his craft speak for themselves" says Xaba."Besides his constant urge to learn,he takes his preparations very seriously and it shows in all the roles he has had so far,most especially in Otelo Burning."

"There are South African actors,and there is Jafta Mamabolo" reckons Otelo Burning director Sara Blecher."In my 25 years in the television and film industry i have to come across an actor macthing Jafta`s passion and almost religious-like dedication to his craft."

For Mamabolo,dedication has benefits beyond delivering a good peformance - its about personal growth too.The biggest lesson he took away from Otelo Burning is the value of sacrifice.

"Otelo sacrifices a lot in order to become a champion surfer" he explains."He goes against his father`s wishes to go into the water.He defies his girlfriend`s objections about the dangers of surfing.Through this i learnt that sacrifice is everything if you`ve set yourself a goal to achieve in one`s life."It seems Mamabolo`s latest sacrifice is paying off finely.











                                                                    

The Very Best Carry The Baton For Afro-Pop

                                                                                                                      OKAYAFRICA.COM

One is Malawian. One is Swedish. Together they are called The Very Best. A critically acclaimed debut album in 2009 ensured that the London-based outfit stays on their mission to “free African music of its touristic tones since the West took renewed interest in it in the 90′s.” With a remix album to their debut Warm Heart of Africa, due for release in September, the band is dead serious on pushing further ahead on their mission, and to stay true their name. OKA’s correspondent Daluxolo Moloantoa had the chance to chop it up with Johan Hugo, co-founder of the group.


OKA: How and when did The Very Best start?

JH: In 2006 Esau (Esau Mwamwaya) had a secondhand shop outside my house in London. Etienne (DJ Tron) from Radioclit (a production crew made up of Etienne and myself) was walking past his shop every day to get to our studio. One day he went into Esau’s shop to buy a bike. The same day he invited Esau to a party we were having that night. I met with Esau that night and we ended up talking about music a lot. He told me he was a drummer. I invited him to the studio, and we ended up recording him singing on a beat I had made that same day. I was instantly blown away by his incredible voice and we ended up working together from that day onwards.

OKA: How many albums have you released thus far?

JH: We released a free mixtape in 2008 called Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are The Very Best. It had one million downloads online and thus kick-started the project as a whole. In 2009 we released our first full-length album called Warm Heart of Africa. It had M.I.A and Ezra from Vampire Weekend featured on it. The album did very well and was followed by a tour to many parts of the world in the same year. Then last year Etienne and I split up Radioclit, so The Very Best is just me and Esau Mwamwaya.This spring we released a new free mixtape called Super Mom. We had two singles on it, namely “Super Mom” and “Ndheka.” We have just recorded a vocal remix of “Ndheka” with European-based South African artists Thandiswa Mazwai, Mo-laudi and Spoek Mathambo. We traveled to South Africa to shoot the video, and both the remix and the video should be out soon.In September we are releasing a full remix album of Warm Heart of Africa on my own label MYYM Records. It includes amazing remixes by people like Gonzales, Mouster, Metronomy, Hot Chip, Theophilus London etc.

OKA: You have worked with South African DJ and rapper Mo-Laudi, amongst others. How did the link-up happen?

JH: Mo-Laudi started to come to our old club-night in London called Secousse, and we began hanging out ever since. He started to DJ with us and also became the hype-man/rapper during our shows. So when the Warm Heart of Africa tour began it only made sense that he be roped into it to add to the live set-up. Mo-laudi is an amazing talent.

OKA: Esau makes the other half of the band. Is there anybody else behind the scenes?

JH: Esau and I are the band. That’s all there is to the band. It is a producer and a singer. But when we do live shows we have dancers and Mo-laudi, or guest artists and a lot of other nice things happening.

OKA: What are your thoughts on afro-pop’s potential to reach a mainstream and a global audience?

JH: Africa has got so much good music. It is inevitable for it to reach a wider audience, and achieve global success. What intrigues me the most right now is the dance music coming out of the continent. South Africa’s house music, for instance, is currently up there with the world’s best club music. This is what we want to see. I would like o see DJs like Oskido, Cleo, Tira etcs on the same stage with European/American household names such as Swedish House Mafia and AfroJack‘s “Dirty South” at festivals all over the world.

