The best

My Fair Lady

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My Fair Lady

Opening day of My Fair Lady at the Teatro, my first time, the theatre is exquisite, what a beauty! I asked Sam if “bestest” was a word after the show, she replied “no but it’s usable”. Greenlight, the show is amazing, somehow “best” is not enough, I need another “est” to transcend this post. It’s simply a perfect show, no flaws, no imperfections, just your definition of excellence. From the acting, to the lighting, choreography, script, sets, orchestra and the Maestro, singing, props, costumes, feel, mood, everything. It is story-telling at the highest level. A witty musical that had the audience laughing all the way through. The story follows Henry Higgins who believes accent and English can get you to the very top of society. Just maybe “bestest” is not a good idea for this post. She meets a meager girl, with a strange accent, Eliza Doolittle and makes a wager with his friend Colonel Pikering, a fellow phenetics expert. He wins, he’s right, with Henry Higgins help, Eliza ends up dancing with a foreign prince at the ball. Things started coming right after “The rain in Spain”.

Craig Urbani who plays Henry Higgins deserves special praise for his performance. He is unbelievably great! He commands the show, the acting is out of this world. He has incredible range, he can make you laugh, he can make you sad, he sings, he dances, he acts, he is incredible. His viewpoint on women makes me laugh, he doesn’t understand them, he wants to know, why can’t they be like men, why can’t they just be like him. He covers how women ruin lives on “I am an ordinary man”, a humurous piece that had the audience laughing out loud.

Graham Hopkins is a legend, he plays Colonel Pickering, like Craig, he does everything, he is humorous, he is engaging, he is superb! Leah Mari who plays Eliza Doolittle is amazing, unbelievable, the singing is outstanding, the acting top-class and she’s just gorgeous! It would be a great injustice if I left out Mark Richardson who played Eliza’s father Doolittle, he is on the same level of the other cast members, he too is great on every front.

Music by Frederick Loewe
Musical direction by Kevin Kraak
Designed by Greg King
Choreography by Duane Alexander
Sound Design by Mark Malherbe
Lighting designer by Dennis Hutchinson
Original Costume Designer Neil Stuart Harris
Costume Co-ordinator Martha Visage
Additional costumes Andrew Botha

Congratulations Steven Stead and the whole team for the bestest show ever and a deserved standing ovation.

Musical Chairs

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Musical Chairs

I’ve been struggling with my own significance for the whole day. 11:11 when I checked my phone, angel numbers, everything is in perfect alignment. I know the ego is a fabrication of the mind. A dirty trick that makes me believe I matter. How many people would miss me if everything turned to black? Who will remember me? What legacy did I leave behind? Nothing, I don’t exist. 4:44 time to prepare for the theatre, Musical Chairs is on. I get to Sandton, almost On the square, the Gautrain station in sight, then out of nowhere, with a lot of speed, from a corner, a car approaches me, I duck but it connects and hits my left leg, shook but I regain my balance, it’s not bad and I don’t fall but it hurts. I look in the distance thinking it’s a hit and run but the driver reverses. White guy, white Hyandai, in a hurry, he wasn’t paying attention. I am relieved, at least he has some humanity. It’s awkward for him, he doesn’t know what to say. I reassure him and thank him for coming back to check up on me. I tell him it’s cool, it’s okay, I can still walk but you hurt me. I was so close to the theatre, I am basically there, I let it go, I escaped, what’s done is done. I shook his hand and limped my way to the theatre to go watch Musical Chairs.

