Kaizer Chiefs @ 40

Dec 10, 2009 |

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved football. Growing up in Lesotho, my father would take me to the occasional games. He bought our first television when I was 11 but they didn’t always show the games that I wanted to watch. I am not that old, but I spent many an afternoon or evening hunched up next to a radio listening to the games. The teams I support have been influenced by my father, in some instances. These teams, in leagues across the world, have brought me much pain and joy and probably will do so for many years to come. I have always been a Kaizer Chiefs fan and some of my...

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It’s About The Game

Oct 12, 2009 |

They don’t call it ‘the beautiful game’ for nothing. For some reason, intangible to many, there is something amazingly poetic about 22 men, on a football field, making a ball do things that go beyond the magical. It is the culmination of so much that happens before and beyond that very field of green grass and white lines and it can be an experience of so much beauty. There is an army of passionate souls, all working towards that 90 minutes (plus extra time, if need be) and their eleven men (and women) on that field. The training, the planning, the strategy …. a chess game on green grass...

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Layman’s Thoughts – Samsung i8910

Oct 5, 2009 |

Not so many moons ago, when the cellphone first made its presence felt on African shores, no one could have predicted the extent to which it would truly penetrate the continent. Being a lover of gadgets, the explosion of the cellphone industry has meant that there is always something new for me to play with. And over the last two years, I’ve been fortunate enough to frequently access different ones to review. The one challenge when reviewing phones is that, with the technological advancements, the playing field has changed and what was once unique is now standard. Across the cellphone /...

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Definite Pop Art

Sep 8, 2009 |

I've been wanting to post this for a bit but been so caught up. A couple of years ago, researching the legendary Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse for something – think it was tv show Afro Café - I came across a name: Mpho Skeef. Word was that Ntate Sipho had a daughter in the UK who was also involved in music. Interesting but, with no real access to her music, the fascination died before it even really began, until a few weeks ago when Put Me On It’s newsletter landed in my inbox with the following heading: PLEASE SUPPORT SUPER HOT SOUTH AFRICAN/ SOUTH LONDON SINGER MPHO! Mpho, as the cliché goes, was...

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Urban Soul Poetry Slam Winner – Buthelezi

Jun 2, 2009 |

I've never really been sure how I actually feel about poetry slams. I had the opportunity to tour the UK in 2006 as part of Hammer & Tongue's Four Continents Poetry Slam Tour and that was fun because it was the same 8 poets, grateful for the opportunity to share our work. I just find that, in some spaces 'the point IS the points and not the poetry'. Anyway, despite these feeble misgivings, I was a judge at the first ever Urban Soul Poetry Slam at Maponya Mall in Soweto and Buthelezi is the man who took the prize. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuynfozMzg8 I will be loading more videos...

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A layman’s thoughts on Nokia Music Store

May 26, 2009 | ,

The bottom-line is this: all these great things happen in the world and Africa tends to be an after-thought, in relation to these happenings. Yes, we do lag behind in a number of instances but how do you think it feels when you are perceived as being at the bottom of the human barrel?  Not particularly pleasurable! Anyway, this is not a rant on the perception of Africa, but rather as a reaction to how it is hard to get the cool stuff here prompted, strangely enough, by the Nokia Music Store recently launched in South Africa. With the level of mobile penetration in Africa and the fact...

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