OKA: How has the reaction been to your latest mixtape (Super Mom)?

JH: The reaction has been out of this world, phenomenal. This is a mixtape we decided to put out while we were busy completing work on the second album, which will be out later this year.

OKA: Is Africa, and South Africa in particular, likely to see the band touring anytime soon?

JH: Right now we are planning a tour of South Africa in March next year,and we will play the Lake of Stars festival in Malawi once again next year. We are also going to finish off the final touches to the album in Malawi just before the festival. We are excited to finally tour South Africa, taking the music to our loyal fans there, and getting everybody else tuned into our sound.

OKA: What is in the pipeline for the band in future?

JH: We are excited about releasing the album, and having had the opportunity to work with Thandiswa, Mo-laudi, Spoek Mathambo and all the other collaborators on it. To have Baaba Maal and Amadou & Miriam featured on it is a great coup for us. After the release we are going to present the album live on tour at various festivals and gigs around the world. A full sophomore album will follow in 2015.

For more from The Very Best, check out Green Owl Records.

                              

SYDELLE WILLOW SMITH – AFRICA THROUGH HER LENSES

                                                        AfriPOP! Magazine



                                      

Photographer and filmmaker Sydelle Willow Smith`s work so far can be summed up as photography with an eye for social relevance. Her interest in issues affecting South African society have led her on an astonishing path looking at and documenting topical issues – such as migration and conservation – for her work in film and photography. We sat down with her for a chat on her thought-provoking work.

A. How and why did you get into your career as a filmmaker/photographer?

My father was a darkroom technician/printer at a commercial advertising lab. I remember going to Museum Afrika as a young child, and my mother showing me the darkroom installation, and being fascinated that my father worked in such a space. I began taking courses at The Market Photo Workshop when I was sixteen and started photographing the Joburg Punk Scene, where I used to hang out. I liked the fact that I could fit into small spaces, being small, I could hide behind the drums and take pictures of the musicians thrashing about. The first image that got published was a double page spread of a band called The Vendetta Cartel, in Blunt Magazine. It was a great moment for me. After doing more courses at The Market Photo Workshop in 2007 I decided to go to University to get a degree in Film and Anthropology. My late Aunt was an Anthropologist, and I was always fascinated by the places she had lived and the people she had met. I guess the combination of Photography , Film and Anthropology fits my character so well, as I am naturally curious about peoples’ lives and their stories, particularly people who face great struggle in terms of South Africa’s’ socioeconomic issues. The first photo essay I did was about domestic workers living on the top floor in small rooms, of penthouse apartments in Houghton where my late grandmother lived, called Life Between Two Floors.

B. Was it a conscious decision for you to focus your work on socially relevant topics, or did you gradually drift in that path?

It was a conscious decision. Growing up in a liberal leftist Jewish household in the suburban sprawls of Johannesburg may have had something to do with it.

C. Apart from your documentary film Perils and Pitfalls, what other work have you done on the issues surrounding migration in SA?

When I was a second year student at UCT I was the photo editor of a current affairs student magazine, The Cape Town Globalist. Myself and a reporter visited some of the refugee camps after the May 2008 Xenophobic Attacks, particularly Soetwater and Bluewaters. I was struck by the ways people made “home” for themselves in the temporary space and the difficulties they had faced in getting to South Africa, and what their future in South Africa faced, the series was called No place to call home. During my Honors Thesis these themes inspired by thesis in a temporary relocation area in Delft, colloquially known as Blikkiesdorp. I worked with four South African youth from the “camp” using video and photography together we mapped experiences of the ways home and community were made and broken within the space, the project was called Making Home in Temporary Spaces. When I graduated from my Honors Degree in 2011 I was commissioned by the civic organisation, P.A.S.S.O.P, in partnership with Solidarity Peace trust to make a short documentary, Perils and Pitfalls, about migrants experiences of Home Affairs and Deportation in South Africa. This experience has led me to my current photo/video project which is funded by a grant from The Market Photo Workshop, called the Gisele Wulfsohn Mentorship. The project is called Making Neighbourhood and I will discuss it below.

