Category Archives: Reviews

Journey To The Self: an intimate portrait of jaspar lepak is helgé janssen’s astonishing portrait of a singer-songwriter whose life provides an apt metonym for our times. Her exquisitely beautiful voice plangently declares that “all of this violence we witness to women is the shame that we carry for bearing the fruit”, situating misogyny in the crucible of judeo-christian theosophy. Lepak talks about “the sense of loss of growing up in a religion where the pronoun is masculine” and humbly states, “this world wasn’t made for such sensitive things” (as women). “I’m tired of violence being entertainment” she is not ashamed to declare and watching this labour of love that is indeed intimately filmed by janssen, on the same day, as i did, as i watched the ghastly new isaac mutant video, kak stirvy (dookoom), i couldn’t help thinking how utterly lost this country is.

Lepak’s world is a realm outside of the machinations of the marketplace; “i’m still trying to figure out how to be in the world”. Unfortunately the world as it is is not a place any sensitive person would choose to be in/ But we don’t have a choice do we? Janssen made a choice the moment he heard Lepak’s voice at a live concert, he chose to follow her rigorously, filming gigs, recording sessions, soundchecks and, most presciently, a series of intimate conversations with the singer that make you feel like you’re sitting next to her and she’s talking to you for the first time about subjects that are of grave import to her, that are necessary. How she overcame her shyness, “the voice really got stuck inside”, and found her singing voice is a section of the film that will grab you by the throat and have you swallowing back tears and the descriptions of her fight to battle an eating disorder cannot but bring to mind the tragedy of karen carpenter and her battle against anorexia nervosa. “Hunger is a voice that needs to be listened to.” Indeed.

Journey to the self is a film that needs to be seen.

aryan kaganof

Blue Moon Burlesque – South Jersey Pom-Poms

The extremely chilly blue-moon-Friday-night at the Roseway Waldorf Night Market was heated by a large fire in a pit under a sizable tarpaulin which allowed the smoke to escape via the central top opening.

Supported by Fiona Tozer as the opening acoustic performer, South Jersey Pom-Poms were about to claim the night.

It was fascinating to observe this seasoned band ready themselves for performance….a process of theatrical invocation which underpinned their joint communion. No histrionics – just plain and simple professional attention while the sound man adjusted levels invisibly.

Ant Cawthorn-Blazeby (on violin) wrapped in red boa and shiny maroon jacket ministered the weave of his magicians bow with flawless perspicacity creating sound as a shamanic smoke signal: be ready, be attuned, take note, its coming at ya – or remain forever lost. This immediacy infected the players with presence and they were soon relishing in their shared expertise.

German/French cabaret is quite clearly a collective melting pot/springboard/point of reference – and the heavily lidded lashes of Belinda Henwood (lead vocalist, accordion/synth) unpretentiously shielded wickedness beneath those seemingly demure dropped eyelids. Henwood was in her absolute element and shone with her versatility and gutsy theatrical persona which never let her down for a second. And as for those ‘on performance’ selfies? Yes it happened….a distracted addition to the segueing between realities (and songs) of pre-war genre (cabaret) and the actuality of this modern ‘addiction’ (selfies) recalling aspects of the brashness of Brechtian ‘alienation techniques’. This revolutionary technique of Brecht’s, was a means for performers to create a ‘reality check’ in the audience to break the illusion of theatrical performance….and hence causing a subliminal jolt in the consciousness of the viewer. An interesting angle to this performance which I much enjoyed!

The bass player, Sean Stewart, oozed charisma with top hat and goggles without any need to claim the spotlight. Grant Emmerich – drums – with a swish of his beret, adjusted the theatrical scene potently, in a flash!

The lyrics of Jochen Zeller – vocals, rhythm/lead guitar – has set the framework for this bands confidence and provides the platform for a much needed and innovative addition to the Durban entertainment scene.

The repertoire is varied, embracing four languages English, French, Italian and German.

The South Jersey Pom-Poms are deceptively frothy, racy, light……they get the heart pumping and bring the immediacy of life to the fore. They are bawdy without the trash, sophisticated yet accessible. A rare balance indeed!

