LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Jan

10

2025

A special treat: Kaytranada in South Africa on Timeless Tour

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

FRESH off a warm reception in Cape Town, Haitian DJ Kaytranada will continue his Timeless tour at the second leg of the US-based Milk and Cookies Festival, at Huddle Park, in Johannesburg on January 11. The Grammy award winning producer returned to the southernmost tip in Africa as a headliner for the debut of the Milk & Cookies Festival, a new festival from the city of Atlanta, United States. The festival has a two-leg run in South Africa, which started in Cape Town on January 6, and will conclude in a sold-out show in Johannesburg, whereafter Kaytranada heads to Australia…

Nov

29

2024

By ROGER SOUTHALL

Jan Smuts was a white supremacist. Nelson Mandela a black liberation hero. New book explores what they have in common

LITERATURE

JAN Christiaan Smuts (1870-1950) and Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) belonged to and were shaped by two different epochs in South Africa, yet left an indelible mark on its history. Sociologist Roger Southall has brought them together, so to speak, in a book, Smuts & Mandela, The Men Who Made South Africa. Among the many parallels he draws between the two men – one a racist white supremacist and the other a non-racialist and African nationalist – is that they were both nation-builders. Smuts made the state which Mandela fought to transform. We asked the author to explain. What do you…

Nov

27

2024

By KARA BLACKMORE

Dakar Biennale: Senegal’s big art show shines a light on a bruised planet

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ONE of Africa’s most important art shows, the 15th Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar – also known as Dak'Art – is currently on in Senegal. A biennale is a major international exhibition held every two years. The theme for 2024 is The Wake – L’Éveil and this year there’s a strong focus on trauma, people and the planet. Kara Blackmore is an anthropologist and curator who specialises in community-driven exhibition-making. She’s also an associate curator – one of the team of women who are responsible for artist selection and exhibition making – at this year’s biennale. She told…

Nov

21

2024

By SIFISO NDLOVU

Esther Mahlangu: how the famous South African artist keeps her Ndebele culture alive

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ESTHER Mahlangu’s retrospective of her world-famous art was first shown in Cape Town and has now opened in Johannesburg. The 89-year-old South African visual artist is best known for her colourful large-scale murals in the traditional patterns and colours of the Ndebele people of South Africa – once famously displayed on a BMW as part of a global advertising campaign. But how is she regarded by her people and what does her work represent? We asked Sifiso Ndlovu, an expert in the art and identity of the Ndebele people, to tell us more. Who is Esther Mahlangu? Esther Nostokana Mahlangu…

Nov

15

2024

By JOSÉ LINGNA NAFAFÉ

Angolan prince started campaign to end Atlantic slave trade long before Europeans did – new book

LITERATURE

FOR centuries, it has been held that the ideas and movement for the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade came from Western abolitionists. No input from Africans has been acknowledged. As a professor of African and Atlantic history, I challenge this notion in a book titled Lourenço da Silva Mendonça and the Black Atlantic Abolitionist Movement in the Seventeenth Century. The book is based on new material found in Portuguese, Spanish and Vatican archives. Its key argument is that the ideas and movement for ending transatlantic slavery began largely among Africans in the Portuguese empire in the 17th century. And…

Nov

14

2024

By The African Mirror

Zkhiphani marks 15 years of cultural impact with unforgettable event this December!

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ON December 1, 2024, Zkhiphani celebrates 15 years of championing urban youth culture with a major event at 1Fox in Newtown, Johannesburg. A pivotal platform for the latest in music, fashion, and art, Zkhiphani’s anniversary festival promises an all-encompassing cultural experience alongside four powerhouse partners—The Sobering Podcast, $TREETFE$T Underground, Happyville, and Partytime’s Playroom to create an immersive experience for South Africa’s youth. In the lead-up to this event, Zkhiphani hosted the ZK15 Live Sessions at the Fresh AF offices in Sandton. This three-day event offered intimate discussions with friends of Zkhiphani and featured live performances by top artists, including Khuli…

Nov

13

2024

By The African Mirror

A star rises from the south and conquers at the MTV EMAs

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE lights of Manchester's arena sparkled like the stars over the African savanna as a young South African sensation stood on stage, tears gleaming in her eyes. Tyla, draped in a dress that paid homage to her idol Aaliyah, could barely contain her emotion as she clutched her third award of the night – a feat never before achieved by an African artist at the MTV EMAs. "I'm just as shocked as you guys," she managed to say, her voice trembling with genuine surprise and joy. The journey from South Africa to this glittering stage in England seemed almost dreamlike,…

Nov

13

2024

By OLIVIER MOREILLON

A South African politician ends up homeless in Nthikeng Mohlele’s spicy new novel – but is it any good?

LITERATURE

DESPITE the flaws in the latest novel by South African writer Nthikeng Mohlele, there is something alluring about Revolutionaries’ House. It is Mohlele’s most political novel, and the parallels drawn between love and politics – and their pitfalls – are intriguing. Revolutionaries’ House is timely. It advocates the desperate need for South Africa’s political elite to take a step back and evaluate its own deficiencies before thinking of a possible path into a better future. Too little has changed for too few since democracy in 1994. It’s Mohlele’s eighth novel and follows the narrator Mr Winston, “a politician first and…

Nov

12

2024

By The African Mirror

Joy Dancer: dance documentary shows the power of movement to give a voice to the silenced

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IN 2018, when visiting the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa, choreographer Gregory Maqoma came across the multimedia installation The African Choir 1891 Re-imagined (2017). Created by composers Thuthuka Sibisi and Philip Miller and curated by Renee Mussai, the installation tells the story of a group of South African singers who toured Britain, Canada and America between 1891 and 1893, raising money for a missionary school back home. Moved by the work, Maqoma reached out to Sibisi and the pair decided to collaborate. The result was Broken Chord, another performance piece that tells the story of this group of singers,…

Nov

09

2024

By The African Mirror

Celebrating a borderless existence with the Feather Awards

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE Feather Awards are back for their sixteenth edition, and this year, the spotlight was on “Borderless Existence,” a theme that embraces the concept of unity without boundaries, celebrating the ever-expanding diversity within the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond. And what a night it was!!! As the Feather Awards continue to grow in prestige and influence, this year’s event takes a bold step forward by not only celebrating the resilience and creativity of LGBTQIA+ individuals but also extending its embrace to include differently-abled people and minority groups who have traditionally been marginalized within mainstream conversations. With a focus on inclusivity, the…