United Opposition Parties :: Secrecy Bill Meeting

A creative journalism piece documenting the United Opposition Parties' public meeting concerning the "Secrecy Bill" on Saturday 17 March 2012 in Khayelitsha. Excerpts of speakers from the participating parties and weaved together to reflect a shared position on the issue at hand while Mangosuthu Buthelezi, whose Inkatha Freedom Party plays a key role in bringing opposition parties together, concludes proceedings by evoking the spirit of a new movement.

Kyle Shepherd :: South African History !X (2012)

Kyle Shepherd’s music is not only a form of personal expression but also reveals bright collaborative sparks with his trio and guests and is seeped in South Africa’s collective consciousness. A compelling performer and articulate interviewee, Kyle appears in the film Mama Goema (2011) and underlines how deeply Cape Town’s music is connected to the “goema lifestyle” of our city’s inhabitants. Co-produced by Profoundly South African, the above video formed part of a value exchange with the filmmakers. It accompanies the launch of South African History !X (2012), an album in which Kyle unravels the matrix of social and historic influences that inform his compositions.

“X in mathematics represents the unknown. For my generation of young South Africans, large parts of our history still remain unknown. Many of us are, however, committed to knowing ourselves through knowing our country and the truth around its history. Like all my work, this still remains a sincerely musical statement, with the music also offering a path to self-discovery.” Kyle Shepherd

Ernestine Deane & The Vision

Ernestine Deane’s multi-faceted artistic trajectory has seen her fronting the electro combo MoodPhase5, a group that propelled Cape Town sound into the “naughties” with the millennium masterpiece Steady On (2000). A softer solo release, Dub for Mama, appeared in 2007 and she has crafted moving, socio-historic performance pieces in recent years. Her current trio, Ernestine & The Vision, blends rhythm with soul and features percussionist Brian de Goede and Texito Langa on drums. Deeply inspired by Cape Town and its people, Ernestine appears in the music documentary Mama Goema (2011). Co-produced by Profoundly South African, the above video formed part of a value exchange with the filmmakers.

Cape Town Motif :: Conrad Hicks

Cape Town has long projected a single dimension to the international community, flaunting its natural beauty and presenting a caricature of its rich culture. While mountain and sea are undeniably Cape Town’s principle hooks, the picture is incomplete without exploring their intrinsic link to the creative pulse at the city’s heart.

Motif is a prospective web-doc series seeking funding and/or co-production to showcase twelve creative Capetonians and allow viewers to experience the city through their craft. Creativity in Cape Town is not driven by a collective manifesto or common goals but there is a clearly distinguishable “motif” in the city’s creative emissions. All it takes is twelve creatives for the pattern to emerge. A broad range of creative disciplines will be presented with a view to traversing socio-economic, gender, ethnic and national lines. The widest possible lens is applied to reflect the city’s contemporary multiplicity.

Against the backdrop of Cape Town being selected as World Design Capital 2014, our pilot “webisode” features one of our city’s many extraordinary creative talents. Conrad Hicks, a blacksmith who works in the iconic Bijou building in the suburb of Observatory, shares his thoughts on the overlapping worlds of toolmaking and sculpture. A Profoundly South African co-production, this video was created by Matthew Carkeek, Calum MacNaughton and Ian Naidu for Inner City Media.

The Genuines :: Recorded Works 1986-1993

A lightning-speed inventory of protest and defiance is mashed with theatrical satire and cut against biting realism to create an inspired piece of art of great cultural significance. The Genuines “Struggle” video is the work of filmmakers Joëlle Chesselet and Craig Matthew of Doxa Productions and appears in the documentary Mama Goema. Garnering cult status for its high energy performances, these are the band's complete recorded works:

► GOEMA (Shifty Records, 1986)
Recorded at Shifty Studios (Johannesburg - June 1986)
Produced & Engineered by Lloyd Ross
DRUMS: Ian Herman
KEYBOARDS, VOCALS & PERCUSSION: Hilton Schilder
GUITAR: Gerard O'Brien
BASS & VOCALS: Mac McKenzie

A1. Troubled Dreams (G.S. McKenzie)
A2. Pictures of You (G.S. McKenzie)
A3. Shadows Lengthens (H. Schilder, D. Lynnejutzen)
A4. Goema (G.S. McKenzie)
A5. Observations (G.S. McKenzie)
A6. Struggle (G.S. McKenzie, R. Jansen)
B1. 20th Floor (G.S. McKenzie)
B2. The Edge (G.S. McKenzie)
B3. Let's Walk (G.S. McKenzie)
B4. Narrow Escape (H. Schilder)
B5. The Dancer (G.S. McKenzie)
B6. Do It Right (G.S. McKenzie)










