Bubblegum Club

Tag: angel ho

  • Ses’fikile – siwu mndeni // celebrating queer spaces and queer artists

    Ses’fikile – siwu mndeni // celebrating queer spaces and queer artists

    Zer021 is an inclusive queer club in Cape Town, and will be the host of Ses’fikile – siwu mndeni on the 20th of July. Translating to ‘we’re here; we’re family’ in English, the name of the event speaks to the importance of queer people celebrating the presence of spaces such as Zer021 as well as the queer artists who continue to push their creative practices.

    Siwu Mndeni is the name of the ongoing collaboration between filmmakers and art practitioners Jabu Nadia Newman and Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose. Ses’fikile is the first project in their collaboration. “The whole inspiration for this project was to acknowledge or pay homage to poc queer club spaces that inspire creatives, drive culture and act as a sanctity for individuals who are discovering themselves,” Jabu and Luvuyo explain.explains.

    Zer021 will be transformed into a gallery space, disrupting ideas around where art can be viewed and who can have access to these spaces. Ses’fikile includes the premiere of the short film/music video produced and directed by Jabu and Luvuyo for FAKA’s latest single ‘Queenie’, produced by Angel-Ho. It will also include powerful photographs taken on set by Daniel Walton. To bring the event full circle, live performances by well-established and relatively new artists and djs will transform the dance floor into an exchange of energetic vibrations through gqom, hip hop, kwaito, house, and experimental sounds.  “The lineup consists of artists, acts and DJs who unapologetically carve out their own path and continue to inspire and give back to the community. The lineup consists solely of poc queer artists and incredible performers who are touring Europe and playing in different countries all over the world, yet are hardly get booked in their own country,” Jabu and Luvuyo explain. The performance lineup includes FAKA, Angel-Ho, Queezy, and a DJ lineup with K$, Nodiggity, Parasite Hilton and Sensitive Black Dyke.

    “Our event will not tolerate any racism, homophobia, transphobia, bullying, queerphobia, sexism, fatphobia, taking up space and in general no discrimination. It aims to be an inclusive space primarily for members of the LGBTQI+ and non binary individuals.”

    Find out more here.

  • The performers bringing SA flavour to M.I.A’s shows

    The performers bringing SA flavour to M.I.A’s shows

    M.I.A will be performing for the first time in Africa in Cape Town and Johannesburg on the 7th and 8th of June, and some of South Africa’s best talent will be sharing the stage with her. The selection of DJs and performers bring together sonic and creative experiences that touch on South African genres and their evolution. K-$, Jakinda, and Angel-Ho, will inject SA flavour at the performance in Cape Town, passing the torch to Buli, DJ Doowap, Phatstoki and Dear Ribane the following evening in Johannesburg. I interviewed the supporting artists to find out about their connections to M.I.A’s work and what audiences can expect at the shows.

    This will be the first time Cape Town will get to experience one of Angel-Ho’s live sets. When asked about the connection M.I.A’s fearlessness and determination and their own musical journey, they expressed that, “being fearless is something I grew into, being on stage my whole life, I developed a strong sense of self playing the roles of many characters. The same sensibility and comfort of performing is my greatest strength and I think that speaks to my journey to empower the voiceless.” Buli shared similar sentiments stating that, “I’ve always stayed true to my sound. I’ve never compromised my art for the purpose of trying to appeal to mainstream/commercial crowds. I think that’s the one thing I’ve always taken away from observing M.I.A as an artist. She always stays true to herself and sound; she never tries to compromise her music or herself.”

    K-$ will be kicking off with a 2 hour set, taking the audience on a trip down memory lane, and then increasing momentum for a real jol. Jakinda will draw on his Afro-futurist and industrial sound, while allowing space for experimentation. Phatstoki’s appreciation of feeding off the crowd’s energy will be the guiding premise for the set. As someone who enjoys re-inventing herself through fashion and music, DJ Doowap will be mimicking her brightly coloured hair and striking clothing with bass tunes. Transcendental and futuristic will be the name of the game with Dear Ribane, while Buli brings together a mix of electronic and ambient elements backed up by hip-hop based/inspired drums.

    With fearlessness, determination and an understanding of the connection between music and movement as the thread that is present in the journey’s and work of each performer, these shows are definitely not ones to miss.

  • M.I.A comes to South Africa in June

    M.I.A comes to South Africa in June

    Black Major Selects is partnering with the 20th Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival to bring M.I.A to South Africa for the first time this June.

