All roads lead to 7Arts Theatre tonight for a
Comedy threesome... (ehem) , I meant ‘A Triple Comedy Line Up’featuring Carl Joshua Ncube flanked by South
African Laughter giants Chris Forrest and Mark Banks! Doors open at 1830hrs for
this ‘one-nighter’ with ample time for your ‘African time’ antics cause the
show begins at 1930hrs. Tickets were limited and are now nearly sold out, so
you might want to make a rush for yours and eh...your plus one also..Maybe?!
Here’s a
quick background on these kickass comedians:
Mark Banks
Mark has
over 20 years in the art of making people LOL with that much time under his
belt! (Not necessarily literal) he proudly labels himself “as old as theatre”. His
latest offering is a one-man show, titled “Banksrupt”, Mark Banks is one of the
most recognized and respected comedians of his time.
In over, Mark boasts at least one new one-man show each year, of which he
writes and performs all the material himself in that case we’re honoured to
have a looksie!
Chris Forrest
More recently known for his one man show “The
Flip Side”, appearance on South Africa’s “The Heavyweight Comedy Jam” Chris Forrest
has been in the funny business for over 10 years. Chris is said to speak slowly
but to think fast, he is . forWe love a guy who’s quick on the draw...
especially if he acts a fool whiles he’s at it!
Carl Joshua Ncube
Saving the
best last, Carl is currently the BIGGEST Zimbabwean Stand Up Comedian (in more
ways than one the guy is creepy tall...well I’m short so...) Carl is currently
on a quest to take his version of Zimbabwe to the world through obscenely good
looking food (I say this because I’ve only seen photos) / cooking skills,
marathon running or through the simple trade of getting people to wet
themselves...with laughter. #TSKC
Hey guys! Gosh I missed you! My life has been in weird places but never you mind let’s talk music (even if it’s late)! I had the pleasure of watching and listening to French muso, Dj Oil spin at Red Bar on Friday the 26th of April. This was courtesy of Af de Harare, a teaser for the kick a** gig that was to come during the collaborative performance during HIFA (Which I missed *bangs head into wall*). Though I did not get to watch Oil for long I had one word to describe his mix and sound…GROOVYBaby! Okay, okay I know those are two words but his music did sound Austin Powers groovy! That is to say it was populated by 60s funk and some killer soulful Motown sounds I didn’t even know existed! It was, just as my sister said in passing an ‘acquired taste’ however this 40 year old cool –guy can spin for my musical pallet ANY day! And from the patrons that ‘grooved’ to the beat, (Including a handful of The Monkey Nuts’ band members, Mbira diva Hope Masike and rocker Dimitri to name a few) I’m sure many more would concur. Check out my badly recorded mini clips of his set below AND check out DJ Oil’s Profile Here!#TSKC
Seeing as there are 220 million French speakers worldwide, 96.2 million of
those being in Africa; it is s no wonder that
the one of the Organization of La Francophonie’s missions has been to promote
solidarity amongst 70 of its member states through the cultivation of
linguistic and cultural diversity. In pursuit of all things Artsy & French
*wink* I headed for the Le Cabaret first showing on Thursday night.
The time on the
Posters and flyers heralded the start of the show to be 7pm however it
officially began at 7.30, no one was complaining though this gave the patrons
enough time to sip or like me gulp the oh so complimentary and not so French wine.
Arties mixed it up as there was a hum of excited conversation. I had to admit
after one glass of dry white I was giggly and girly (oh the shame), I probably
need to work on my booze ethic since a 12 year old with the very same glass
seemed to be doing much better than I. (Could it be more French culture?)
He looked a little like this....
The foyer presented
everything French; they certainly did a fantastic job transforming it; a
Confectionary tray teaming with Croissants (my favourite), the colours Blue, White
and Red (French flag duh!), a giant replica
of the famous Arc de Triomphe and folk music in the corner by a fairly old duo
playing the Saxophone and Accordion. Ah le Parisan Cabaret indeed!
As the show began a
young man (Josh Harley presumably the MC for the night) scantily clad in slacks,
a bowtie and suspenders (cheese-appeal) teamed with more make up Dita Von Teese
herself has ever worn; kept us informed and mildly amused as he see-sawed
between mock French accents and stumbled (humourously) over complex Shona stage
names and often English ones too.(His cute backside did no harm to the entertainment!)
The live band, Summer
Breeze gave a fantastic Jazzy backing as Josh serenaded, “thank heavens for
little girls For little girls get bigger every day!”; a dubious song indeed
that I truly enjoyed.
