Bubblegum Club

Tag: Rendani Nemakhavani

  • Music and Technology at Fak’ugesi Festival

    Now in its 4th year, the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival is a celebration of technology, creativity, collaboration and innovation from across the African continent. The festival includes a range of seminars, talks, exhibitions, workshops, hack-a- thons, films, artists, games, innovation riots and music. With highlights including the Fak’ugesi Conference, Making Weekend as well as Fak’ugesi Beat, a new curatorial partnership with WeHeartBeat that focuses on beats, music and technology.

    The Fak’ugesi Beats program is multifaceted and includes the week-long Fak’ugesi Beats Lab workshop, the curation of panels at the Fak’ugesi Conference and the Fak’ugesi Beats Bloc Party which sees the festival outcomes come to life. Red Bull Studios Johannesburg at the Tshimologong Precinct will play host to the workshop which includes Soulection’s Hannah Faith, videographer Foxy Neela, French Soulection beatmaker Evil Needle, Swiss beatmaker Melodinsfonie, alongside the local Mante Ribane and the Dear Ribane collective working on a collaborative piece the result of which will be showcased at the Block Party and also see the work pressed to vinyl.

    Two of the panels at the Fak’ugesi Conference will be examining the influence of technology on music. ‘Future Beats’ features Joe Kay, founder of Soulection and pioneer of the Future Beats sound, Evil Needle and trap jazz pioneer Masego. The conversation will look at how the digital age as influenced new genres in music and what this means for musicians and artists as a whole. The second panel discussion ‘Sonic Visions’ will be an examination examination of collaboration between film, design and music. With a panel that features singer Nonku Phiri & Rendani Nemakhavhani who collaborated together on a music film, Foxy Neela, Hannah Faith, Mahaneela Choudhury-Reid of WeAreInBloom, and Benoit Hicke of the French F.A.M.E Festival the aim is to have a playful conversation that engages with the audience.

    The Free Workshop Program at the Making Weekend allows the public to gain hands on experience in areas from programming and creating gaming controllers, to robotics and music & film. Led by French/American artist Yann Seznec, the workshop ‘Room to Play’ explores the world of DIY musical controllers and instruments. Making use of everyday objects the workshop will challenge attendees to reimagine what a an instrument is and placing limitations on its function thus challenging the design strategy of commercial controllers. “How do you make a digital instrument that’s more difficult to play? And then thus what kind of questions does that open up?” asks Yann Seznec.

    According to Seznec DIY musical controllers and instruments have had a large impact on the performance of electronic music. “It means that you can do electronic music performances that are more meaningful to an audience. One of the big changes in electronic music in the last 10/15 years was that everything could be done on a laptop. With the downside of it being pretty uninteresting. I think what’s nice about DIY instruments is that it brings new methods of performance to the world,” notes Seznec.

    The Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival will culminate with the Fak’ugesi Beats Bloc Party which will feature the outcomes of the festival’s various collaborations as well as a selection of some of the finest local and international artists including Masego, Joe Kay, MNDSGN, Melodiesinfonie, Evil Needle, Hannah Faith, Nonku Phiri, Christian Tiger School and Petite Noir. “We’re trying to setup an international beat festival and present artists that we feel are making headway internationally and deserve platforms and deserve to be heard. So we feel like we’ve put together a really beautiful lineup,” says Dominique Soma of WeHeartBeat. “We’ve worked with artists that apply the traditional analog way of music making in terms of playing traditional instruments but then creating it in a digital space or through a digital process,” she adds.

    Unique on the continent in its offering, the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival highlights the importance of the cross-over between culture, creativity and technology in Africa. With the addition of Fak’ugesi Beats the festival is examining the relationship between music and technology and this program will expand over the coming years. “We’re still looking to explore the relationship between the two spaces in the long term. Over the next few years you will see that crossover coming to life a little bit more,” notes Dominique Soma.

  • Honey, we’re home – a real life encounter with Honey and Bra Gavini

    Aus’Honey is a badass black girl that does not only live on the internet. Honey is a real girl and she has rolled out the welcome mat into her & her lover’s boujee home, which is decorated with deep red velvet couches that surround her black and white carpet. An inherited antique cabinet which is filled with her colourful clothing, Zulu slippers and jewels is placed in one corner and two pink ceramic swans, another inheritance from her grandmother, are delicately placed on either side of a BaSotho hat on a black and white server placed in the opposite corner. A record player stands tall steps away from a bottle of vodka, and of course portraits from the chapters of the Honey series that feature Honey’s ride or die, Bra Gavini hang on the walls.

    IMG_5369(1)
    Image courtesy of Rendani Nemakhavani

    Honey is a manifestation of different parts of Rendani Nemakhavani, a communication designer and art director, who collaborated with photographer Kgomotso Neto Tleane to share Honey’s life through a cinematic photography series.

    Initially, Rendani wanted The Honey to be representation of different women through one person but as the series unfolded, Honey became an extension of Rendani so using her to portray more than one woman became difficult. Rendani started exploring different parts of herself: her softness, her hair and her electrifying love affair with Bra Gavini, who is portrayed by Kgomotso. The sweet escape that Honey provides has allowed Rendani to share her deepest fantasies, like having a thuggish boyfriend who rides shotgun in her gusheshe. However, her fantasies go beyond fast cars and bad boys. Rendani wanted to be a“model” and through Honey, she has expanded the connotations of the title and created a platform that allows her to be anything else she desires.

    Chapter 3
    Photography by Khotso Mahlagu

    As a fan of their work, The Honey reached out to photographers, Andile Buka and Anthony Bila, to interpret their year of storytelling through a collaboration called the Honeyversay. “GO HOME HONEY” was the theme of the work that the collaboration was based on. From this theme, the idea to create a portal into Honey and Gavin’s home was born.

    So far every interaction with Honey and Gavini has been through a screen or a print. Rendani wanted to make Honey and Gavini tangible and personal. By stepping into their home, Rendani’s imagination becomes real, Honey becomes real.

    Urban Mosadi’s space on 7 Siweright avenue in Maboneng, Johannesburg currently serves as a portal into the happy home and the installation will be accessible through Aus’Honey and Bra Gavini until 1 March 2017.

    Chapter 5_2
    Photography by Kgomotso Neto Tleane