A powerful line-up of comedy, poetry, dazzling dance and an incredible array of musical performances will be on show in The Big Bash, a production that celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Cape Cultural Collective (CCC).
The show, which is co-hosted by the CCC and Artscape, takes place at the Artscape Theatre on Thursday, September 21.
This event forms part of Artscape’s Heritage Festival.
The production includes some of the country’s and city’s finest performers including the legendary Dizu Plaatjies, comedian and actor Riaad Moosa and respected Flamenco guitarist Bienyameen Camroodien.
The line-up is completed by the incredible vocalist Ernestine Deane and her band, the Young Men Malay choir, the energetic Jazzart Dancers, the magical Rosa Choir, James Bhemjee and the Cape Flats tenors and poets Ziqu Profound Ndabezitha, Khadija Tracey Heeger and Chris Ferndale.
Plaatjies and Camroodien will be accompanied by a group of musicians and dancers, who will respectively bring enchanting African traditional and Flamenco entertainment to the stage.
Plaatjies, an ethnomusicologist, toured more than 150 countries with the popular group Amampondo. Moosa performs nationally and internationally and has had acting roles in the movies Material and Long Walk to Freedom. Camroodien is the most senior Flamenco guitarist in the country and heads the popular band Los Gitanos.
Deane is well-known as the vocalist of iconic hip hop band Moodphase5ive and respected as a solo artist in music, film and theatre performance.
She has a career spanning more than two decades.
The director of The Big Bash is Basil Appolis, who has been responsible for several acclaimed productions over the years. The talented and versatile Camillo Lombard is the musical director.
“The Cape Cultural Collective has been nurturing the dream of uniting people from diverse backgrounds through arts and culture,” said Appolis.
“It includes everything that I love, the genres of music, the dynamic choir, the poetry, rap and dance, from Flamenco to the riel dance. I am privileged and honoured to be directing this exciting production that celebrates its 10-year journey. This production reflects on the development of the CCC from small steps in a local pub to a dynamic arts and culture platform in the city,” said Appolis.
The CCC was initiated by a few former anti-apartheid activists and young post-apartheid poets who teamed up to host monthly cultural programmes featuring poetry, music and dance.
The programmes are now in their 10th year, with growing quality and impact over time.
The CCC has several other successful projects under its belt including the amazing Rosa choir, a multilingual and diverse choral group, the junior Rosa choir that consists of childrenand a poetry anthology that incorporates the work of nine poets.
In 2010 the group organised four major community concerts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the University of the Western Cape. In 2013, the CCC sent four poets to France where they performed a production called Uhadi, at the Paris Autumn Festival.
The projects all reflect the CCC’s values of non-racialism, inclusivity, non-sexism and development.
They incorporate all the languages and cultures of our region.
“We never dreamed that the CCC would grow the way it has and make such a huge impact in our city,” said Mansoor Jaffer, CCC chairperson.
“We look forward to The Big Bash to celebrate the progress achieved by artists, audiences and activists working together to
bring about change through arts and culture.
“Even more importantly, it signals the beginning of the second decade of the CCC with its endless possibilities,” he said.
The show will start at 8pm
and tickets are going for R120 at Computicket.