Soon after Kristina Jenkins, coupled with a young
gentleman Basil did the damn funkiest duel dance I’ve ever seen. It had a very ‘Love
the way you lie’ feel as they mock argued as lovers in dance to Adeles’ ‘Turning
Tables’. Kristina’s emotion was clear, a combination of her Contemporary Ballet
and Basil’s urban Break-dance heated up the stage as they ‘made-up’ to Miguel’s
‘Adorn’. *fans self*
Kristina indicated her versatility and singing talent later
as she did a cover of Pink Martini’s ‘Sympathique’;
something about not wanting to work and smoking to forget life’s problems (sounds
like a plan to me).
A very buxom quartet
of ladies called African Voice sang a medley of Congolese traditional music as well as a cover of ‘In the jungle’ in
French(dans la jungle). It was a beautiful harmony if voices that probably needed
to practice their coordination a tad bit more. (I enjoyed it all the same
especially the fact that they were barefoot!).
I had the pleasure of
being audience to Mangoma and Mutsa as they dueled on the Congas (Percussion)
and Drums respectively! It was LOUD, Chaotic and a fantastic Rock and Afro beat
fusion (Rumba). Restraining myself from standing and displaying my not-so-cool
dance moves was an effort indeed.
After the 10minute
interval the Convent Girls Junior Choir (cute as buttons) nearly brought me to
tears as they did the PG13 version of the ‘Can-Can’ “yes I can…of course you
can can!”. The Stripes, an acapella group from Prince Edward taught us in true American
style Spirituals to “take a walk in your neighbours shoes”.
Josh (remember the MC
with the cute a**), was back with a very well acted out Frank Sinatra song ‘I
love Paris’ right after, he started on his vote of thanks and I realized it was
nearly time to end the night (to my disappointment). In quick paced pursuit a harem
of beautiful young ladies Can-caned gymnastically and gracefully as they
displayed their bloomers and under skirts donned in the French flag colours.
Kinkini’s dance out cheered
me up as they (all 7of them) did an Indian, Ballet, Pop (Michael Jackson
inspired), Hip Hop dance blend! Kethen and his group of dancers were beyond
cool as they swayed, split, and flipped all over the stage. Alas the show ended.
The posters promised “kitschy fun…nostalgia…delicious
clichés up to your elbows”; and after all was said and done I agreed. Yes one
minute I was in a Le Chat Noir, watching Burlesque and
listening to Edith Piaf serenade my pants off and the next back home or so haphazardly
with Afro beat and locally harnessed talent in song and dance!
That
transition is most probably the point of La Francophonie week. Our cultural diversity
as a nation (Zimbabwe) highlighted which we often take for granted. A chance to
laugh at ourselves and with others, to long for and appreciate an era we not
ever lived once. An emotional rollercoaster minus the puke, that was the French
Cabaret for me.TSKC
Last night I had the pleasure of Playing hostess to the Book Cafe Stage and audience. This I noted was where the rawest of Zimbabwean talent lurked...and I do mean Raw ! Here are the highs and lows, faves and funnies of the night Videos and ALL! Enjoy :) Share and Comment! ..x.x
It was a bit of a erm... shaky start but thank GOD! the crowd was a friendly one !
Dimiti & The Scarecrow ROCKED the stage with some Rock...BaShupi couldn't help himself he had to join in and represent the Roots with eh ehe somewhere there! My inner coconut presented itself as I acted a foool! \m/ Definitely one of my most Favourite Performances!
Discord or Iscord (appearantly the D is silent as in Django unchained?! *shrug*) and the songbird Pauline from Mafriq killed it ...they set a high standard for the aspiring artists to follow, with some words of encouragement in tow. I found the reference to abuse in Discord's ad-lib rather...intriguing hmmm... either way its great there was more instrument than CD in this performance. It came up tops for me!
While MCing at the #TheBookCafe's #OpenMic,I got to perform a piece of
my Poetry for the first time! It was dead Scary but some guys liked
it...something about my number or ''yes baby i'm listening'' LOL. What do you think? Leave your comments below and please do share! #TSKC
Mark Banks 
Saving the
best last, Carl is currently the BIGGEST Zimbabwean Stand Up Comedian (in more
ways than one the guy is creepy tall...well I’m short so...) Carl is currently
on a quest to take his version of Zimbabwe to the world through obscenely good
looking food (I say this because I’ve only seen photos) / cooking skills,
marathon running or through the simple trade of getting people to wet
themselves...with laughter. #TSKC