    M.I.A fans will be happy to know that the visit includes the screenings of the critically acclaimed documentary MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A. Following its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January, South African audiences will be able to be the first on the continent to engage with the documentary that offers colourful insight into the origins of M.I.A., from her journey as an immigrant teenager in London to becoming a global star. Directed by her former art school friend Steve Loveridge, it includes personal clips shot by M.I.A and her closest friends over the last 22 years. Fans will appreciate this raw, intimate invite into M.I.A’s world.

    In addition to the screenings, M.I.A will have two live shows in Cape Town and Johannesburg on the 7th and 8th of June respectively. She will be teaming up with some of South Africa’s own musical and performance gems. This specially curated selection of South African dancers, artists and DJs radiate the same feeling of fearlessness and presence that Maya Arulpragasm has presented throughout her life. The Cape Town collaborators include Angel-Ho, K-$, and Jakinda. The Johannesburg artists are DJ Doowap, Phatstoki and Dear Ribane. This selection of artists represents various genres and perspectives on performance.

    Tickets and more information for M.I.A.’s live shows are available on the Black Major Selects site.

    Cape Town

    Date: Thursday 7th June 2018

    Venue: Old Biscuit Mill, 375 Albert Road, Woodstock

    Johannesburg

    Date: Friday 8th June 2018

    Venue: Newtown Music Factory, 10 Henry Nxumalo Street, Newtown

  • Angel-Ho: The Devil’s Hour

    What does punk means in 2017? Is it just a style of music and clothes, buzzsaw guitars and leather jackets? An ossified museum piece, rather than an alive aspect of culture? Or is it an attitude of fearlessness, a sense of both “fuck you” nihilism and the desire for something better.

    In 1978, the infamous synth punk band Suicide toured with The Clash. But there confrontational performance was too much for their supposedly open-minded audience, with singer Alan Vega gleefully reminiscing about a show where someone threw an axe at his head ” I guess we were too punk even for the punk crowd”. Suicide had the last laugh though, influencing all kind of dark electronic music.

    Continuing this legacy is Angel-Ho aka Angelo Valerio aka Deep in The Pussy aka Ruffle Queen. For the 2016 performance piece Red Devil, they dressed as the titular character, waving fire around at performances which shocked the audiences at art fairs across Europe.

    And now the recorded component of this work is being unleashed with the appropriately punk motto, “it’s that moment when you really don’t give a single fuck and blossom into the person you see yourself to be”. Another great release from NON Worldwide, a label which they confounded, the Red Devil LP is nine tracks of brutal bliss. The music is always intense, bordering on industrial. But from amidst the harsh digital hellscape is a palpable yearning for freedom, a world of glamour and defiance.

    The work is inspired by the everyday horrors faced by black and brown, queer and femme bodies, where just leaving the home is fraught with danger. Angel imagines spitting and strutting in this face of this cruel world, with production that pops like glass being cracked under heels, of “moffie only, klopse troupe roaming through their neighborhood at 2am in the summer with their sharpened instruments ghostly parading the echo of their afternoon rehearsals.”

    Red Devil, at Donaufestival 2016

     

  • Angel Ho- Energy Without Restraint

    In the comic book series The Wicked + The Divine (written by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie) ancient gods return to Earth in the form of modern pop stars. The series wittily bases its super beings on real life icons. Lucifer is a riff on David Bowie, Odin is essentially a member of Daft Punk and so on. The story shows the extent to which the contemporary consciousness is stalked by the fame machine. In the same way that our ancestors projected their hopes, desires and fears onto mythological beings, we worship at the altar of sound and vision.  Look at how Michael Jackson and Prince have effectively being deified in death. Under the screens of daily life lies a harsher and brighter world of wild emotion and uncontrollable dreams.

    South African musician Angel-Ho is an artist who profoundly understands this collective cultural unconscious, and how to manipulate it for their own ends. Through their recordings, image and performances they conduct the iconography of pop into transgressive realms. A key example is the blistering ‘ I Don’t Want Your Man’, a mutation of  a Keyisha Cole sample into the national anthem of  dread post-human robot empire.

