Young teenagers to hip hop into the future at Uzwano Hip Hop Festival at Constitution Hill
The Hip Hop Festival involving talented teenage performers from Hillbrow is part of the Human Rights Festival festivities taking place on Saturday, March 25, 2023.
By Edward Tsumele
On Saturday, 25 March 2023, there will be an exciting event at Constitution Hill – the Uzwano Hip Hop festival. As part of this Human Right’s festival teenagers will be celebrating their human rights through hip-hop. This celebration includes hip-hop inspired music and theatrical performances by teenagers who regularly attend after-school programs at Lefika and Windybrow.
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One of these theatrical performances features the talented multi-media artist Shaun as the central role in a drama scene. He plays the character of a blesser to a young pretty woman from Zimbabwe, who finds herself in the tricky situation of being in the clutches of a blesser in South Africa. The blesser culture is a predominant phenomenon whereby young women get sexually involved with older wealthy men for financial gain. This is of course not what the young woman, called Tendai, expected when she came to South Africa looking for greener pastures.
This scene raises a number of complex questions that contemporary society faces in post-apartheid South Africa; issues of migration management, the recurring issue of xenophobic attitudes, and even sporadic confrontation between South Africans and Africans from other parts of the continent. Inner-city flatlands such as Hillbrow and Yeoville host a huge population of Africans from other parts of the continent.
This issue of migration hiccups and citizenship is a matter that is close to Shaun’s heart. He is currently dealing with it in his personal life – with the assistance of Lefika La Phodiso. Born of Zimbabwean parents in the inner city in Yeoville in 2003, Shaun faced tragedy five days after his birth when his mother died. His relatives took him to Zimbabwe to be raised by his maternal grandmother. This is where he grew up. But in 2020, he decided to come back to the country of his birth after completing matric.
“I have been battling to get a birth certificate even though with the assistance of Lefika La Phodiso I have so far managed to get my birth records at Edenvale Hospital where I was born,” he told CITYLIFE/ARTS in an interview at Windybrow Arts Centre where he and the rest of the teenagers who will participate in the Uzwano Hip Hop Festival were rehearsing.
The Hip Hop Festival on the 25th of March is part of the Human Rights Festival that will see poets, graffiti artists, rappers, dancers and DJs mark Human Rights Month through these various activities. As part of the festival there will also be various workshops on offer.
The Uzwano Hip Hop Festival, has been put together by partners Lefika La Phodiso, National Arts Council of South Africa and Windybrow Arts Centre. The festival involves teenagers from Hillbrow, and is part of the Human Rights Festival this year. It is the first time that a festival involving talented teenagers from Hillbrow and other areas around inner-city Johannesburg have been given an opportunity for self-expression through a festival of their own. Understandably there is a lot of excitement among those that will be participating in the festival.
“I am grateful to Lefika la Phodiso for accepting me into their programme in 2020. I am currently taking a course in community counselling and training. I am also taking classes in craft production at Imbali Visual Literacy Project in Newtown. Lefika assisted me to enrol at Imbali and I am enjoying what I am doing there a lot as I am learning a lot of art disciplines, such as drawing, painting and craft production. When I came back to South Africa I first struggled to fit in, even taking a job as a construction worker till a friend of mine in Hillbrow took me to Lefika where he himself was taking part in some of their programmes,” explained Shaun as he and his group of excited teenagers were busy preparing for their big day on Saturday.
The festival is billed as a festival of hope. These teenagers from marginalised communities will witness for the first time their voices being amplified and their talents being elevated to a mainstream forum, thanks to the partners that have put together this festival. Entrance is free and open to all teenagers. There will be no alcohol consumption or drug-taking at the festival.
Those who attend the Uzwano Hip Hop Festival at Constitution Hill as part of the Human Rights Festival this March will have an opportunity to witness what these young people from Hillbrow and the surrounding suburbs have been preparing for public display all these past weeks. Visitors to Uzwano – Unity through hip-hop can look forward to performances by Moafrika, Yaya, MG-Kataza, Zakwe, Team Fadacademy and more. There will also be graffiti artists and giveaways!
For more information about the Uzwano Hip Hop Festival contact sane@lefikalaphodiso.co.za.