Ziyawa Monday! Showcase Sessions @ moyo Melrose Arch

Every second Monday of the month, moyo Melrose Arch is HAPPENING showcasing talented new comer’s to the South African music scene.

Elements of Soul bared their soul to our moyo guests on 12 March. An exciting trio - who I have no doubt will be making waves very soon locally!

The soothing croon from singer/composer Sibu Msesiwe exceeded my expectations, her skilled vocal control belying her youthful appearance. Shades of Sade momentarily visible enhanced my perception of a world class set up. With Man-D Tengani on piano & DJ Palture mixing a backdrop of instrumental accoutrements there will be no stopping this skilled team. Produced through Beyonce Records in East London, Elements of Soul brings daily living circumstances & experiences to light, conveying inspirational messages. A fusion of R&B, Soul and Deep House mixed with originality & creativity.

This last Monday 9 April saw the Funky, Jazzy, Trip Hoppy Zetina & her band take to the stage. WOW, I love this ladies sound. Delicious, rich, soulful, textured are but a few adjectives to describe her performance. Accompanied by guitarist - Ancienth, drummer - Papi & saxophonist – Bra Vusi, Zetina filled the space with her beautiful voice & original compositions, sung in English. Of exotic heritage with Ghanaian mom & Southern African dad of Sotho origin, Zetina will probably be adding influences from both these cultures in her future compositions. In fact on that note, I love the story behind Zetina’s stage name, a combination of both her parent’s names, honouring mom Faustina & dad Zet.

A definite to check out is her video of her song Lately on youtube

Apt extract’s from Zetina’s biography - written by Thabiso Mohapeloa - perfectly describes her musical performance :

“Zetina Mosia is a 23 year old cutting edge jazz vocalist that experiments with combining Jazz and Trip-Hop to create a new genre of music South Africa has still yet to define. With her soon to be released debut album, interestingly titled “The Round About” she takes one on a complete circle of emotions. Fusing traditional jazz with trip-hop and funk elements over conscious meditative lyrics her voice transports you into a world where the soul is sometimes too shy to enter. She speaks of places we all know we have been but allow ourselves to deny for the convenience of protecting our hearts, although we understand that in order to arrive at a place of feeling good about being, we must enter certain corners of our lives. From loving, hating, philosophizing about life in the universe to basically playing around and finding that child in ourselves, she helps us to enjoy that life is completely unimportant and irrelevant whilst being extremely serious and in need of protection from hurting.

Zetina studied jazz and classical music for 4 years at The National School of The Arts. At the age of 15 she was selected through the Yamaha Young Talent Competion to record and perform with Mpumi Dlamini. She has now just completed her solo album with Kanif Sebright, who is well renowned for producing music for Simphiwe Dana, Thandiswa Mazwai, Tha Hymphatic Thabs, RudeBoy Paul amongst others.”

“Zetina’s music carries the discipline required for jazz and its know-how while still challenging the boundaries of Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, Drum ‘n Bass and Dub music. It is interesting how, as a live-act Zetina Mosia brings together digital technology and live instruments to create a funky groove.”

” With every performance Zetina and her band always deliver a blend of musicology that is ground-breakingly different. It is one of those things that is difficult to explain in words and I find it doesn’t do the music any justice to even continue trying, one deserves the respect and trust that your ears will be able to judge for themselves. I totally love the way I feel after listening to Zetina Mosia’s “The Round About” and watching her and her band perform.”

Check out the latest & greatest @ our next rocking Ziyawa Monday!

See you there

xxx

gh_moyo

movember .. putting the 'Mo' into 'Yo'

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces around the world. The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. With my super human ability to pursued men to do .... almost anything J I convinced the moyo brand manager to start growing his mo. Of course Dries did not want to grow a mo alone and roped in some manly support by forcing the exec chef Rudi and the Operating director Mikael to join him in the mission to look like a serial killer. So below is the first shot that was taken – a week of growing a moustache.......

(download)

at least the guys don’t have a problem of being too hairy as in week 2 you can hardly see their little mo’s

(download)

Once again moyo shows soul J Thank you Dries, Mikael and Rudi for being walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through your actions you raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

For more information on the programmes please visit the following:
Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA)
Awareness & Education
Global Action Plan

Xxx

Queen B

A taste of moyo

"Morning Dan,the man,whats happening?"

-Dan frying the flat bread on the flat top-

"All good Reen"

Dan is the moyo Melrose arch early riser (aka baker),every type of bread eaten at moyo(prego,sweet potato and pumpkin,flat bread,Pullman boerie roll...) and yes every piece of delectable moyo mojo,cinnamon chocolate mouse cake,baklava.....is baked at moyo by Dan!

For those moyo regulars you should be salivating around about now,but wait there's more....

Further down the page!

"howzit Jeza,how you doing?"

