Blessing’s HIFA Diary - Day 5, Messing with my mojo
1 May, Saturday
Coca-Cola day
“Open happiness.”
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I left HIFA early today because being a Saturday, it was so crowded that it had become stressful to be there, the vibe had changed completely and the bouncers at the main stage gates had messed with my mojo.
The day started off great: press conference was colourful, with a wide range of guests and we were treated to a lovely serenade by The Magnets (an a cappella group from the UK). From there I rushed to my first show of the day, which was Musicolour, featuring Outspoken (spoken word artist) and his band The Essence, in collaboration with Trio Broz (string trio courtesy of the Embassy of Italy and the European Union), and Upmost – My Brother’s Keeper (spoken word artist). Out of the featured repertoire, my absolute favourite was one I’d never heard before; a satirical number about two domestic servants fighting over who was the best servant to baas and medem. The gardener ( Outspoken) and the cook (Upmost) do not like each other, but each one of them loves his medem and loves his baas. I laughed uproariously. These two guys have mad skills and Trio Broz were superb.
Now, Outspoken tackles issues of global politics and personal freedom. What was ironic is that at the end of a particular track, a member of the audience walked up to the stage and made a comment about the song. First of all, should audience members even be allowed to approach performers during a set? I wondered why this was allowed because none of the many festival staff at hand made a move to ask the lady to return to her seat. Read more
Blessing’s HIFA Diary - Day 4, Bedridden spirit, poetry & ZESA
30 April Friday
Lion Lager day
“Life is just a shelter for the soul.” – Phillippa Yaa de Villiers - poet (HIFA 2010)
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Today my body came to HIFA but my spirit stayed in bed. It caught up with me much later on, just before the Hot House Flowers show in the evening but by that time I could only persuade my body to stay only a little bit longer.
My day started off with Only Hope, a play at the Standard Theatre, which ironically enough began with a funeral scene, just like Hamlet did, in the same theatre two days ago. The dirge they sang was exactly the same as in Hamlet, but without the searing quality of the delivery, however, it fitted the scene. Deja-vu? I sat too close to the front and felt far too involved in the whole enterprise. I always prefer to be a little further away so as not to feel too captive an audience. However, there was some really good acting here. Read more