11:11 the show was stunning. From the lighting, music, dancing and minimalistic set. It was spellbinding, attention glued, difficult to take your eyes off the stage. I don’t think I even took a sip of my water. Everything lost relevance, the stage was the center of the Universe. Nothing mattered but the performers on the stage, they were simply amazing. It is story-telling like I have never seen before. No dialogue, no words, just dance and movement. It was expressive, energetic and moving. You understood the story, the story about inclusion, exclusion, relevance, validation – please like me, see me, I matter. For most of the show, the dancers fight for seats because there aren’t enough. A seat means you are a part of the group, a clique, relevance, validation, you matter. When you don’t have a seat, you are excluded, out in the cold, no one cares about you. Sophisticated metaphor about the world of social media. Social media is the pulse of the show. You want that seat, the performers on the stage fight to get that seat. Different dance styles and music genres are incorporated in the show. The performers are 3 dimensional, performing with a lot of energy and passion. They feel it. They are in the moment. They are sweating on stage. They are giving everything they have. Totally in sync, perfect cheography and wonderful chemistry – they love what they do. Now I understand the 4:44, it was a nudge from the Universe, all is linked, synchronicity, I read Jung, everything is in perfect alignment, it was a great day.

Thank you Daphne Kuhn and Theatre on the square for yet another fantastic experience. The theatre is my heaven.

Congratulations Aurelie Stratton, Hungani Ndlovu, Sipho Didiza and the whole team for an amazing show and a deserved standing ovation.

the assembly improv show

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The Assembly Improv show

Improv – make something up, think on the spot, go with the flow, zen, Bruce Lee, be like water, be formless, quick witted, puns, irony, sacarsm and it has to be humorous! Let’s break the fourth wall, you there, yes you reading this, listening to this, yes hi, happy new year, acknowledge me, make things easier for yourself, I am not going anywhere.

On the square for the Assembly Improv show, filled to the brim, full house. Was with SamSays, it was a great show, unpredictable, spontaneous, quick witted and so funny. We couldn’t stop laughing, we were entertained from the first minute to the last. What I found to be most effective in Improv, is calm. You have to let things process, be in the moment, respond not react. Reactions are filled with anxious energy and that’s not humorous because you bulldoze the act and spoil the tone of the scene. Relax, let other performers have the spotlight. You don’t have to be in every scenario. Listen – don’t bulldoze and overpower others. Anxiety is nervous and not sure of itself, it roams around everywhere, attempts to do everything, please everyone, and it ends up having the opposite effect because it hinders the performance of the other performers to flourish. Calm is controlled, it exudes power, charisma and assurance. When you are calmer, you can be playful and ironic and your punchlines carry more weight. You listen to respond and not to strengthen your view. There were moments of calm and anxiety in the show. I understood the anxiety, entertaining a full house can be exhausting and emotionally draining. It was still a great show, light-hearted, filled with humor and completely unexpected. The show comprised off 6 acts. They improvised about chicken, boyfriend builders, being a little gay, earthworms and burning your mother’s tyre’s.

I loved the two sisters of Case Closed, Megan and Tash Casey. They had a lot of chemistry and complimented each other. They were quick witted, quirky and humorous. The girls of Mechanics of Chaos were simply outstanding! They stole the show, the audience couldn’t stop laughing, they were totally in sync, they complimented each other, they built on each other’s scenes, they listened and added to each other’s scenes, they stuck to performing the scenario the audience gave them; the boyfriend builder and they looked like they were having a lot of fun. I loved them because they were not searching for laughs, anxiety was not a factor, they were in the moment, they loved performing for the audience and it reflected with their performance. Shout-out Itu Chiloane, Mmasehume Raphiri, S’bahle (Sparkles) Hlophe, Sonia Mayor, Tafadzwa Chakanya, Unathi Shongwe and Zanele Sokatsha for a wonderful set. Shout-out to everybody, the gradient, the off cuts and thirst trap. Thank you Daphne Kuhn and the team for the whole experience. Yet another one from Bronwen and B-Sharp entertainment – thank you. Congratulations to The Assembly Improv show and a deserved standing ovation.

Goated

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Goated!