And with lyrics such as these from Jochen Zeller, their continued rise is unstoppable:

Too slow for the front page and

Too slow for the main stage and

Too slow for the lead role in the show.

Too slow to be glamorous.

Too slow to be scandalous.

On the road to fame you’ve been too slow

For the fast lane.

South Jersey Pom-Poms will be releasing a CD later this year. If they are performing anywhere near you, it is an event not to be missed

Helgé Janssen: This Kaganof ‘documoment’ is a brave film – for it talks where others haven’t dared to walk.

This film thus gives credence to a small band of EFF supporters who are spearheading the drive to decolonize the University of the Witwatersrand.

There are large sections of the film without subtitles; rendering the verbal coherence of the film somewhat stilted to a cursory ‘white’ sensibility and this is done intentionally. There are no participants who have personal ego narratives (apart from Mngxitama?) while at the same time demonstrating the genesis and the accumulating awareness of the rising swell for reassessment of post-apartheid political ‘achievements’.

This small band of EFF supporters sees a larger context to their role in transformation and, as such, they take things to heart. In so doing their drive is to rebirth the root of the struggle, drawing inspiration from Fanon and Biko, amongst others. The fact that even ‘simple issues’ – like access of the disabled to the lecture rooms that has completely escaped the planning of management – is indicative of the level of thoughtlessness with which this body regards its charge and hence its planning of the future.

The hard-core reality is that ‘the system’ (as we are becoming more and more aware on FB globally) is geared to entrench its own system, and in South Africa in particular, emerging from a 45/50-year period of unparalleled stagnation, that system is revealing itself as repeatable.

“Apartheid amputated our sense of perception…..” says one of the poets at a poetry recital.

Biko remains as riveting as ever with the well-publicized German TV interview (around 1970) and I quote:

“We believe in a completely non-racist society. We don’t believe in the guarantee of minority rights. There shall be no minority, no majority – there shall just be ‘the people’ – and those people will have the same status before the law and they will have the same political rights before the law. So in a sense, it will be a completely non-racial egalitarian society.”

Kaganof himself has spearheaded many innovative creative directions both globally and locally, and is no fool when it comes to being at the cutting edge of valued (not necessarily popular) drives, particularly where the necessity has required a breaking down/investigation of taboos. And decolonizing this country is primarily a taboo: it is a taboo of white supremacy; a taboo of questioning the status quo; of questioning an institutionalised morbidity that has failed to embrace the very necessary cultural transformation (subject matter) that began in this country 21 years ago. So while the search for change has been seething amongst the conscious, educated youth, they are stymied every time they wish to pursue ‘further education’. They are faced with a monolithic control-sifting grid (that brick edifice in the opening frame of the Wits theatre) that has failed to adapt to, or even to see the necessity for, decolonization.

The point is made that ‘assimilation’ is in fact ‘co-option’. To untangle that notion is entirely daunting and is at the very heart of de-colin-i-za-tion. This word alone heralds the migraine of the Ivory Towers of South Africa.

There is a particularly riveting sequence where, in the hush of night, a soliloquy – backed by a humming chorus in the style of African story-telling – urging the participants to be aware of history (Ga-Mogale – *absolutely no historical information according to my research on the internet) and the importance of land; the remembrance of the pain of being banished to barren landscapes.

The interspersed scenes with the young rapper in the recording studio struggling to master the rapid-fire delivery in English, is particularly poignant.

There were times while watching the film that I was reminded of the anti-apartheid struggles of my youth, my personal confrontations with ‘the system’, and the type of ‘resistance’ those with a conscience were forced into, in whatever path presented itself.

We undoubtedly do have freedom: freedom of speech, access to education, of association, of information. After 21 years that freedom is just beginning to yield new leaders that are required to carry this country towards a truly African ethos.

Grab a chance to see ‘De-colon-i-sing-wits’ when next it is showing near you!

Helgé Janssen
Multimedia performance artist / freelance journalist
holydadasnake@gmail.com
084 764 0794
http://www.helge.co.za/olle/

Helgé Janssen: “Night is coming” – a threnody for the victims of Marikana is a filmic and aural sculpture by Aryan Kaganof.

