August 31, 2007
By Ndaba Dlamini
THE Arts Alive Festival opens on a high note this weekend with the Grand Opening and popular Jazz at the Lake at Zoo Lake taking centre stage.
On Friday, 31 August, there are Grand Opening shows at the Johannesburg City Hall and at the Bassline in Newtown.
Afro-Cuban musician Omar Sosa performs at City Hall. A leading ambassador of the invigorating new jazz sound coming out of Cuba, Sosa shares the stage with South Africa's Miagi (Music Is A Great Investment) orchestra performing the music of Chris McGregor and the Blue Notes. The show stats at 7pm sharp and admission is R150 a person.
Catch Carlo Mombelli on Saturday in Newtown
Across town at the Bassline on the same evening, Napalma, a fresh musical mutation born out of interaction between Brazil and Africa, battles it out with South Africa's Kid Fonque, French DJ Frederic Galliano and Afrodrop-Pat Heart from the Czech Republic on the turntables. Entrance is R50 a person and doors open at 8.30pm.
Still in Newtown, just across the M1 highway, the Fuel Café on 66 Carr Street hosts another clash of the DJs, where South Africa's Static Plastic and Troye share the turntables with a surprise guest from the United States. The show starts at 9pm and admission is free.
The party continues the following day, on Saturday, 1 September at the Bassline, with a cultural and musical feast. Sosa performs alongside Carlo Mombelli and Prisoners of Strange from South Africa and Mrigaya from India in a rare musical melange that should not be missed. The show starts at 7.30pm and entrance is R80 a person.
For those into subterranean sounds, the Fuel Café is the place to be on Saturday at 9pm. Some of South Africa's most popular electronic music artists - Felix Le Band, Offbeat and Dexterity - hold a free show dubbed SL-Lilo Unsound System.
And then it is Sunday and time for the serenity of Parkview's Zoo Lake where the free annual Jazz at the Lake takes place. Songbird Sibongile Khumalo performs alongside fellow South African musicians Feya Faku and Bheki Khoza.
They are joined by Afro-Cuban star Sosa, Mrigaya and a host of emerging artists. The show starts at 10am and goes on until 5pm; revellers are promised an after party at Kippies in Newtown where a jam session dedicated to the late jazz musician Moses Khumalo is on the cards.
Take in the Indian musical mix that is Mrigaya
But the weekend won't be all music and dance – two exhibitions, in Soweto and Newtown, start on Saturday, 1 September. At the Hector Pieterson Museum, Jive Soweto! opens at 12 noon, with young visual artists exhibiting work dedicated to the musician Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse. Entrance is free on the day but from 2 September visitors will pay R15; students and pensioners will pay R5.
Hosted by the Indian consul-general, an exhibition of Indian fabric, textile art and craft, Threads in Time, opens at Museum Africa on the same day. Part of the Shared Histories, Celebrating India in South Africa festival, an extravaganza of music, theatre, food, craft and literature from the Indian sub-continent, the exhibition runs until 31 September. Entrance is free.
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