► MR. MAC & THE GENUINES (Shifty Records, 1987)
Recorded at Shifty Studios (Johannesburg - July to October 1987)
Produced & Engineered by Lloyd Ross
BANJO & HUMMING: Sam "Mr. Mac" McKenzie
GUITAR: Gerard O'Brien
DRUMS: Ian Herman
BASS & VOCALS: Gerald "Mac" McKenzie
KEYBOARDS, PERCUSSION & VOCALS: Hilton Schilder
BRASS ARRANGEMENTS: Robbie Jansen (Alto Sax) & Tony Cedras (Trumpet)

A1. Baba Riebab/Vrot Tamatie (Traditional | The Genuines)
A2. Beetle (Traditional | S. McKenzie)
A3. Desperately (G.S. McKenzie)
A4. Captain McKenzie (H. Schilder)
A5. Hies Ôs Weer (G.S. McKenzie)
A6. Ou Kleine Jannie (H. Schilder)
A7. Won't Discuss It (G.S. McKenzie)
B1. Moonbeams (S. McKenzie)
B2. Maanskyn (Traditional | The Genuines)
B3. Blikkie Se Boem (Traditional | The Genuines)
B4. Ek Het 'n Bra (H. Schilder)
B5. Ja Soe Waar (H. Schilder)
B6. Do It Right (G.S. McKenzie)
B7. Mr. Mac Plays On (S. McKenzie)







► CHASING THE VOODOO (Provogue Music, 1991) 
Recorded at Tango Studio (Eindhoven, Netherlands - November 1990)
Engineered by Frank van Donkersgoed
Mixed & Edited by Peer Raven
GUITAR & BACKING VOCALS: Gerard O'Brien
VOCALS & BASS: Mac McKenzie
DRUMS & BACKING VOCALS: Karriem Darries
SPECIAL GUEST: Louis Raubenheimer
All Songs Composed by G.S. McKenzie

1. Ozone Layer
2. Love Song
3. Me & My Baby
4. All About
5. Fire of Life
6. Hope & Despair
7. Woman is...
8. Slow Slow
9. 21st Century
10. I Love a Scandal
11. Bridges













► NIGHTS WITH THE CAPE GYPSIES (Mountain Records, 1993)
Recorded at Milestone Studios (Cape Town - 1993)
Produced by Murray Anderson
Mastered by Helge Halvé
ELECTRIC BASS & VOCALS: Gerald "Mac" McKenzie
ELECTRIC GUITAR: Gerard O'Brien
ACOUSTIC PIANO & SYNTHESIZERS: Hilton Schilder
DRUMS: Vincent Pavitt & Jack Momple
SAXOPHONE & FLUTE: Robbie Jansen

1. Jompass (H. Schilder)
2. Bulala Ekabe (H. Schilder)
3. Slow Slow (G.S. McKenzie)
4. Night with the Cape Gypsies (G.S. McKenzie)
5. Wie is Frank? (H. Schilder)
6. Wave After Wave (G.S. McKenzie)
7. Chris is Slams (H. Schilder)
8. National Explosion (G.S. McKenzie)

Cape Town Goema Orchestra :: Table Bay Concerto

“This showcase of Cape music will do Capetonians proud,” says composer Mac McKenzie. “The Table Bay Concerto in G-Major is a chronological account of Table Bay as I imagine it, my impression of its evolution from the time just before the arrival of European settlers through the era of colonialism up to the present. I’ve borrowed from various forms such as European hymnody, classical and street music (which I sometimes call tsotsi music) and assimilated them into goema, the heartbeat of the minstrel carnival.”

“The 20-piece Cape Town Goema Orchestra is a synergy of diverse performers from highly experienced classical, jazz and traditional instrumentalists to young church and street musicians, all connected to the rich culture and soundscape of our city. It’s a truly unifying force in our country that celebrates and takes our music forward with vision and passion.”