This potent lyrical portrait of ‘non-violent’ film making, in paying homage to the victims of Marikana, interweaves the portent and joins the politico-social dots of this catastrophic event.

With deep artistic acuity Kaganof has created a filmic and aural sculpture that drives home the meaning of this disaster within the context of past, and future, South African history.

Ever-expanding the theme of a Stellenbosch seminar on “hearing landscape critically” and in particular a lecture given by Jessica Dubow (Sheffield University), a talk on himself by Willem Boshoff, a stark monochrome flute performance by soloist Marietjie Pauw, a blind woman (Carina Venter, PhD Student Oxford University) listening closely contrasted with a voice-over of a repetitive excerpt of Beckett’s “Rockaby”, Kaganof weaves a throb of narratives in a tour-de-force of a lateral elucidation of consciousness. The viewer is thus woven into this deeply disturbing event….and cannot look away. This intuitive linkage in the narrative of image and text melded with sound is an undoubted Kaganof forte.

And as laconically self-absorbed as Willem Boshoff comes across he cannot hide his irritation at the smallest non-functional workings at his seminar. Yet similar mechanisms that can fuss over the size of an available toilet (he is a large man) and can bestow him with a cubicle in which to live in order to demonstrate an artistic experiment, cannot find a way to create shelters for the homeless. But his somewhat detached ‘druid’ symbology (druids look down, into the mush and mess to gain insight) is picked up by Kaganof and translated from ivory tower into hard-core reality: a scene of two male scavengers who have foraged for items on a dump site as they trudge exhausted with their wares. This is not done to discredit Boshoff in any way, but to emphasize the disparity between the have and have-nots, the victims and the perpetrators, the you and the me, which becomes an incessant drumbeat within the landscape of this film.

Will the irony every hit home?

The fulcrum of the film – cell-phone footage of the ‘ritual murder’ (Kaganof’s words) at Marikana, featuring the text of Jesus Sepulveda read in SeTswana by Lefifi Tladi – is exceptionally riveting.

The esteemed award winning poet/author Mongane Wally Serote takes the cake completely in his ‘excusing’ of this shocking event. Imagine this being said of the 1976 Soweto riots?! Serote thus conveniently sidesteps disturbing issues in the light of an allegiance….to the ANC. This blindness of seeing has become petulantly endemic of our failing democracy and begs the question: “Where are the voices – artistic or otherwise – of which the ANC should be taking heed?” They appear to have ditched their consciences for taxpayer’s money!

The full panorama of this film defies verbal containment and very little of what I say here can capture the experiential impact of this film. Night is Coming – a threnody for the victims of Marikana, is an antidote to everything that is disappointing the current political landscape and is essential viewing!

The New York premier was recently held at Colombia University. The world premier is to be held at the Oberhausen Film Festival in May. The South African premier will be at the Grahamstown Festival in July. If possible, book your seat now!

Helgé Janssen
Multimedia performance artist / freelance journalist
holydadasnake@gmail.com
084 763 0794
https://www.facebook.com/helgejanssenmultimedia

From Artlink 08/17/2011

Helge Janssen: It is perfectly clear that with a defective integrity Angela Buckland would not have been able to put a toe into the Thokoza women’s hostel …

…let alone step into the intimate spaces of the inhabitants.

Expectedly, Angela faced opposition to this project from some women within the hostel. A show of sound solidarity in support of her at the opening of this exhibition from the residents bears testament to the cohesion and aspiration that, not only had been won, but has also been enshrined into this group effort. These are the women who are the rocks that are struck; these are the women who are unshakeably dignified in their being; these are the women whose independence is the light that gives them strength; these are the women who carry the honour of our nation with deep felt heart. These are the women from whom all of us gain strength.

Clear and transparent intent: no hidden agenda.

If ever there was a high art to simplicity, these women embody it, and this exhibition expounds it.

The press release carries some potent statements that were no doubt made in consultation with the Thokoza women:

1. the most densely inhabited residential site in Durban.