    The Cape Town based producer has become an acclaimed global underground figure over the last year. With their brutal music and assertive non-binary queer image, Angelo Valerio was identified by many publications as making the perfect soundtrack to the tumult of Rhodes and Fees Must Fall. Their musical output is combined with intense live performances. Dancing on glass and a carefree attitude toward pyrotechnics. They is also a founder of the NON Collective, one of most visionary, intense electronic labels out there. NON has also been blowing up this year, with one of their most recent releases being his spiritual allies FAKA’s mind expanding Bottoms Revenge. They share personal visions of glamorous extremism- glitter and tinnitus, gold paint and bloody wounds.

    angel-ho-bubblegum-club-cover-1

    Angelo’s first brush with musical glory occurred at the Manenburg Jazz Club when they was a little kid- ” little did I know the song I loved the most ‘ I love you Daddy’ was going to be performed live by Ricardo Gronewald himself. So he called me on stage, and I had stage fright throughout the whole performance, omg! All I do now is laugh because it was embarrassing, but it was funny because it happened at his gig!” The former child star sadly passed away last year, but as Angel-Ho notes ” he lives on”.

    This charming anecdote may almost seem out of place with Angel-Ho’s dystopian and sexualized work. But while they deals with intense subject matter they sees their work as embodying a hard-won optimism. In response to a question about how politics impacts on his practise, they suggested that it’s about keeping positive in dark times. ” There’s no escaping reality and fantasy, they are the same. Of course, what happens around you affects you, and people collectively. With every event that happens globally, we see the repeating of white supremacy and collateral violence which comes out of a desire to maintain power. You see it in South Africa, you see it everywhere in scales. It makes me want to spread good energy and make tracks which counter negativity. What better way to step away from negativity then to let it thrive in itself, like a parasite with no wound to feed on?”

    To this end, 2016 has seen them spreading good energy around the world. They recently took on the Performa Biennale in New York, in collaboration with Dope Saint Jude, Vuyo Sotashe, Jackie Manyaapelo and Athi-Patra Ruga. Their forays into the world of High Art also saw them unleash the firestorm of his Red Devil performance on the Berlin Biennale. This performance was inspired by the Kaapse Kloopse festivals- ” Red Devil was a desire to be your complete diva self, in my drag. It had a lot to do with the Red Devil performer who  traditionally lead the atjas in procession, and would scare the kids away alongside moffies. Red Devil, in my case, was chasing away fears, in celebration of the things which make people separate from each other. It became an intervention where I performed a re-birth of my feme energy, without restraint, using fire to light the way.”

    The performance has the Devil transformed into a character called Gia. The theme of transformation is central to his work more generally “our generation leads by not conforming to gender, race, sexuality… As a performer it became important to tell the narratives which I live day by day, to be fearless”. And with their track record, the secret projects they has lined up for 2017 are bound to be as fearless.

    angel-ho-bubblegum-club-cover-2

  • Jet Life: Dope St. Jude’s global hustle and contribution to black knowledge production

    Monday April 10th saw Dope St. Jude and Kyla Phil, pulling up in Roeland street to scoop me en route to Dope St’s birthday dinner. We sped off towards Cape Town’s suburbs and a sanctified celebration of the life of this artist from Elsies River. Dope St. Jude gracefully glides through identities, wearing concurring crowns of artist and activist whilst embodying such potency it speaks to power and pleasure. An entertainer by nature, but also an educator through the proliferation of a persona that makes people wys about black girl magic and the inequalities of the beautiful and totally bogus racist Mother City.

    With the gift of keeping it real while rapping, Dope St. Jude is currently in Finland with Angel-Ho, performing, and contributing to the conversation about alternative platforms and methodologies for knowledge production on a panel at In-between: Art, Education and Politics in the Post-Welfare state, a week long event hosted in conjunction with Chimurenga and The Pan African Space Station at Checkpoint Helsinki. Her new EP is set to drop in the near future and the album artwork is already out. The images reference archetypes of femininity and Africa, and while contributing to the discourse around representations of black women, they also contribute to the refreshing representations of blackness and Africa coming from African artists. Through using our heritage and beautiful brown skin to tell stories these images enter a pantheon of other artworks rewriting the meaning of blackness a la the Noirwavers who set 2015 alight with beautiful artworks featuring blackness and Africa in regal, opulent sometimes even religious regalia.