A "bootleg" concert video was produced by Profoundly South African for the Cape Town Composers' Workshop archive and documents the world première of the the Table Bay Concerto on 26 November 2011. Also featured here is the work of guest composers Mandla Mlangeni and Derek Gripper. Stream the following playlist above:

1. D-Major Goema (G.S. McKenzie)
2. Inventory (M. Mlangeni)
3. Copenhagen (D. Gripper)
4. The Table Bay Concerto in G-Major (G.S. McKenzie)
5. Healing Destination ft. Kaatjie Davids (G.S. McKenzie)

Bokamoso Ba Rona :: Youth Dialogue Forums

In early 2011, representatives of South Africa's youth assembled in Caledon in the Western Cape to take part in the Parliamentary Millennium Project's Youth Dialogue Forums (forming part of the broader Bokamoso Ba Rona Youth Campaign). Participants took part in workshops and forums, articulating the needs and concerns young people in South Africa.

Mac McKenzie :: Selected Recordings 1998-2009

The musical journey of Gerald Samuel “Mac” McKenzie is a diverse string of manifestations that spans a professional recording career of over twenty-five years. Despite surface differences, an indispensable denominator binds the brash punk riffs of the Genuines in 1986 to the sultry violin lines of the Cape Town Composers’ Workshop showcase in 2009. In a word, it’s goema. Here are some selected recordings to seek out and investigate:

► Namaqua - Daylight (1998)
1. The Mountain, Sand & Sea (G.S. McKenzie)
2. Daylight (G.S. McKenzie)
3. Stella by Starlight (V. Young)
4. Autumn Leaves (J. Mercer)
5. Green Dolphin Street (B. Kaper, N. Washington)
6. The Days of Wine & Roses (H. Mancini)
7. Concilia (G.S. McKenzie)
8. Café Camissa (G.S. McKenzie)
9. Donna Lee (M. Davis, C. Parker)

► The Goema Captains of Cape Town - Healing Destination (2004)
1. Alibama (Traditional | G.S. McKenzie)
2. Healing Destination (G.S. McKenzie)
3. Night March (Traditional | G.S. McKenzie)
4. Disentangled (G.S. McKenzie)
5. Red Rock City (G.S. McKenzie)
6. The Healing (G.S. McKenzie, H. Schilder)
7. To Wisdom (G.S. McKenzie)
8. Raa (G.S. McKenzie)
9. Goema Goema (Traditional | G.S. McKenzie)
10. Bolero (Ravel | G.S. McKenzie)
11. Goema Blues in F (G.S. McKenzie)

► Mac McKenzie - Live in Bridgetown (2009)
1. F-Major Goema (G.S. McKenzie)
2. The Healing (G.S. McKenzie, H. Schilder)
3. Colibri (Variation 1) (G.S. McKenzie)
4. D 76 (G.S. McKenzie)
5. F-Major Waltz (G.S. McKenzie)
6. Cape Town Dance (G.S. McKenzie)
7. Colibri (Variation 2) (G.S. McKenzie)













(See Goema Orchestra for 2010 recording) 
Photo © Sara Gouveia

Jou Ma Se Goema :: Film Teaser

Cape Town came about as a result of its location and the subsequent historic forces that were visited upon it. What emerged is a city with cultural and linguistic characteristics drawn from the disparate influences of Western Europe, Maritime Southeast Asia and Southern Africa (amongst others).

While Cape Town’s musicians take inspiration from the natural wonders that surround them, they inhabit an African city in the process of negotiating how it projects itself to the rest of the world. A place of musical diversity, modern Cape Town seeks to rise above tolerance to pursue meaningful cultural integration. This challenge is reflected in Cape Town’s oldest manifestation of authentic musical culture, Tweede Nuwe Jaar and the Coon Carnival.

The Carnival’s rhythm, Goema, initially a term describing the drums used in the minstrel parades and subsequently the name of the characteristic Cape beat that emerged from these drums, was adopted as a Cape Jazz idiom in the 20th century and has been interpreted through Rock, Hip-Hop and Electro in recent times. Modern usage of the word reflects a growing re-appraisal of Klopse culture and a new movement that defines Cape Town’s “sound” by the inventive blending of cultural influences.

(This teaser evolved into the documentary Mama Goema)

Cape Town Goema Orchestra :: Saturday 28 August 2010

From punk through penthouse to the university, Mac McKenzie has always pushed the boundaries of Goema, the rhythmic groove at the heart of Cape Town's carnival culture. During the 80s, he injected defiance into the idiom with The Geniunes, creating lightning-speed Rock arrangements and the resistance anthem "Struggle." In 2002, Mac guided Goema into a more refined arena with The Goema Captains of Cape Town, cloaking the Cape vibe in Cool Jazz. Now Mac’s back with an orchestra to boot! Steering Goema into Classical territory, Mac McKenzie has assembled The Cape Town Goema Orchestra to showcase a composition entitled "Goema Symphony No. 1."