2. women seeking independence from the pervading male dominated society

3. beyond planning policies, beyond cultural traditions…

These are extremely cogent points to consider, given the current groundswell of pockets of a ‘regressive chauvinism’ rearing its ugly head and which persist in blighting the flowering of this nation. Do we have to remind ourselves how staunchly bigoted the Nationalist Party was as it wielded its outmoded agenda? Yet who would have thought for a moment in 1994, that such bigotry would still have been an issue to contend with in 2011? I am of course referring to issues like corrective rape and xenophobia.

This exposure therefore exists on a number of contrasting levels, some of which are:

1. To highlight a haven away from interference.

2. To spotlight the strength and independence these women have developed in spite of enormous financial odds.

3. To call attention to the importance of residences such as this and the role they play in presenting affordable shelter to women seeking some level of independence within this chauvinist world.

4. To gain spiritual insight at the evolvement of survival mechanisms where pride and hard work has triumphed.

The women come from virtually all walks of life: students, domestic workers, nurses, peanut sellers, bead workers, seamstresses, dressmakers and vendors. They have undoubtedly been part of the struggle for freedom, where change for a better life has all but eluded them. In a sense the hostel IS their ‘better life’. Some women have inhabited and shared a single room within these walls for most of their lives.

The Thokoza Women’s Hostel was built in 1925 at a time when grand apartheid planning was probably little more than a scribble in someone’s warped mind. The fact that it is now a forgotten plot (literally and figuratively) in this richly maladjusting land has been poignantly accentuated by Angela’s sensitive and revealing collaboration. The detail of the truth is that the Hostel represents a vibrant transcendence of prison-like conditions into a thriving and independent triumph of the will. This should not be seen as a challenge to the pervading male chauvinism, but rather as an example of how the human spirit finds ways to survive under pervading repressive odds – be it financial, emotional, spiritual, or political. Quite clearly there seems to be a dire need for more of these hostels to be built and for the existing ones to be upgraded without disturbing the life that depends on them.

Each photograph sensitively and movingly opens a vista into the lives of the women where the bottom photograph of each totem – a perpendicular line of insights representing a single room – depicts the door of each room. Not only does the door open to reveal glimpses of content that ramifies in our consciousness, but also opens to the trust these women have placed in the photographer. Angela has reciprocated by treading respectfully, carefully and consultatively, resulting in this enigmatic exhibition.

In many ways all of these women are heroines.

The exhibition is at the KZNSA Gallery until 20 August. Do grab a chance to visit it! You will be astounded.

(I see a strong synchronicity between the current instillations of Angela Buckland and Lolette Smith’s Isomorphicintergrammar. I mentioned this fact to Angela and she said that she had been born deaf! I was astounded! This aside, both these women focus on deeply important issues in our society from very similar perspectives even though visually they are miles apart. Both are dealing with communication, both reveal pinnacles in the sensitive issue of understanding and of HEARING the context/content of our fellow (wo)man and both are embedded in a deep compassion, thus spotlighting LINKAGES within our common humanity.)

Helge Janssen: This allegorical tale of transformation, of a woman journeying into the unknown based on a compassionate, seemingly futile surrender to tribal fate, is a cinematic masterpiece.

Originally posted 08/04/2012 09:03:29  at artlink.co.za

In the opening scene Elelwani stands in statuesque gravitas in the sparsely furnished immaculate Venda Kings’ bedroom, the epicentre of patriarchal dominion. Her red dress and butterfly tattoo behind her right ear locates her inescapably in a contemporary context. She strokes her hand along the leopard skin hanging against the wall at the head of the spectacular double bed.

This allegorical tale of transformation, of a woman journeying into the unknown based on a compassionate, seemingly futile surrender to tribal fate, is a cinematic masterpiece. With stroke after stroke of adroit insight the film negotiates the fine line between the expected freedoms obtained through the process of higher education, and an intuitive response to a calling that would change the course of history.

