Hugh Masekela looks at a fan right in the eye and only sees her hair.
Photo: Sanele Ntshingana
While at Rhodes University Dr Hugh Masekela had an interaction with Thandi Bombi whereby he refused to take pictures with her because of her weave. Below is her personal opinion on the events that transpired that day.
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#LOVE
…and I don’t know what to say, except “Wow.” It’s kind of a wonder that in six weeks in Ghana, I didn’t hear about this guy.
Ghanaian-British artist Kwabs is now just beginning to get the attention he deserves. He’s got one of those rare voices that stops you in whatever you’re doing when you first hear it: powerful, too-deep, seemingly too huge to be contained by any roofed venue. But his restraint and sheer artistic ambition are what make this rework of James Blake’s “The Wilhelm Scream.”
Blake’s original is a sparse, hopeless masterpiece that, after every verse, features his fragile vocals settling at a fractured resolve: “Might as well fall in,” he decides. (Likewise the inspiration for “The Wilhelm Scream”–“Where To Turn”, from his father James Litherland–leave the speaker with tearing indecision.)
But Kwabs will have none of that. He shifts gears just before resolving to…
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Just an amazing song with an equally amazing video.. That Little Girl. 🙂
The one thing I can’t go without when I’m scared, is lost! – My lucky armband. Time is running out and the old blue taxi with mismatched seat covers is about to arrive. I reek of nervousness and panic until my mother calmly sits me down and asks what the matter is because my hurried footsteps all around the house aren’t easy on the ears.
I let it go, the taxi arrives and it carries my devoid-of-lucky-armband body to school – to collect my yearly report card. My best bud and I are visibly worried and we telepathically agree to be silent all the way back to school. I was the type of guy who joked around in class and did just enough to pass – yup, I was that guy.
The weather outside is blazing hot and that rendered the perfect excuse for why I was sweating profusely – Who me? Nervous? Scared? No way. In a small envelope would be a verdict that’d either make me become rightfully pompous as I would be in grade 12, or a wallflower that would for an entire year watch former classmates discuss their grade 12 biology homeworks..
I collected my report card and thankfully passed and the ride home was a pleasant one. When I got home, my mother had put my supposedly lucky armband on the kitchen table while my father had just come home from work as well. In his washed out blue jeans (that we all detest) calmly asked, “wenzenjani” (How did you do?).
I’m arguably the worst actor to exist on the face of the earth, – after 50cent’s of course– so as the 2nd worst actor alive, and tried to make a sad face in testament to the fact that i should never be an actor but also, to pretend I had failed the year. He motioned to me and enveloped me in his sweat and love and gave me a hug that any son can’t easily forget. Straight afterwards we sat down and discussed so many things, many of which i can’t remember.
I was also going to initiation school the following year so making it to grade 12 meant that everything was going according to plan. He gave me R50 and said I should buy that magazine i like so much.. (GQ magazine) because “I deserve it” – and so i did.
Shortly after that my father passed away; before I completed matric, before initiation school and before I grew to be a man. Arguably this was the trickiest year in my life but an unforgettable one as well. Like the report card day, my life reeked of nervousness and panic.
Matric had come and gone, initiation experience left a physical and psychological imprint of manhood and throughout these experiences I kept the little magazine I bought the day I passed grade 11, strangely enough that was also the day I decided to become a journalist or a writer.
Fast forward a couple of years later, I would become the guy that I am today, an easygoing darkie , who trusts my decisions a lot more and face life’s crappy issues both without the support of uMadiba (utata) & my lucky armband.
By Lwazi Ndima
Here is an artist that brings with her an unmistakably brilliant expression of artistry. A voice that is unparalleled to any other musician of our time, instead, critics are boldly uttering her name in association with incomparable greats like NIna Simone and Billie Holiday.
2013 saw the fiercely talented singer and pianist Laura Mvula release her critically acclaimed debut album “SIng To the Moon” that made most noteworthy musical pundits sit up and take notice. Also the nominee for the prestigious Brits Choice awards earlier this year, that saw Adele and Emeli Sandé win in the previous years, Mvula’s career officially received a jumpstart that scores of artists crave for.
Hailing from Birmingham, London , the former receptionist who started her musical journey experimenting with garageband (apple music creation software) has now been working with industry giants like Jamie cullum and Prince and playing at huge festivals like Glastonbury-…
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I recently had a chat with a friend who was frank in telling me that our friendship had changed over the years. This, she said, was due to us growing up and apart from each other. I was relatively “unsober” (not a real word) during this conversation and it probably wasn’t as deep/thought provoking as I had experienced but the message was clear. The status of our friendship had changed and I sensed that a bit of blame was assigned to me, which was a bit unfair but…ok.. this is not about that.
This got me thinking of the many people i’ve known to be my friends. Whether or not they have felt this way, or blame me for not keeping in touch. (which is a two-way street but again…ok, – moving on) Have I been the type of person who doesn’t value friendships or just relationships in general. I started asking myself these questions because this wasn’t the first person to tell me we’re mot as “tight” as we’re used to be.
In the interest of bettering myself as a person I want to learn how to keep friendships that facilitate the process of me becoming a better guy. Which, might i add, is going to be a bit difficult because I’m already so awesome.
I have since adopted the seemingly obvious task of telling my friends who I miss that I actually miss them and even if the friendship has changed, communicate how I still value what they mean to me. In order to do this though I have had to let go of the heavy burden that comes with having pride or an ego. By this i mean that I don’t become attached to the “why doesn’t he/she gimme a call and check up on me?, “why do I always have to be the one making in an effort” etc..
All of this is something that as a guy has never been a priority because I assumed we don’t have to put as much effort in friendships /relationships… (boy was I wrong). The practical realities of this shift in perspective are by no means easy to implement – even as a guy – but learning to value people that mean something in your life takes effort.
It is not always reciprocated in the way we’d all like but trust me.. It makes all the difference in the world regardless of your gender. and the trick is to create friendships that value this kind of effort.
– Lwazi.
A photo I took about four years ago, Still one of my favorites.
l w a z i N d i m a 