Goated, standing on the podium, I am number one, the gold is coated, you were never on my level, you tip the scale, you just bloated. Swaying public opinion on my side like a poll have you voted? Noted, I am the greatest, on top like the latest, fuck the world with no latex. I avoid texts, bluetick your ass like no tax but the flow is lax, loose like your girl and I am hitting from the back and I tell her relax. Your clique whack, you can never hit back, you on the sack, call you out individually and beat you by the pack. Shuffle you like a deck, crush you like an insect, I release doom on your ass and watch you fall by the sect. Whose next? I penetrated the game now who wants to fuck with the best? Your tactics are lame, just a couple of pests. Regurgitate your shit before I can ever digest. Permanent residence in this game while you just a guest. I am dominating and the world is my conquest. I’m goated, boats in my horizon cause I am coasted, bitches in my bed I never boasted. Smash and vacate, tomorrow another date, more bitches to bait, they need love and we just never hate. Baphomet, horns on my head and they spike, protected from threats like a dike, you come up against me and I’ll ride you like a bike, you lightweight like a kite. You talented – Sikes! You a joke, you make the mood light. This is my site, here’s an apple to bite, some legendary shit, you challenge to spite and I’ll beat your ass despite, cause I bring the pain and I go all night. Goated!

Sipho Hotstix Mabuse

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Sipho Hotstix Mabuse

Party on the square, I was at the opening of the Sipho Hotstix Mabuse concert. Memorable show, high octane energy, we were dancing all night. The show also commemorated music from legends like Hugh Masekela, Brenda Fassie and Stimela. The band were Jazzing, having fun, trying out new material, like the music they played that was inspired by the forceful removals in Sophiatown. It was Jazzy and evoked a feeling of nostalgia. I enjoyed that we had different horns in the ensemble. Horns show different textures, feelings and emotions, they have the ability to be reflective and evoke feelings of sorrow and rue like Miles Davis and John Coltrane on “Kind of blues”. Horns can make you reminisce about simpler times or strife in difficult times, to be optimistic like “Move on up” by Curtis Mayfield. Another song I loved by Sipho and the band was “Welcome”, a song dedicated to then ANC President Oliver Tambo. Speaking of Presidents, we had two former head of states in attendance in Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe. VIP – partying with very important people. Sipho Mabuse has an amazing, talented family and they helped him with the program. His son Biko is an amazing vocalist and is proficient with the guitar, he performed a piece of mezmarrizing music that had the audience spellbound. Sipho’s daughter, Nqobile, is a talented vocalist and she performed “Weekend Special” by Brenda Fassie among other songs. His nephew performed original music that he composed with the helped of Biko titled “Amor” – it is heartfelt and beautiful. All the performances were great, they were Jazzin, having a lot of fun, feeling it from within. We also had a musician who flew all the way from Mauritius who played a stringed Indian instrument. He played it with so much mastery, it blended in with the bass, keyboard and tempo, it was Jazz music like you have never heard before. It was different, it was glorious. I have a weakness for the electric guitar, that didn’t change today, the performer was outstanding – everyone was outstanding! From the drums guy, percussions, bass, keyboard and piano and Sipho himself. Everything about the day was perfect, it started off with an encounter with Job Kubatsi (Ntate Maphikela), the star of the hit show “The Suit”, returning for a second season in February and ended off with Ntambo Rapatla – Her mother’s savage daughter. I was with Sam throughout and Bronwen delivered yet another defense-splitting pass. Music for the Gods, endorsed by President Thabo Mbeki and President Kgalema Motlanthe. It was a party, the auditorium was merry, smiles tattooed on faces, all seats were vacated because everyone was on their feet dancing and singing along to the music, people documenting the experience through their phones taking selfies, time flew. Nobody wanted it to end, it was an amazing show. Congratulations Sipho Hotstix Mabuse and the whole team and a deserved standing ovation.