Having completed her degree and with an American bursary on offer, Elelwani returns to her homeland for a celebratory home coming only to discover that the King who financed her studies now expects her to marry him. Crestfallen, and through long and difficult negotiations (we see her banished to the goat and chicken shed), Elelwani eventually succeeds in obtaining her freedom. But when she discovers that her 12-year-old sister is to be traded off in her place she is overcome.

Florence Masebe, who plays Elelwani, gives an utterly focused performance, encapsulating Elelwani’s re-metamorphosis with conviction. Her transformation from a contemporary emancipated university graduate (crisp sunlight captures the purple streak in her hair while she is deeply engrossed in plumbing her core intuitive self – the quintessential driving force of feminine power) to a woman who finds herself at the centre of a momentous life task, is nothing short of a tour-de-force. Throughout her role she strikes the perfect balance between the expected submission within the traditional mechanisms of her coerced destiny, and the value she places on herself, her being – which is never compromised. With superb script and expert direction throughout by South African director *Ntshavheni wa Luruli who adapted the story from a 1954 novel of the same title by Titus Maumela, there are no half measures for Elelwani. Her primordial grasp of the courage she has to summon ties her indelibly back to her roots and is a masterstroke of cognition within South Africa’s contemporary cultural/political landscape. It is this very power that tribalism has attempted to keep in check via its customs and subjugations of female deity/sovereignty.

Cinematography by Lance Gewe (Tsotsi, Jozi, Spud) is nothing short of awe-inspiring: every frame is larger than life and as such magnifies the magic realism of the tale. The stark sculpturesque imagery of confrontational scenes inside the rondavel heightens the stiff formality of tribalism; contrasts light and dark; frames what is becoming, what is decaying. Time-lapse photography, interlaced within the contemplative pace of the film speeds up the narrative. Of particular note is the accented voracious eating sequence of a pair of Elders where camera angles accentuate a gargoyle-like grotesqueness. I was reminded of a dramatic stanza in **Jacques Brel’s despairing song “The Port of Amsterdam” which captures the archetypal decadence of masculine energy and is superbly echoed in this revealing episode.

Editing by Aryan Kaganof (artist/author/filmmaker/documenter: SMS Sugar Man, Wasted, The Uprising of Hangberg etc.) strengthens the overlay impact of symbolic imagery: moon, landscape, white lion, mask – in rapport with themes and subthemes. The cinematic interplay of nature – e.g. the sense of entrapment in the spider web (tradition) – and nurture – e.g. the wholesomeness of corn being threshed (fertile change) – threads through the film driving the parabolic mythos and is integrated with intuitive aplomb.

Colour and styling is exemplary and relentlessly subversive creating an immediate yet subtle ruffling of expected norms. The starched and colourful geometric construction of the Venda quilted garments is strikingly beautiful, modern, contrasting with the shabby and apathetic western garb worn by the men – apart from Vele, played by Ashifashabba Muleya, Elelwani’s University boyfriend who has a pivotal role in the film in more ways than one! Muleya, who is a stand-up comedian in real life, handles this serious role sensitively. Yet this stark visual disparity in clothing subliminally accentuates the contradictions and sometime absurd clashes between urban and rural consciousness. Jungian symbolism of anima/animus, both negative and positive, is integral to the tale.

Worthy of mention is the comprehensive supporting role played by Salome Mutshinya as Elelwani’s mother, trapped in tribal protocol, caught between her and her husband’s materialistic needs and her daughter’s destiny.

The music by Chris Letcher cleverly underpins the drama and the film’s elated theme is surely to be a hit. I enjoyed the wry humour of the vaudeville procession complete with village idiot, as Elelwani makes her way across to her new dwellings while the entire community rejoice.

Elelwani is a breakthrough contemporary parable and is a MUST SEE film!

Breakthrough cinema! : Elelwani (The Promise) 2012, South Africa, Ntshavheni wa Luruli – Director – viewing at the DIFF, Musgrave 29 July.

