Arts on ‘Chillas Day’

IN township lingo, Thursdays are traditionally called “Chillas Days” and on this day, the city becomes a hive of artistic and cultural activity.

All these activities are held under the auspices of Limpopo Arts and Culture Association, the custodians of artistic and cultural genres every Thursday.

Last Thursday’s menu included the introduction of laughter therapy in the workplace by Craig Jeffry, poetry by Mmakgabo Nkoana and a cultural fashion weekend.

From poetry, Afro-pop, rap to painting, the stage is always perfectly set for impressive works of art at the Polokwane Art Museum.

The line-up included fashion designs, make-up artistry and fashion photography with famous faces of fashion gurus, Khomotjo Malatji of Grapevine and Phuti Mohopo, a fashion photographer.

Braam Kempen, an artist who conducts free drawing classes, says when it comes to artwork, there is nothing that should stop one from picking up a pencil and being the desired artist.

Every time you listen to poets from Sykos R Dope, its feels like attending a 300-year-long African political rally with only one item on the agenda: the freedom of the souls of black people.

Formed at the beginning of the new millennium, Sykos R Dope have thoroughly observed more than their fair share of revolution.

Having known each other since 2000 in various community music and poetry activities, they have already established a family unit based on brotherhood.

Here, at the tail-end of civil right movement and the high point of radical black consciousness, with hip hop’s creative power gaining ground, they marched, rhymed and mastered the African bongo and djembe drums, and managed to create a unique marriage of word and sound.

Seen in historical context, Sykos R Dope, with their mixture of rage, rhythmic artistry and performance poetry, they have skilfully planted the seeds of hip hop music.

Their blend of politics and music was inspired by classical acts such as De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest, who harnessed the art to become iconic in their own right.

Asked about what they think of hip hop today, this multi-billion dollar industry complete with its cabals, fashion lines, adverts, glamorous addresses, feminist revolution and the presence of far-flung third world shantytowns like Hollywood Boulevard, Retang Segodi Malahlela gives you a straightforward reply.

“Our poetry and hip hop are a way of awakening and engaging black people to stand up and take responsibility of the course their lives are taking,” says Malahlela.

As you listen carefully to the lines of Sykos R Dope legends like Khomotjo “Peace” Sebone and rapper, Noko Rammutla, you discover a direct bearing on Gill Scott’s 1974 hit, The Revolution Shall Not Be Televised and the US-Afro Caribbean cult band, The Fugees’s Grammy-winning, The Score.

From a South African musical perspective, the duo could be felt in the ’70s poet, Mafika Gwala’s ventures into the blues and Sandile Dikeni’s later adventures into jazz and poetry experiments.

“It is flattering, but that’s not part of the programme,” says Peace. Rammutla adds that: “First, we are the sharecropping, later, civil rights so-called freedom slaves.”