Michael Jackson

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Michael Jackson

I love Prince but Michael Jackson is the king of popular culture. That’s big, he defined an entire generation and transcended it for future generations. To this day, no one has had a bigger influence. Selling records was easy, literally the best selling artist of all time with sales of over 500 million worldwide. Inducted in the Rock n Roll hall of fame twice, the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the songwriters Hall of Fame and the Dance Hall of Fame. That’s not all, 15 Grammy Awards, 39 Guinness World Records and lauded as the most Successful Entertainer of all time, period. Over a four decade career, his world record music achievements and publicized public personal life made him a global figure. His songs, stages and fashion proliferated visual performance for singers in pop music. His innovations changed the music video as an art form and popularized street dance moves including the moonwalk and the anti-gravity lean. His mere presence would send fans tumbling on the floor in concerts without him doing anything. Before even the shows commenced, paramedics would be heavily staffed and working hard attending to fainting fans tumbling on the floor. Jackson himself would be just standing on the stage like a statue amidst the hysteria and fans screaming at the top of their lungs. He didn’t have to do anything to elict a response from the crowd, his aura was more than enough, it was God-like and when he did perform, you understood why he was hailed the king. My first experience of Michael Jackson was “You Rock My World”, it was paradigm altering, the video with Chris Tucker was the greatest thing ever! It was so cinematic and grand. The story-telling, the fight scenes, the music, the dancing, it blew me away! Hooked, transfixed and mezmarrized with just the first listen. It was a movie. “You Rock My World” was awe-inspiring. It was my standard for a while until I worked backwards and discovered “Thriller”. I love Prince but Michael Jackson is the king of popular culture, the greatest performer period and that’s not even hyperbole. I’d like to go on record and apologize, I was too excited, “Purple Rain” is not better than “Thriller”, they are both art, both exceptional, executed by two of the greatest artists of all time.

I was at the opening of the Micheal Jackson “History show” concert at the Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City. The lyric theatre is beautiful, those chandeliers take my breath away. Everyone was infected by the spirit of Michael. Gloves, sunglasses and white shirts were the order of the day. Outstanding show, Showtime Australia delivers yet another masterclass. Garth Field is super talented. He is the reincarnation of Micheal Jackson. He has stage presence, his aura is commanding, he moves like Micheal, sings like him, dances like him, drips of the King of Pop – he is the king of pop. Thank you Bronwen for the invite. First Prince and now Micheal Jackson, you have made my year. Never in a million years did I think I’d see Michael on the stage but it happened and it was like a dream. It was glorious. Sam said I’d love this one and she was right. SamSays on the credits. I was excited for this one weeks prior, I mean Micheal Jackson, the greatest performer of all time – it’s not even hyperbole. Garth did Micheal justice. Everything was Micheal Jackson standard, the show was perfection. From the lighting, the band, the stage, the sets, electric guitarist, the costumes, backup singers, Nadine, dancing, singing and the cheography. The dancers on the stage were simply unstoppable! Unbelievable chemistry and high energy, in sync and well coordinated like a military drill. The electric guitarist is legendary, I loved the solos. Everyone was amazing! Now I have the experience of being in a Micheal Jackson concert and there’s nothing like it, it is glorious. Every hit was masterfully executed on the stage by Garth Field and the team, from “Bad”, “Beat It”, “Thriller”, Smooth criminal”, “Don’t stop till you get enough” “Black and White”, “The way you make me feel”, “Human Nature”, “Billie Jean”, “Earth song”, “Man in the mirror”, “Heal the world”, “Rock with you” “and many other classics. We also had Jackson 5 hits. Every performance was my favorite, Garth is incredible, he is Michael Jackson! It was a Rock and Roll day and once again guitars prevailed. The audience loved the performances, we couldn’t stop dancing and singing. I almost died with happiness when I saw the anti-gravity lean, I saw it live but I still couldn’t believe it. The moonwalk is still the most legendary dance move ever! Probably the greatest concert I’ve ever experienced. They left everything out on the stage. Maybe I wasn’t the greatest Michael Jackson fan but I am after today. Congratulations Showtime Australia and the whole team and a deserved standing ovation.