    When you are born with dark skin and/or a vagina, your identity becomes something beyond you, potent in its ability to alienate and antagonise. These stereotypes are laid before us, having been produced and reproduced by misogynist white media and patriarchal white capital for centuries. But we are making a future where the truth about blackness, queerness, gender and Africa have representation in all spheres of experience; music, visuals, text, print, photography and so the list must go on until equality is won. It is this knowledge that artists like Dope Saint Jude propagate, and this is why her work and persona is so important. This reflection of the relationship between art and activism, emphasizes the role of creativity in contributing to changing ignorant and conservative perspectives. This is how artists like Dope St Jude are impacting our world, and it is a most wondrous and welcome change.

    dope st jude

  • Battle of the CBDemons; The spiritual-synaesthetic-sound and Afro-anime-tinge of a revolutionary new club culture

    Fuck your false sense of reverence as you snort and swallow for sensation, lapping up the glitter of smashed glass in sweaty rooms. Different artillery is required for these cities where hate can be placed on a heart through the harsh angles of the grind through grimey streets. In a summoning by the Open Time Coven, and as a unit of the tribe Angelboyz Choir (comprised of Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Angel-Ho, Fela Gucci and Desire Marea of FAKA, and Neo Mahlasela of Hlasko) artists Angel-Ho (of NON Worldwide Collective) and Bogosi Sekhukhuni have joined forces to create Battle of the CBDemons, a sonic narrative that churns the metaphysical in an archetypal battle to purge the hostile and desperate infestations of life in the CBD.

    The Battle of the CBDemons discharges cloud-ground lightening to reassemble ancient mythologies with modern technologies, cleansing the way that meaning is crunched between foreign teeth. It bleeds a shield for shallow love, staking a space to reassemble all the parts of self that have been so thoughtlessly dispossessed. It is a synthetic Lebombo Bone burning clean, a fever-dream to blaze through the night at accelerating speed, the 3D printing of a sacred chant. Sounds and samples are manipulated on the edge of a sword, refracting light to a frantic phantasmagoria where the avatars gleam in dirty constellations. There is something of the complicated African orchestral filtered through pixelated pop culture to create a new sonic cosmology, a new technology of healing. Not only does the mix cleanse and create anew the makers, but it also acts as a physically affecting interface for the listener; vibrating Kemetic force to strengthen their engagements with the world.

    Battle of the CBDemons is an answering-back to the vampiric energies of stagnant representations; it kicks Tay AI in the shins and looks the Sakawa Boys straight in the face. It’s a digital, crystalline, plastiglomerate rooted in a genetically-evolved contemporary Africa. This is redefinition of club culture. Listen through. Don’t be embarrassed of the things it touches. This is the love-child of a communion of future sounds.

  • The Emancipation of Angel Ho

    The Cape Town based electronic artist Angel Ho made an international splash last year with his hard- hitting debut EP Ascension.  That release consisted of five sinister experimental tracks and was mastered by Arca, whose previous collaborators have included Kayne West and Bjork.  Angel Ho is also the co-founder of NON records, an internet based collective with a mission to work ‘’ across genre and geography to unite politically and sonically forward-thinking musicians in an ongoing exploration of Pan-African identity in the twenty-first century’’. On Soundcloud, NON has been building an impressive body of work, with its geographically disparate artists united by their brutal yet danceable music.

    Angel Ho’s latest release Emancipation, a collaboration with Desire Marea, continues this trend. A ‘bootleg collection’ he has described it as “tracks that became an emancipating, unifying experience for everyone listening.  It is for our relative black queer trans communities, I want us to exist without compromise and to be brave everyday’. This hopeful sentiment presides over the collection of four dark, pulverising new songs and remixes.  The addictive ‘Clocccc’ sounds like it was recorded inside a machine gun, while ‘I Don’t Want Your Man’ twists a song by Keyshia Cole until it sounds like she is presiding over the apocalypse. And it’s all wrapped together with Chino Amobi’s opulent cover art, which shows golden dragons writhing through a surreal blizzard.

    Currently, many underground electronic artists are making explicitly political releases.  Already this year, new albums from ANOHNI and Fatima Al Qadiri are confronting catastrophic global warming, drone warfare and state terrorism head on. Although the political themes in Angel Ho’s work are more subtle, its sense of dread and violence is utterly contemporary. One of his best works ‘Solidarity’ responded to the 2015 Fees Must Fall movement, eloquently capturing the tumult of repression and rebellion. It was loaded onto Soundcloud with an image of a police riot vehicle doused in flame.  Like this photo, Angel Ho and NON are a snapshot of a chaotic time, both dangerous and thrilling.