Relive the 80s club scene

DURBAN’S popular night club Origin (Clark Road, Glenwood) is set to host Durban’s premier alternative night GO! PLAY!, a reunion spanning some 30 years of clubbing focusing mainly on the alternative music explosion of the ‘80s, on Friday 13 May.

Talking centre stage will be Durban’s premier alternative DJ and multimedia artist Helgé Janssen who pioneered the alternative club music scene through the ‘80s into the mid-to-late ‘90s starting out at Faces (upstairs) between ’81 to ’86. Once Faces had closed due to the ongoing and persistent interest of the Apartheid security forces, Helgé then started his own venture called Play which was hosted over the following 10 years at the Community Arts Workshop (opposite the ICC) in Walnut Road, then at 330 Night Club, Point Road on a Friday night, moving eventually to the Berea Inn on a Tuesday night.

Supporting Helgé at the GO! PLAY! event deejaying will be his son Leo aka Dr Nonono. Leo was also played the didgeridoo and keyboard for the highly successful seven member Durban band ‘Towards Higher Consciousness’. Leo has developed his own unique style of deejaying in a modern alternative context and has a popular following.

Also featured will be DJ outa i (Mario Passarra) one of three founding members of Scratch Night Club in Cape Town. Mario, who is an art historian, founded the Africa South Arts Initiative, an online art site, which seeks to rebalance the exposure of African Art within the African diaspora. Mario will be playing a predominantly reggae set.

Upstairs at Origin will feature an exhibition of paintings by well-known Durban artist Lee Hempson who won the KZNSA members exhibition last year and has had many successful exhibitions, notably at ArtSpace in Umgeni Road. Lee currently lectures at ML Sultan Technical College.

A collaboration of memes from Helgé, Leo, Mario, Lee and Cape Town based, yet world renowned artist and filmmaker Aryan Kaganof, will be screened against the side of the building across the road from Origin. There will be fire breathers and a fashion show with men modelling Helgé’s designer shweshwe skirts.

The party starts at 8.30pm. Entrance is R50 for students (with cards) before 10pm. Before 10pm, entrance is R60 for women and R80 for men, and after 10pm cost is R80 for women and R100 for men.