The one

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The one

I am the one, fucking bitches, decimating pussy like a vaginal disease. I aim to please, going up against me will leave you exposed like a midget with no knees. You coming up short and you will never reach. My verse just blessed you and you didn’t have to sneeze. Flow fresh like Spring and the punchlines a breeze. Swag cold like heat and sure to make you freeze. You all talk like a girl on Tinder whose just a tease. Kicking down the door cause I don’t need the keys. Puffing out smoke cause I got the weed. Implanting words in your mind like a seed, to make you strong and grounded like a tree. My style buzzing like a bee, while you lactose intolerant and you never get the cream. I am living out my dream, making money, fucking honeys on a stream. One mention of me and niggas scream, cause I bring the horror like you wouldn’t believe. I am the one while niggas phony as a weave. Unavailable to all my haters like a leave. A crown on my head like a king, high notes when I am hitting it from the back, she can sing. At the highest on the podium cause all I do is win. All of you are secondary like the next of kin. I am the one, tempting nuns with a sin. Baptising the game with miracle water from my basin.

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Kyle Shepherd trio

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Kyle Shepherd trio

I was at the Wits Theatre for the launch of The Kyle Shepherd trio album. Unbelievable launch, musical intelligence, no wasted touch on the instrument. Every touch has a purpose. How you touch, how you grab, the duration, what you don’t do, all that has a purpose, it emits pitch and frequency. Don’t rush, play to your hearts content. Feel, communicate, speak your mind with music. Jazz music, feel the tempo, listen to the pulse, improvise, embody the glorious music. Music made for the Gods.Thank you for the invite Bridget. Always wanted to come to Wits so my first love, Performance arts led the way. The Wits Theatre is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.

One of my favorite movies titled “Soul” by Pixar explores Jazz music, purpose and the flow state. The movie describes life as something you improvise, making up things along the way, breaking rules to rewrite your own – Jazzing. Joe Gardner is a substitute music teacher of a high school when one day gets the opportunity of a lifetime to audition to play for the Dorethea Williams band – his dream job. Excited he goes to the audition and does extremely well. While playing the piano, we see his fingers taking control of him, it is automatic like stepping up a gear. Completely on free-flow, we see him close his eyes and let his fingers and the music do all the talking, we see the room disappear and it’s just him and the piano, the end-result is that he plays the most mezmarising solo of all time, leading to Dorethea to give him the job on the spot.

The movie describes the “Flow state” as a space between the physical and the spiritual realm. This is because when you are in flow, you are in your own world, a world where you dictate everything, time disappears and nothing matters except for the task you are engaged with. When you are in flow, you are possessed by a creative demon that takes over everything. When you are in flow state, God reigns. That’s exactly what happened with the show. The musicians where in their own world, a world where music reigns. They were totally in sync and they didn’t even have to look at each other, pitch, tone, rhythm, fingers and sound spoke. They even closed their eyes, the music was beating from within. To touch, feel, emphatize, understand the keys of the piano, caress slowly and stike forcebly when the moment demands, to string the double-bass with intention to induce a trance and create a rhythm, to beat on the drums like a celebration of the devils death. The album is pure euphoria, beautiful and timeless like how real art should be, reminded me of Charles Mingus “Devil Blues”, “Devil Woman” but without the organs and horns, it had a strong classical influence like Ludovico Einaudi and Yiruma.

Kyle Shepherd is on Piano, Shane Cooper on Bass and Jonno Sweeman on drums – they are the definition of mastery. They have been playing together since 2008, touring the world together and it shows. They have chemistry, they compliment each other and they have a mental telepathy. They were Jazzing, improvising, in complete flow, having the time of their lives. They love what they do, the music was unbelievable, it was beautiful. Congratulations Kyle Shepherd and the whole team and a deserved standing ovation.