D. What inspired you to look at migration as a subject in the documentary?

As an Anthropology student you are taught culture is a construct that is used in some ways as a political resource, in a similar vein to nationality and the imagined but imaginary nature of borders, race and ethnicity. I am interested in visually depicting these ideas, and conversations, freed from an academic context. Global village aside, countries borders exist and regulate access and control. I am interested as an artist (visual commentator), about how a country like South Africa with its history of control and separate development handles this influx of people from across Africa. Specifically in relation to a sense of “ubuntuism”, or “panafricanness”. Inherently I think my interest in migration is deeply rooted in my own personal history as Jewish person. My great grandparents arrived off the boat from Lithuania in South Africa and made home for themselves in a new place, granted they were given opportunities not afforded to black or coloured South Africans by The Apartheid Government.
E. How do you think photography and film can be used to play a positive role in representing and defending migrants rights in SA today?

I cannot speak for “migrant rights” specifically, but I do feel that Art has a role to play in South Africa by offering a “fractured mirror” on society’s ills and developments, provoking dialogue and debate.

F. What is your involvement with GreenPOP!?

I am a photographer for the organization on a voluntary basis and plan to be a researcher on a very exciting media project are in the pipeline. Last year I documented their 2012 Trees for Zambia Project for a month which is an absolutely unforgettable experience. I also work with them with my partner Rowan Pybus who is the Director of Makhulu – Moving Images – a video production company based in Cape Town and Greenpop’s official media partner. I work on the video projects as a producer/camera operator. We recently pitched a feature documentary that details Greenpop’s journey with conversing the forests of Livingstone, Zambia at Durban Filmmart during the 2013 Durban International Film Festival.

G. What is your current project all about?

My current project is called Making Neighbourhood which looks at how “immigrants” and South Africans experience forms of conviviality, and togetherness. Yesterday I began photographing two best friends, 13 year old girls who live in the same street in Maitland. One girl is “coloured” , the other from Mali and they see each other everyday. Last week I went to an Easter Service with a Zulu lady who is a domestic worker in Camps Bay, married for 10 years to a man from Malawi. I have met some great people the past few months and am looking forward to bringing their stories into a cohesive form , for my solo exhibition of the work at The Market Photo Workshop later this year. The film is funded by department of Social Anthropology at The University of Cape Town, headed by Cameroonian Professor, Francis Nyamnjoh, whose research focuses on conviviality.

H. Who is your inspiration in terms of your work?

Many different people. Johnny Steinberg and Ivan Vladislavic for their words. Jodi Bieber, Dale Yudelman, Nadine Hutton, Olivia Arthur, Alec Soth, Alex Webb, Mary Ellen Mark, Dan Eldon and Sebastio Salgado for their images. Jim Jarmusch, Oliver Stone, Fernando Meirelles, for their films. People I meet, conversations I have, things I read, all fuel inspiration.

I. You captured some poignant images for The Guardian newspaper on a recent fact-finding mission with Zakes Mda, Lindiwe Magona, Njabulo Ndebele and others to Eastern Cape schools. How did you feel about the trip, and what you saw there?

The trip was unforgettable, and while physically reading a newspaper detailing the state of the education crisis in South Africa can be done with some ease, being in a classroom watching 150 children trying to learn is not so easy – while I am honoured as a photographer to be allowed to visually witness such atrocities, it is horrifying to see before ones eyes the culture of poverty currently being bred in the minds of young school children receiving a failing education across South Africa due to a variety of causes including those historical as well as obvious inadequacies on the part of the Department of Basic Education.

J. How do you see the future of documentary film and photography around social issues in SA?

I want to be hopeful and say it has the opportunity to be abundant, there are so many worthy stories needing to be told, training and opportunities need to be provided to ensure that many different voices have the opportunity to be heard.

Visit her website www.sydellewillowsmith.com for more on her work.

                                                 

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