The Sondela Youth Arts Festival, held recently in Aliwal North High School grounds and winding up Heritage Month, wowed its youthful audiences.
The Sondela Youth Arts Festival, held recently in Aliwal North High School grounds and winding up Heritage Month, wowed its youthful audiences.
At one point, Simamkele Xakwe paced restlessly on the left side, off the stage as the programme director delayed calling his group on stage. With gloves showing fingers on both hands, he kept on lifting up his left hand, gesturing to the programme director, his body language asking ‘why, why, why?’
Three more traditional groups were called, to Xakwe’s dismay, and the audience’s. The event had gained moment, after a jazz group had played heart-warming familiar renditions.
Xakwe and his B-FABBS group members strolled back to their car, disbelief written all over his face. Thereafter the event went into a lull for a while, until Xakwe and his group took the stage.
The B-FABBS, or the Born From a Boom Box, is from Makana Municipality in the Sarah Baartman District, it was announced.
Started in 2010, the group from Tantyi location had three members, Xakwe, Siphosethu Mvubu and Anam Mzizi, who had travelled to Aliwal North to attend the Sondela Youth Arts Festival. This festival is one of the eight flagship festivals that the provincial Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture (DSRAC) in the Eastern Cape support.
Its lively, rhythmic beats from the massive sound system quickly gathered the audience. The screams by the audience caused others, especially the young, to come forward, jostling for a better view.
Xakwe’s robotic dance moves, followed by those of Mvubu had everyone in stitches. The Grahamstown creative and cultural talent was making its mark, captivating the festival to its highest level.
The programme director stood there enthused as they danced from one song to another.
He forgot to even tell them that their time was up as they surpassed five beats, with Mzizi joining the assemblage.
As if hypnotised, the programme director woke from his dream at last, asking the audience if he must now end the festival after this performance. The crowd was shouting for more.
The B-FABBS also performed at the opening of the National Arts Festival in 2015. With their animation hip-hop dance mix, they aimed to showcase their own unique style.
That prompted a talent search agency from Sterkspruit to want to offer them a contract on the spot.
Satisfaction was all over Makhosandile Salukazana, the Dakawa Art Centre Manager, who has accompanied the group. DSRAC’s Sarah Baartman District only brought one performing art group, and it did not disappoint.
The audience loved it immediately.
• The 20-year-old annual Sondela Youth Arts Festival, held at Aliwal North High School, showcased poetry, comedy, drama, music, dance exhibitions and a fashion parade.
There were also two separate workshops on film and creative writing.
The National English Literary Museum and the Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha were the only national museums that exhibited in support of the event which continues to grow in leaps and bounds.
The event wound up Heritage Month.