Superman

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Superman

Navigating the world can be challenging as we are always bombarded by messages informing us on who we should be. We are indoctrinated into other people’s viewpoints, we are influenced by advertising, we are told what is acceptable by the culture, we are expendable like pawns in a chess game. It’s easy to fall into the trap of victimhood because modern life is so fast paced and everything is always in motion, sometimes it’s like life is happening to you. It’s easy to get nihilistic and feel yourself as a spectator and not a collaborator. The movie Fight Club released in 1999 was ahead of its time in portraying the masculinity crisis in the 21st century. Being swept up by novelty and consumerism we lose the anchor that keeps us grounded in reality. We let things outside of ourselves defines us. Negativity plagues our lives. We lose the ability to make decisions for ourselves, we become victims, we become weak, we lose our masculine frames. 20th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche covered this on his masterpiece book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” with his work on the “Ubermench” or “Overman” which directly translates to The Superman. He states that man should be bigger than his circumstances and aspire to be the very best that he can be. The “Ubermench” or Superman is better than passive, he is masculine and strong, he doesn’t make excuses, he is a leader of his life and is not a victim of any circumstance. The “Ubermench” is accountable and responsible for his own life. He is a man of purpose, he is in control of his destiny. The “Ubermench” makes his own decisions pertaining to his life. He has a masculine frame that is unyielding. A masculine frame is everything in the context of navigating reality and achieving any level of success. In this post we will be exploring how to breakout of the victims mentality so you can self-actualize and be the best that you can be.

  1. Look inward and diagnose – Realize that everything is what you make it. Your life currently is the result of your past decisions and thoughts. Thoughts are the language of the mind. Have good thoughts. Look at your habits and catch yourself in the act of negative self-talk. Journal your thoughts to make sense of what is in your mind. This will help you reflect and understand your state of mind much better. Troubleshoot your mind in the same way you would to your computer. When your computer is slow and certain programs are crashing, you troubleshoot it to understand the problem and fix it. Without the troubleshooting you run the risk of causing irrevocable damage to the operating system. Your mind is your operating system, your thoughts are the language of your system, have good thoughts to have a good life.
  2. Eliminate negativity – Stear away from negative people or situations that enable you to react in morally unjustified behaviors. Take responsibility for your life and your decisions. Understand that we are judged by the company we keep, birds of the same feathers flock together. Look at the people in your life. Eliminate negative people in your life. You can’t get far with negative friends who look down on you and take you for granted. As a man you need to be around people who help you get better. People who will feul your ambitions and move with you to the top. You need to be around men with value and accountability, men who inspire you and lift you up. You need to be around winners and conquerers, that is the only way to be a winner and a conquerer. Winners are enthusiastic about life, they are passionate and they are positive. Losers on the other hand have a victims mentality, a energy that calibrates at a low energy level and they never achieve anything of significance. Eliminate negativity and be with people who want the best for you.
  3. Practice gratitude – Gratitude is the act of magnifying what you have. It is positive energy that radiates. It teaches you to be thankful for what you do have. It’s insistence is on abundance instead of lack. With gratitude you have everything you need, you feel lighter on your feet, you are encouraged and confident about God’s love and grace. Gratitude is what gets you to have a truthful life. It purifies the soul and makes you an overall great human being with the magnetic power of a magnate. Without gratitude for life, a man is in danger of having nihilistic thoughts and resorting to instant gratification that numbs the pain as a means of escapism.
  4. Go after your purpose – Go after your dreams, this will teach you to be a person of character. It teaches you to be accountable for your destiny. No excuses, you fight for your dreams with everything you have. You take the disappointments, learn the lessons and commit to doing better the next time. The act of going for your dreams and following your purpose will give you confidence and greater self-esteem. Apathy will cease to exist and you will be in charge of your life. You will be a man of high value and everything will flock to you. A man without a purpose will always be a victim of life.
  5. Help others – Take your attention off yourself and concentrate that energy on somebody else or an organization. Offer your time to a worthwhile course like a homeless shelter. Give what you can. Donate what you don’t need anymore to someone who does, things like old clothes, blankets and toys go a long way. It will make you feel good and will give you control and power, alienating the feelings of unworthiness and victimhood. Helping others makes us feel important as our contributions are noted and appreciated. Great men are the change that they want to see in the world, they contribute more than they consume and they offer a hand because it helps the world move forward.
  6. Meditation – Add meditation to your schedule. Mindfulness meditation helps with observing our thoughts and quieting down the internal monologue. Realize that you are not your thoughts and you can distance yourself from them and watch them go by. Thoughts are just spontaneous things that happen and you don’t have to identify with them. Meditation helps with emotional mastery as you will be able to regulate your emotions and resist the urge to lash out at people. This is important because we live in a world that is survival based dictated by the fight-or-flight organ the amygdala, and as such the skill to be able regulate and perceive other people’s emotions is priceless. A high value man is one with impeccable Emotional Intelligence. You get high emotional intelligence by being emphatic. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in other persons shoes. Meditation helps with caltivating empathy skills because you can slow things down and be reflective. A man who can’t control his emotions is deemed to be impulsive with no self control, a big turn-off for the opposite sex and other men will not respect you. Meditation helps you recognize negative self-talk so you can fix it and be better.

