Arts Review

Compiled by: Tiisetso Tlelima

In the news this week soul sensation Lira sells 20 000 copies for Soul in Mind, White Wedding makes millions, Zambian videographer wins video contest, Mzansi DJs meet for a music conference and Tunisian film wins a Golden Hawk award.

Lira’s Soul in Mind reaches gold

Afro-soul songbird, Lira, is clearly destined for great things in 2000-and-shine. First she scooped four SAMA awards for Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Adult Contemporary: English and Remix of the Year for her smash-hit jam Feel Good. And now she’s been awarded a gold disc for her third album Soul in Mind which has reportedly sold more than 20 000 copies! Well done, Miss Lira! Arthur must be wondering why he ever let you go.

Music Conference in Durban

If you are a budding musician or you want to try your hand at deejaying, make your way to Mzansi’s ninth Music Conference at the BAT Centre in Durban next week from the 30th of June to the 3rd of July. Oskido, Fresh, Vinny Da Vinci, Christos, Greg Maloka and internationally acclaimed producers, namely Masters At Work, Osulande, Manoo and Rocco will be giving upcoming musos tips on how to survive in this ruthless business. The conference’s aim is to create a platform where musicians can exchange knowledge and skills.

White Wedding Box Office Hit

White Wedding is testimony that South Africans appreciate local films, but more than that, they love to laugh at themselves. In its first week of release this road-trip film banked one million. Now almost two months later reports show that it has made over R4,2 million, more than 200 000 South Africans have seen the film and it even doubled Tsotsi’s ticket sales in its opening week.

Zambian Videographer Wins Democracy Video Contest

Zambian farm boy, Chansa Tembo, wins a worldwide online Democracy Video Challenge. The competition asked videographers to define democracy and Chansa came up with a 46 seconds video that compared democracy to a “fruit smoothie”. Chansa who lives in a farm outside Lusaka told allafrica.com the inspiration for the video came from the farm. “One day I was thinking about the different fruits we have on the farm … things like bananas, oranges and tomatoes. They all come in different shapes and sizes and they have different attributes, but you can blend them into something different, but tolerant of all the flavours,” said Tembo. “To me, that seemed to be a metaphor for the elements of democracy. People come in different sizes, they have different creeds and beliefs, but if you put them together in a country and they can learn to tolerate and complement each other, you can have a democracy.”

Watch the video below.

Tunisian Film Wins Award

Tunisian short-feature film Al Machrou, meaning The Project, by newcomer Mohamed Ali Nahdhi wins a Golden Hawk Award at the 9th Rotterdam Film Festival in the Netherlands. The film features a set of young people from a poor social background against the backdrop of marginalization and delinquency. Another African film that received an award is Algeria’s The Masquerade by filmmaker Lyes Ben Salem.

Additional Sources: allafrica.com, www.sundayworld.com, www.sowetan.co.za