afrikaaps
Straight from its world premiere at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) in Oudtshoorn, the cutting-edge hiphopera Afrikaaps is coming to the Baxter Theatre. It will be playing from 7 to 23 April at 20:00 nightly.
Director, Catherine Henegan, has assembled a formidable ensemble of young guns and an equally impressive creative team to help trace the origins of Afrikaans all the way back to the 1600s and follow its evolution through to the present day.
The line-up features hip-hop poet, performer and musician, Jitsvinger; composer, pianist and jazz prodigy, Kyle Shepherd; singer and poet, Blaq Pearl; hip-hop artist and activist, Emile Jansen; bassist and musician, Shane Cooper; singer, actor and dancer, Moenier Adams; rapper and break-dancer, Bliksemstraal; and poet and storyteller, Jethro Louw of the Khoi Khonnexion.
Set in a dynamic digital landscape, the ensemble, Die Argitekbekke, represents an eclectic fusion of musical genres. In true hip-hop mode this musical theatre piece employs glitches; scratches; beats; and rhymes to traverse time, while also referencing the multiplicity of traditional Cape styles like Ghoema and Kaapse Klopse.
South African-born Henegan once again teams up with film maker; director; poet; novelist; musician; and blogger, Aryan Kaganof, who takes on the role of dramaturg for this production. The two last worked together in South Africa on The Shooting Gallery, which was presented at The Market Theatre and at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown. Documentary film maker, Dylan Valley, is responsible for the video and for documenting the process with lighting by top international lighting designer, Jantje Geldof.
Afrikaaps is an international collaboration between the Baxter Theatre Centre and The Glasshouse Theatre Collective in Amsterdam, in association with ABSA KKNK, with additional support from the Performing Arts Fund of Netherlands; City of Amsterdam; and Theatre Institute of the Netherlands.
Henegan is Co-founder of The Glasshouse, a multi-disciplinary theatre collective based in Amsterdam. She made her debut as a director in South Africa in 2006 with the controversial media performance of The Shooting Gallery about a war photographer with a moral dilemma.
“With this collaboration I am excited to be bringing together artists from different disciplines made up of musicians; performers; and film makers for this theatrical event,” says Henegan.
This theatre production is part of a bigger movement of efforts to reclaim the Afrikaans language for all who speak it. There is a side to the language - the Creole birth of the language - that has been overlooked in South Africa’s collective consciousness. The role of indigenous cultures and the slave population in forging the language has generally been excluded from the history books. The Afrikaans hip-hop movement in the Cape, through voices like Jitsvinger; Blaq Pearl; and Emile Jansen, is fueled by celebrating and reclaiming indigenous cultural heritage, and defining and re-defining who the Afrikaners of the 21st century are.
The makers of Afrikaaps set out on a mission of investigation and redefinition combining storytelling; poetry; music; and video to trace the evolution and roots of Afrikaans. As Dylan Valley, who is making the video component of the production, has pointed out, “We need to recognise Afrikaans as part of the heritage of all South Africans, and not only of one particular racial group. Together we can make Afrikaans a language of liberation! ”
Afrikaaps runs at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival from 1 to 4 April and then transfers to the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town for a short season from 7 to 23 April at 20:00 nightly. Booking is through Computicket on 083 915 8000; online at www.computicket.co.za; or at any Shoprite Checkers outlet countrywide.
this article first appeared on mediaupdate.co.za