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Kaza Kamba Pan African Theatre Festival II

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Kaza Kamba Pan African Theatre Festival II

The second day and the program was still on fire. We started the day with a Pan African workshop. Led by Zandi Radebe, we discussed what it meant to be African, how it extends to township life, how we relate to each other, the contrast in life pre-democracy and post-democracy, how we can be better as Africans and the morals and traditions lost along the way. The program explored the ideas of Marcus Garvey and what Pan-Africanism meant to him. In essence, it must start with me, then we before it can extend to us, to fill-up yourself first and then fill up the cups of others with the excess water overflowing from your cup. It was a thought-provoking workshop and ideas bounced. Participants in the audience shared their wisdom and ideas, we shared our perspectives and what “Pan African” meant to us. Then we arrived at my favorite part of the workshop, we discussed poetry and words with Lesego Rampolokeng. We talked about form, structures and types of poetry, how poetry is not necessarily a reflection of life because it hinders the perspective of the artist to experience but rather a distillation. Poetry is an expression of one’s intrinsic nature, it is an expression of individuation, if its truthful, it comes from inside and has a unique voice, not copy and paste from somebody else’s work, it has to be authentically you because you can’t be anybody else. We read and explored some of Lesego’s favorite authors and a member of the audience shared her poetry with the workshop to listen to. It was an interactive workshop and we got to get inside of the mind of a true wordsmith who explained all of his work comes from love. I was inspired by that remark because I understand. Although my work comes from multiple sources, love yes, but anger, spite, pain, sometimes hate and disappointment too, I transmute that to create my art. Maybe artists are a miserable bunch. To show, to feel, to distill life in word form, that’s poetry – it’s not about form or structure of language.

We ended the day with an excellent Zimbabwe play titled “Molly’s Street”. The play follows Molly who escapes child marriage and arrives in Chiredzi  southern Zimbabwe. Young and unskilled, Molly becomes a sex worker. Sadly, not long after her arrival her boyfriend murders her. Powerful show that depicts the perils of GBV. Rape, abortion, sex, violence and murder, it’s difficult to watch. We need to protect our girl children. The depiction of Molly’s life is unflinchingly raw and honest. The words are descriptive and emotive. A perfect blend of showing and telling. The show is dramatic and the performance out of this world. Zimbabwean actress Chidochangu Jo Anne Tenga inhabits the world of Molly. She inhabits her psychology, she feels the sensations of her world, understands her struggles, feels her pain, she is totally one with her spirit. The performance is inspired, pure excellence, an example of world class theatre. She is perfect with that performance, how she moves on the stage, her voice intonations, her facial expressions and the emotion in her words. Patrick Tenga compliments the story with sound effects and the general score of the play. He uses drums, percussions and strings. The end result is mezmarrizing theatre. The story is thought-provoking and reflects back socioeconomic factors plauging our communities, Hunger, poverty, aggression, pain, self-hate, hurt, toxic masculinity, GBV, prostitution, abortion, sex and a lack of role models to carve out a better path for coming generations. It’s an important story. Congratulations to Peter Churu for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.