"Good my bebe"

"how's the oxtail today"

"aah the oxtail ,i make her just for you today,come taste"

Jeza is our Production chef,specialising in all our tagines,oxtail and springbok shank

"Aaah Mr Khuzwayo" (of fillet Khuzwayo fame ,yes the very one that is loved by Noelene)

"Whats for staff lunch today? Cause if you're cooking then i'm not ordering my salad"

(Which of course I should be! Its not easy working in a restuarant and trying to prepare a beach body,more like beached whale!) But who can resist one of Chef David's tasty isishebo!

And so the moyo kitchen conversations take place walking through the moyo Melrose arch kitchen in the mornings,in the afternoons ,anytime but always in the kitchen.

And it never ceases to inspire me"put the love in the food..."

So i'm walking through the kitchen on the way to a food tasting.

Did you know....Every moyo store in every city has a food tasting once a week,every week 52 weeks of the year,that's a lot of tasting and hence the not so ready beach body.

What happens at a moyo food tasting? A chef, a couple of hosts,a manger and whichever moyo person (or non) happens to be visiting the store sit down to taste selected menu items,a more critical bunch of would be master chefs and restaurant connoisseurs you will never find,especially me the self confessed non cook but recipe and taste bitch! (don't you just hate those people?)

So what are we tasting today?

Springbok Shank- meat to bone ratio excellent ,meat is tender and flavourful, the apricot almond chutney enhances the exotic flavour.Served with lemon cous cous.Always a winner.

Fish tagine - the trick with this dish is that it it must be served immediatly so that the suace doesn't seperate,the host should open the tagine lid and your sense of smell should be aroused by the aroma of spices and preserved lemon (Yes eating should always be a sensual experience)Fish is firm and moist and the flavours from the sauce penetrate the fish!

moyo Medallions - Springbok fillet,wrapped in a brandy marinated chicken breast,served on a bed of mash with a sherry cream sauce _ OMG _ the springbok is rare (which is how game meat is best served) and the chicken perfectly cooked without being dry.This is a difficult dish to balance but when its done right it's heavenly and the segments of grapefruit and orange compliment it to perfection.

Flame grilled fillet and chips - ordered meduim to test the quality of meat (as every true meat lover knows,meat is best ordered rare and no other way! If you are going to order a steak well done #smh (shaking my head)

and the verdict is...the fillet has still maintained its flavour and tenderness :) despite being served medium.

Honey/cumin spiced roasted carrots and green beans with sesame seeds- this is one of my favourite moyo veggie dishes.The carrots are sweet yet spicey and the green beans are crunchy and bursting with flavour.

Need a say more?

So this is what I do once a week,anyone care to join?

Ren

Africa 101 by Renee Snoyman

To speak of any sacred scriptures in Africa is to speak of what is written in the hearts of the African people

Lately I’ve been doing quite a bit of research into Africa for a new project we will be launching at moyo in February 2012 (will catch up and update more about moyo Africa project at a later date) internet research can be quite lonely and not very interactive, so when the opportunity arose to attend a series of lectures called Africa 101 in Cape Town – come on Jo’burg where is your Africa 101?- run by The African Arts Institute (AFAI) - www.africanartsinstitute.org.za

I literally and figuratively jumped at the chance (and on a plane) with my colleague Bianca to meet “in the flesh people” who share the same passion and lust for Africa. Our schedule was jam-packed with lectures and discussions in African literature, culture, music, travel and cinema.

I felt that the lectures could have been more successful had they been more interactive and less focused on power point presentation and the spaces were not as conducive or as inspiring as they should have been which got me to thinking ...

Can you imagine if we grow Africa 101 in moyo spaces, where better to learn and explore contemporary African trends, icons and innovations in African music, literature, cinema, dance, theatre and visual arts than in modern sophisticated African ionic spaces?

Imagine “walking through” a music lecture and actually be able to see, touch and chat to the musician playing the instrument, this could be done with poetry, dance, food, art in fact everything. I guess I’m a tactile person and could think of nothing more delicious then experiencing an Africa through my touch,smell,taste and sight bar being able to visit the countries in person.

So what else inspired me?

Iain Harris of Coffeebeans Routes with his fascinatinating ideas in the changing trends of travel in Africa moving from a destination based travel towards urban African experiences, he reckons that people are becoming more interested in meeting and listening to the experiences then in just sightseeing! He has a vision to introduce an African festival and cultural tour.How cool is that travel through African festivals!
Leopold Seder Senghor’s poem – "The black Women ‘clothed with your colour which is life ,your form which is beauty...”
Mike Dearham – Mnet African film library – the largest African film library in the world.
Also got to find out more about the Arab Spring, Ram Koolhaus, Bisi Sila, Tauriq Jenkins and Brendan Busi ............

Until later :)

the moyo side of life

african abundance and heartfelt hospitality redefined

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