* Ntshavheni wa Luruli is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker whose “The Wooden Camera” (2003) was awarded the Crystal Bear for best youth feature at the Berlinale in 2004

** Jacques Brel (1929 – 78), Belgian singer and composer:

“In the Port of Amsterdam
Where the sailors all meet
There’s a sailor who eats only fish heads and tails,
And he’d show his teeth that have rotted too soon
That can haul up the sails that can swallow the moon
And he yells to the cook with his arms open wide
Hey, bring me more fish, throw it down by my side
And he wants so to belch but he’s too full to try
So he stands up and laughs and he zips up his fly.”

*** At this showing at Musgrave Centre, Durban, it was of note that some black youths in the audience (male) took much of the imagery to heart and were deeply affected: their guffaws in shock at the eating scenes, the gasps of embarrassment where Elelwani presents the elders with her American bursary and they think it is an example of her drawing – were signs of the strong emotional impact this film was having.
Helge Janssen
multimedia performance artist / freelance journalist

KILL YOUR DARLINGS – directed by John Krokidas featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaas and Michael C. Hall.

This multilayered film, which is the bristling debut directorial effort of John Krokidas with a screenplay by him and Austin Burn, becomes the “Dead Poets Society” for the 21st Century! The power of words, the power of mind connection, the drive to express the self…..and the overwhelming determination to challenge the status quo….travels within the difficult space and mysterious dynamics of interpersonal emotions.

Based on a true story – which involved a murder – the film delves into the early connections and life paths (pre-fame) of Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kerouac, over a two-year period – 1943/45. The war in Europe, an ever-present yet distant event, frames the desperation of the times.

The film opens with an Ophelia-like beginning – where the tangled and closeted emotional dynamics between Lucien Carr  (Dane DeHaas) and David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall) reaches a riveting bloody and watery dénouement in the Hudson River. The Anne Shelton version of the nostalgic war song “Lili Marlene” is the soundtrack.

The voice of Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) states:

“Some things, once you’ve loved them, become yours forever…
as you try to let them go they only circle back and return to you…
they become part of who you are…….……or they destroy you.”

Carr completes this sentence in a ‘throw away line’ as he concludes a read-through of the version of events as seen by Ginsberg…near the end of the film….and which he refers to as ‘fiction’.

This intensely profound opening statement sets the tone of the interpersonal transgressive lives and closeted emotions that drive the narrative….wound up within the import of who these characters were to become. It has been stated that this event cemented the drive towards the bohemian expression of what evolved into the Beat Generation. Central elements of “Beat” culture included rejection of received standards, innovations in style, experimentation with drugs, alternative sexualities, an interest in religion, a rejection of materialism, and explicit portrayals of the human condition. (Wikipedia)

In this film Ginsberg is credited with the statement the “New Vision”. But after research (thanks Wikipedia again) I discovered that Carr developed this idea – a thesis recycled from Emersonian transcendentalism and Paris Bohemianism which helped undergird the Beats’ creative rebellion:

1) Naked self-expression is the seed of creativity.
2) The artist’s consciousness is expanded by derangement of the senses.
3) Art eludes conventional morality.

Kammerer, fourteen years Carr’s senior, was utterly obsessed with him and, having met when Carr was 14 years old, he stalked the younger man for seven years, driving him to distraction. The film gives credence to the fact that Carr experimented with sexuality, and although possibly not ‘homosexual’ in the conventional sense (whatever that may be) he certainly dabbled in the emotional/erotic space which could well have sparked Kammerer’s intensity. Carr’s interest in Rimbaud is an undoubted link in the understanding of Carr’s sexuality. Kerouac, Ginsberg and to some extent Burroughs were indeed fascinated with his beauty, his drive and his ability to give impetus to their combined subverting senses. In this sense, although the film is narrated and seen through the eyes of Ginsberg, Carr owns it….weaving an intricate edgy emotional web. Both Radcliffe and DeHaas give riveting performances.

The film is densely packed with literary/life wisdoms, frames the credible b layers of attitudes to homosexuality, is brilliantly directed by Krokidas and commands a second if not third, viewing. It has certainly plummeted me into an entire rethink and research of the Beat Generation and its importance in composing attitudes through to the late 20th Century.

The film has already been on the local circuit, but thanks to a well-informed DVD store, you may still have an opportunity to view it.
Do it!