Nat'l Arts Festival

Yesterday we got back from the National Art's Festival in Grahamstown. I had an awesome time. To kind of give you an idea about the scope of this festival, I heard a statistic from a lady I met at one of the shows that stated if you were to attend every performance and exhibit offered from start to finish back to back it would take take you 5 months and some odd days. It was absolutely amazing! There was music, dance, theatre, visual art, poetry, street performances, vendors, circus type entertainment, and a lot more. Most people from SA plan months in advance before coming to the festival and plan each and every day: choose what to see, buy the tickets, plan out on the map where to go, etc. We, on the other hand, had absolutely no time to plan and we're kind of thrown into the who experience without much knowledge of what was going on. Fortunately, I made the best of it and somehow ended up with tickets to a couple of really entertaining and interesting shows. The first night was arranged by our university coordinator. We saw a comedy entitled "Learner Husband" which was kind of awkward considering none of us are married, but, for the most part, was very entertaining. Next, a few of us went and saw a jazz performance. It started with a young jazz choir, followed by a high-school jazz band, and concluded with a performance by a very well-known and talented University band from Cape Town. The whole performance was entertaining, but I especially enjoyed the college group. Jazz is always a lot of fun so we had a good time.

The next day I split from the group and saw a performance entitled "Intersections" that featured two small ensembles, one from Switzerland and one from South Africa. It was strange, to say the least. The Swiss musicians played some of the most modern, new-age, interpretive music I've ever heard while the South African groups played some of the most simple, yet powerful music I've ever heard. It was cool and I'm definitely glad I got to experience it. I also saw a Steel Drum ensemble from a prestigious all-boys music high school in South Africa. They played a variety of songs including american pop, big band swing, south african jazz, some of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess, and songs from "The Lion King". They had an atlo sax, a trombone, and a trumpet in the band as well who would solo from time to time. The whole band was really talented and their show was very entertaining.

Enough of the music rant. We continue our lectures and community service this week then head to Cape Town this weekend!

Until later...
-Alex