A velvet falsetto like gelato rises above the harmonies of this eclectic jazz band. Frontman Al doesn’t hold back his exquisite vocal chops. The reserved personalities of the band’s instrumentals moderate his vigour, like the craggy rocks below Bailey’s Cottage absorbing the power of the sea.
HOLY FVCK. They’ve outdone themselves again this year. Ramfest started with rave festivals at a resort called Nekkies. These days, it’s a one-day event in each city, so two days if you count Cape Town and Pretoria.
You people won’t believe the Ballie Jols I have seen.
I’ve watched a Britisher on fire, claiming to have brought the blues to Africa.
I’ve seen middle-aged women dancing outside the Zacks on the Waterfront.
None of these moments will be lost in time.
Like Tears in Heaven.
Long Street has a carnival air on Halloween: the breeze is warm and it seems everyone is out on the pavements, mostly dressed up. I don’t remember this part of town being this busy since I was a teenager. We’re all costumed and on the way to Death of Glitter, one of the staple queer parties in the city.
This year I wanted to get PADI certified in Dahab, Egypt, cheapest of diving locales. And, inspired by the generous spirit of Italian fashion legend Brunello Cucinelli, open a plancha cart there serving labneh bread chicken wraps, something that showcased local bedouin foodways.
It’s like the fucking ’90s in here, you can smoke anywhere. In the bar, outside, and I fucking love it. Fuck you vapers.
Graham Hopkins opens as Albie Sachs, dancing around the small stage merrily—but this is not to last. Within a few minutes, the tall box, one of a handful of vague props, becomes a stretcher, transporting Albie (as he’s referred to throughout) to hospital.
This week’s round-up of newish releases from Will Linley, Southern Wild, Jumping Back Slash, Niis, Thulubuke, and Spoek Mathambo.
Editors Note: Spoek Mathambo is releasing so much music it is very hard to keep up. Yassis.
The Reddit Guide to Cape Town’s Housing Crisis
Hasbara is the Hebrew word for “explanation.” In geopolitical terms, it refers to organised, state-sponsored public relations designed to defend the indefensible. Its playbook is built on deflection, whataboutism, tone policing, and the weaponisation of technicalities.
We usually think of hasbara as an international geopolitical tool. But spend any time on South African Reddit and you know it’s happening right here on r/south_africa and elsewhere across the socials.
I’ve had the bad luck (or good, being ‘in’ the arts) to have lived in two police states so far: Apartheid SA and CCP China. I’ve lived in Nazi Germany too, and Gaza, of course, but that’s phenomenologically—by sheer weight of received representation, in the abstract, as a consumer of films and media.
So have you.