Sasol Schools Festival soars, more than 36 years later

Sasol invited me, and a few other media members, to the Mpumalanga leg of the long-running Sasol Schools Festival. Taking place at the Witbank Civic Theatre over two days, yesterday and today, the festival featured different aspects of professions in the arts sphere, specifically tailored to create awareness, inspire and motivate school pupils in the province to pursue such careers.

Before going further, let me provide just a bit about the background of this amazing initiative Sasol is involved in. The National Schools Festivals, a project of the Grahamstown Foundation, was originally conceived by Professor Guy Butler and started in Grahamstown over 36 years ago. It has grown from strength to strength and now covers all regions of South Africa, with the exception of Limpopo. The Gauteng and Mpumalanga festivals, together with Freestate/Northern Cape, form part of the Sasol Schools Festival Series. Sasol is the principal sponsor, while NLDTF and the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) and Breadline Africa (BLA) are co-sponsors through the ACT BLA Fringe Grant awarded to the project for 2009.

The Sasol Mpumalanga Schools Festival, previously held in Secunda, is now taking place at the Witbank Civic Theatre, and took place as I have mentioned already, yesterday 15 and today 16 October with approximately 300 delegates that attended. The programme comprised up to four productions and 14 workshops. There were performances of The Suitcase by the legendary James Ngcobo, who we had an absolute pleasure of meeting earlier today; Le Carnival de ma Vie by Matchbox Theatre Collective; and The Sibikwa Players. Award-winning stage, film and television actor, James Ngcobo best known for his roles as editor Joe Dlamini on the SABC3 drama series Hard Copy and Mo on SABC 2 comedy series Stokvel, was set to inspire the learners with his keynote speech.

We went to different venues in the theatre where learners participated in professionally facilitated workshops, lectures, and productions focusing on different genres of the performing arts, as well as the spoken and written word. Participants also got to informally interact with artists and experts in all these areas and learn from their experience. It was such a great way to impart knowledge and skill that we foun ourselves joing the learners with different activities. Some of the highlighs for me personally was seeing the learners do break-dancing, which was energetic, fun and up-beat; as well as an interesting sketch-production workshop where this young boy displayed a sterling potential as a stage actor playing a person who cannot speak but communicating so well with a lady he was partnered with that was aksed to interpret what he was rying to communicate with her.
Th festival seemed to attract even the old who may have benefited from the festival when they were growing, viz. during lunch an old man serenaded us with his guitar and dancing skills, despite his health attempting to damper the spirits whe he started coughing uncontrollably at one point (see picure below).

Forging ahead from many other impediments, the festival, which has been sponsored by Sasol has for over two decades, focuses on holistic person-development and aims to expose learners from a variety of backgrounds, both affluent and previously disadvantaged, to the opportunities available to them through the Arts. Sasol is doing a phenomenal job in cultivating a culture of developing the children from as early as high school. I believe this will help in future entertainers getting into the industry with the right skills, attitude andf direction they need to build their careers and successfully maintain them. I also apppreciate the awareness and inspiration this festival is giving to the children, like one of the kids we chatted to who said he realised from participating in some of the activities that he would actually like to be a comedian.

Although I think it is a bit difficult to measure the success of the festival well into these kid's futures, I also believe there have been many people that started at the very same place and are now acclaimed entertainers in their own right in different disciplines. I'm looking foward to seeing the talent from this festival flourish and make our country proud in many years to come.

Brian Temba showcases his indisputable talent

I hav just returned from La Toscana at Montecasino, where Brian Temba finally launched his critically acclaimed debut album to an inviting crowd. With a largely visible presence of the media, his family, other entertainers and the general public, the Pretoria-born crooner sizzled as he proved that he is giving Something Better, as far as music is concerned in Mzansi.

Arriving just minutes after he started performing, I couldn't help getting in the groove of things. Brian Temba performed most of the songs from Something Better, introducing each song with a short synopsis of what the song was about and what inspired it. Among these were the smash debut hit single Dominoes, Don't Let Me Fall, the title track Something Better and two of my most favourites, Early Morning and Better Then. Speaking of Better Then, he mentioned that although the song is dedicated to his late brother, it's also for everybody who has lost a loved one. I couldn't agree more as the moving lyrics resonate and remind you of the people in your life who have passed on. Sporadically, video clips would be played, documenting his journey through the process of creating Something Better.

Another great moment of the night was when he performed the only duet on Something Better called Where This Is Going, which he originally did with Sharlene Hector, this time belting it out with the beautiful and talented Durban singer Lungi Naidoo. It didn't end there as Brian Temba gave us a rousing rendition of the Kate Bush classic This Woman's Work, and I must mention that Kate would be as proud as she was when Maxwell covered the same song when he did his MTV Unplugged recording in '97. He continued to showcase his vocal prowess as he dabbled in short verses of some of his favourite songs from his favourite singers like Boyz II Men, Anthony Hamliton and Tevin Campbell, to name but a few. To show he hasn't forgotten his roots, he broke into a few gospel numbers he did in his hey days with outfits like Family Factory and Joyous Celebration. Moreover, it was sweet experiencing first-hand the view of relationship Brian Temba has with his business partner and friend Mandisa Makalima, who looked stunning by the way in a strapless knee-length frock.

Another noteworthy experience was the use an amazing 6-piece band, led by super producer Alexis Faku. Each band member did a sterling job in complementing Brian's indisputable voice. Activites for the night included a Montecasino-sponsored prize-giveaway where 3 very ecstatic ladies walked away with 3 dates with Brian; one having lunch at a restaurant of her choice at Montecasino, another taking to the air on an air-balloon, and the last one watching a movie of her choice at Nu Metro Montecasino.

It was a great night, filled with great music, great bunch of people and resulted in great memories. I must mention that Azania Ndoro did a superb job as a compeer for the evening. Something Better is an amazing body of work. Testimony is borne in Brian Temba being nominated twice at the Channel O Music Video Awards taking place in about 2 weeks (check out www.channelo.tv to vote). Speaking of music awards, the album is a beast, therefore I'm terribly scared of whoever will be nominated against Brian Temba at the SAMA's next year. The album is in stores now, go and cop yourself Something Better.