Summer is here. Work is a drag, drag, drag but the holiday – that most bourgeois concept – beckons. Whatever! Life is about to get lekka, and we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to jols. Be wys.
Music festivals
If you are desperate to get out of the city this weekend (2 and 3 December) we strongly suggest the Shifty Oppie Weskus Koppie music festival. Shifty records was the label that recorded all the bands the radio wouldn’t play in the dark days of the 80s because their music pissed off the apartheid krokodile. Many of the records were subsequently banned. Think of the revolutionary Afrikaans musos such as Bernoldus Niemand (James Phillips), Johannes Kerkorrel, and Koos Kombuis, as well as Sankomoto, The Genuines, Corporal Punishment, Illegal Gathering … If you’re in or close to your 50s, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you were but an ankle biter in the late 80s or a Born Free, you’re going to dig it lank, bru. We’re talking Kulchural hestory. The line up is fully kiff: Koos Kombuis, Hanepoot Brass Band, Mac McKenzie & Hilton Schilder (Genuines), Simba Morri & Josh Hawkes, The Kalahari Surfer, The Porchlights, The Shifty All-Stars. And that’s just Saturday. The venue is Steenbokfontein Farm up near Lambert’s Bay. Tickets if you’re gonna camp are about R1,500. Check shifty.co.za.
‘Tis the season for the Kirstenbosch Concerts. Mi Casa start the season on 3 December with their loungey grooves. Amanda Black and The Soil will provide the Saffa soul roots and soaring voice on 10 December. There’s carols from 14 to 17 December, and Jeremy Loops and the Congo Cowboys do a new year’s eve gig on 31 December. Oh, we forgot The Swing on the 23rd. Then there’s an pretty cool lineup during January and February. Go here and you’ll come right. Tickets are in the R250 to R350 mark.
Greenmarket Square is going to be hopping on 16 December with the Unity on the Square concert. There’s a host of the Kaapse se favourite musos, like Emo Adams, Jimmy Nevis, Loukmaan Adams, Jack Parow, Paxton Fielies, etc. Being Greenmarket Square, you can’t expect not to also have stalls, so food and locally produced stuff is a big part of the jol. Tickets on Quicket are R200 for adults, less for youngstas.
Take your surfboard and part the lentil curtain so you can park off at the Cape Open Air music festival at Muizenberg Park, happening on 2 and 3 December. Jeremy Loops, a rare reappearance by the delicious Mango Groove, Grassy Spark, Laurie Levine, Nomadic Orchestra are but some of the acts to get you dancing in your bare feet. No alcohol allowed (they say nothing about spliff) but you can bring your own picnic, cushions, etc. You can also bring your children, they can come along free of charge, but parents and other grown-ass people have to pay at least R295, although you can choose to only watch Mango Groove, which will set you back about R150. Check the deets on Webtickets.
Theatre
Anyone who knows and loves Brett Bailey’s work will want to ensure they don’t miss Third World Bunfight’s version of Shakespeare’s A Summer Night’s Dream at Spier wine farm there by Stellenbosch on 15 and 16 December. The weird and whacky characters emerge as night falls in a clearing about 15 minutes walk from the main Spier facilities. It features a large cast featuring a number of well-known names and is bound to be colourful, at the very, very least. Tickets are available via Webtickets and cost between R70 and R500. We’re guessing the top end gets you a picnic and the works.
You’ve got two more days to catch King George at the Masambe Theatre at the Baxter. We were invited but unfortunately shit got in the way and we have not yet seen it so you just might bump into us before it finishes its run on 2 December. We really want to see it because it’s a plot with which we may, unfortunately, be familiar: The suave CEO of a development company is about to gentrify lower Woodstock. Then the owner of a strip club, which is about to be closed down due to the impending development, confronts him, resulting in a tense standoff, with all sorts of worms coming out of the can. Bear in mind the havoc wreaked on lives of working class Woodstock families by Indigo Properties who started with the Biscuit Mill and moved onto the Wex development, you’ll realise playwright Brent Palmer may be on the money with this one. Tickets cost R150 with performances at 8pm and Saturday matinees at 2pm.
Dance
There’s some intriguing free dance performances in Cape Town parks this month, courtesy of SboNdaba Dance and based on an environmental, anti-plastic theme, involving dance groups from Khayelitsha, Elsies Rivier, Nyanga, Philippi, and Atlantis. The season has been directed by award- winning choreographer, Sbonakaliso Ndaba, with the assistance of company members and outreach teachers Lusindiso Dibela, Sinazo Mxeli, Sive Stali, Clayton Jannike, Akhona Mpoza, Mthetheleli Dlakavu and Lolwethu Sdumo. Performances are on 2 December at 2pm in the Company Gardens; 3 December at 2pm in Zandvlei Park in Lakeside, and 16 December at 2pm in Green Point Park.
Literature
We have been blessed with 16 years of the best indi bookstore in Cape Town, which is, of course, The Book Lounge. They’re celebrating their birthday all day tomorrow (1 December). There’ll be free tea and coffee all day, and cake after 6pm. Also, 16% off all books. Corner of Roeland and Buitenkant street, in the building that looks a bit like a cake. Party like you’re literate.
New year’s
Utopia is within reach, just a two-hour drive away (unless you get stuck at the robots as you go through Somerset West) near Swellendam. Well, Utopia is the name of the farm, anyway, where you can escape from your family after Christmas and hide away at the Search Festival from 30 December to 2 January. It’s a “lush cradle” on a “water-rich farm” where you can enjoy “glorious days” of music, art, and, erm, “celebrating community”. This annual jol has been going on quite a while, it seems, with this year’s theme being Illumination (which presumably means more than “bring your head torch”). There may be nudity, as the presser states: “…a very reflective beam bouncing off every surface (even where the sun don’t shine).” However, there will be creature comforts, and possibly even comforting creatures. There’s a full line up of electronic music-looking acts, the names of many of which seem to lack a few vowels. Tickets still available are from R1,250 upwards. There are camping and accommodation options. Check it out at searchfestival.co.za