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.

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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

 

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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

 

 

 

In Conversation with......CODA

It’s 06:30am. Eye’s still full of sleep and weird images from dreams, head swirling with scattered thoughts. About to give birth to our latest moyo baby…..the entertainment blogspot!…what to do???

 

Hmmm, part personal, part newsletter, part debate, what’s new, what’s not………???.............

Although not really my style, maybe the easy way out for today. So….think WOW, think SEXY, think SOPHISTICATED and you have one word CODA!.....the next best thing since moyo’s notorious 3 cheese samoosas…..and then…… (long pause full of suspense)…….. think CODA with DJ Cleo (triple exclamation marks!)….now there is something worthy of discussion at this sunrise hour!

 

(short deviation: Question to our superhero blog designer guru Jannie! Please can you insert the proper logo for CODA in place of my mocked up version’s? Many thanks and humble backward bowing….and…..apologies in advance to CODA in case our superhero does not get my request in time!)

 

Photograph break #1………

Coda_goddesses

Ok, so now you SEE what I mean….this group of muso superwoman goddesses are something to be reckoned with!

 

 Photograph break #2………………need I say more????  Check out the good looking dude in the middle, a little eye candy for tired 06:30am eyes…….

Coda_with_dj_cleo_1

(I had a little aside in this position with an arrow pointing at the delicious dude in the middle, confirming that he was indeed DJ Cleo, but unfortunately am not practised enough with blog graphic’s to get it sorted in this time round)

 

It’s time for the informative bit…lifted straight from CODA’s official website I might add….thinking no harm in a little plagiarism at this time of the day neh?

 

Coda (Say ko-da) noun

Music: section of a movement added at the end to clinch matters or where all significant themes come together

One of the country’s best-loved and busiest bands, CODA combines Classical electric strings and Afro-jazz sax with exhilarating beats and sumptuous vocals. Their music reflects the multiplicity and allure of South Africa. An irresistible combination of Classical, Kwaito, House and Afro-Jazz as well as the more ambient sounds associated with Buddha Bar & Café Del Mar (sorry CODA, I spliced in this last sentence from a previous plagiarized review of your music!)

 

CODA is Zami Mdingi (vocals), Galina Juritz (electric violin), Carol Thorns (electric cello), Judy Brown (sax), Erefaan Pearce (DJ) and various other featured DJ’s (ok I added this last bit too….).

 

For more info visit www.codamusic.co.za

AND NOW for my DID YOU KNOW??? section (making this up of course as I go along!)

CODA created our new ‘unofficial national anthem’ Blow Your Vuvuzela for that momentous South African occasion in 2010….the SA Soccer World Cup.

Actually what I would really like to know is who design’s CODA’s stunning clothes….Carol maybe you can answer that one if you ever read this blog!

Jannie can we please have a question answer section on my blog?

And finally the REALLY IMPORTANT BIT……..

CODA will be performing at our very own moyo Melrose Arch on Sat 5 Nov from 21h30-22h30.

This once off occasion feature’s DJ Cleo (quick shiver down my spine) so if you plan to have an evening of great drinking, dining & dancing best you book a table with a view of the band NOW!

 

 

Well that’s it then. My first born blog. I hope that guru Jannie doesn’t add one of those dreaded face book type like/dislike features on my blog...….until next time then……

 

Signed: gh

 

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

Africa_flag_map_normal

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?

  1. 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!
  2. Leopold Seder Senghor’s poem  – "The black Women ‘clothed with your colour which is life ,your form which is beauty...”
  3. Mike Dearham – Mnet African film library – the largest African film library in the world.
  4. Also got to find out more about the Arab Spring, Ram Koolhaus, Bisi Sila, Tauriq Jenkins and Brendan Busi ............

Until later :)