Umcimbi.com: the people’s gathering, Music
Venue: The Black Power Station
Review/interview
By Ntombekhaya Busuku
Umcimbi.com- The People’s Gathering was billed to last 60 minutes, but expanded into two hours – that’s how good it was.
It was cold at the Black Power Station on Friday night, but the audience was heartily warmed by all four of the performances.
Umcimbi.com prides itself on uplifting rising Eastern Cape artistic talents – poets, painters, Hip-Hop, jazz and Afro-soul musicians – by embracing the region’s culture and language. And all four of Friday’s performances were in isiXhosa, including Hip-Hop artist Sivuyile Kaba.
I was not expecting this. Rappers tend to use English. It was beautiful to watch these uncompromising artists engage and entertain the mainly isiXhosa audience in their language. I also appreciated their avoidance of vulgar language!
I caught up with Kaba after his performance.
He said he shifted from rapping in English to isiXhosa to overcome “miscommunications and language barriers”.
“I realised that my art is spiritual because ndiyasetyenziswa.” [I am being used to transmit messages through music]. “It was pointless for me to rap in English because of the disconnect with the audience.”
He said he uses his voice to heal and instil hope: “Lo mculo liyeza kuba ndiyaphila xa ndigqiba kuwenza.” [“My music is my medicine because I feel better after singing.”]
“I take my experiences and put them into my music and hope someone out there will relate to it,” Kaba said. “Music is about lived experiences.”
Kaba Sivuyile, Hip-Hop artist, rapping his lungs out. Photo: Dideka Njemla.For me, Avuyisiwe Mafutha’s Afro-soul performance stood out. Her mix of old and contemporary songs drenched the venue in nostalgia. Her songs transported me to the beautiful times when my family and I would listen to the radio and dance. It was as though she was reading our minds – her songs resonated with the audience.
Mafutha’s (stage name Vee) said she uses music to “confide in others”. “Ingoma zam ziSad ixesha elininzi, ndiy’introvert andikwazi uthetha ngezinto ezenzeka kum, so whenever I feel blue, I write poems and transform them into songs,” she said. [Most of my songs are sad. As an introverted person, I can’t speak about things that are happening to me, so I write poems and transform those poems into songs.]
Vee believes in the preservation of African languages and culture, and she uses her writing and voice to ensure they don’t die. “If today’s generation adopts Western style into our art, then … our culture and languages will die. We should follow in the steps of artists who lived before us, like Miriam Makeba. They did their part, and it’s our turn now,” she said.
