Symphonic Rocks - Johannesburg

I came across last year's inaugural edition the week it was going to take place in Cape Town. By chance I was in Cape Town that week, but the concert was sold out. So, when I saw the concert pop up on Computicket, I bought the Jo'burg tickets with little hesitation. The concept is simple - take a few original South African music acts, and combine their music with a full orchestra. The result was stunning.

I have a new home theatre system, and have been testing my Blu Ray copy of Within Temptation's Black Symphony this past week - so it was easy to compare the results. The symphony definitely made the music better; and made a better show. Not all songs were suitable for orchestral performance though; but I think that can change if the bands themselves make bands with an orchestra in mind. The electronic instruments on stage also, at times, seemed to be louder than the orchestra instruments; dimming the effect. All together though, it was a great concert, and well produced; and all the credit to Andy Mac for putting it all together.

The first half of the concert featured CrashCarBurn, Zolani Maholo (of Freshlyground fame), Aro Carstens, Loyiso and Tumi & The Volume. Of the 5, I have heard a number of Freshlyground tracks with orchestral backing before; so it was not too strange; and Zolani's voice was stunning as expected. Arno Carsten's rendition of "Blue Eyes" with the orchestra was, in my opinion, the best song in the first half - with Tumi & The Volume's rap songs running a close second.

The second half started with Macstanley (the former Flat Stanley), followed by Locknville, Zebra & Giraffe and finally Ard Matthews. I did not know much about Locknville, but I had heard one of their songs on radio before. The transformation of electronic music pieces to a live instrumental performance was brilliant - and I think the guys could create an entire album in that fashion. Zebra & Giraffe were, apart from CrashCarBurn, the only other rock band, and they really brought out the "Symphonic Rock" vibe. I had not heard them perform live before, and I think I would really enjoy a full set from them. And finally Ard Matthews came to stage with a lot of jibes about his bungling of the national anthem; but he didn't bungle the Just Jinger songs; and it was a fitting end to the show.

I would definitely support an annual event of Symphonic Rocks; but I want some real rock bands. A full Springbok Nude Girls outfit, or a Seether set, or even full sets from bands such as Zebra & Giraffe would be preferable than the current format, in my opinion. The current format is definitely a lot more accessible (a lot of kids and older people in the audience), but then it is not a rock concert ...

Old and New - JPO's 4th Season 1st Concert

Wednesday night kicked of the last JPO season of the year, and this season has an intriguing mix of music choices. I am particularly looking forward to Week 5 (1^st week of Nov) for the Double Bass Concerto - I hope I can attend it. Wednesday night's attendance was rather poor - a pity, because it was a fantastic program.

The season started off with "Afroverture", a brand new composition by South African composer Simon Bhekathini Phelelani Mnomiya (known apparently for his choral works), which made its debut performance. The name was slightly misleading, because, beyond drum rhythyms, I did not hear too much African fusion; but the combination of the drums and brass was impressive - and I think it was a fantastic piece. The symphony for the evening, Schubert’s Symphony No. 3, was played in the first half of the program, following the Afroverture.

The last piece, is Beethoven's Fifth (and last) Piano Concerto, played by UCT Professor Francois du Toit. The third movement of the concerto is very popular, and I have heard it a number of times - especially on Classic FM. And while the last movement is impressive - I enjoyed the first movement even more. It was a masterful performance, and highly enjoyable performance.

Goodbye Steve Jobs

He was a visionary - not only on gadgets, but the entire digital lifestyle experience. It was more than just iPods, iPhones, iPads and before that, the Mac. It was also Pixar, Disney, iTunes and OS X. It was about design and usability - not GHz and MB.

If I look back, what drove my attention to DRM, was the then recently launched iTunes Music store; with Fairplay DRM. That's what drove my interest into copyright law, into DRM; and perhaps security as a discipline itself ... for that, thank you.

Languages

Foreigners are often astounded by the fact that South Africa has 11 official languages. What is more interesting is asking different people, what they believe is the "average" number that are spoken by South Africans - and inevitably it breaks down racial lines. I have asked this question to a number of people I know - some like me speak only English fluently and understand the basics of another (most likely to be Afrikaans); others are fluent in two languages (usually English and Afrikaans) - while many more are fluent in a lot more, 4, 5 or even more. So the polyglot I once met in a Cape Town station is not that rare; though his language skills were far more diverse.

Stephen Fry has a very interesting series on BBC (no mention on where one can easily acquire it without watching BBC) called Fry's Planet Word, which explores the development of language - historically, culturally, physiologically etc. I have only watched one episode, but I think it is yet another BBC gem that is really worth watching.

Edit
Updated, full review can be found here.

Zoo City

Published last year to great reviews and many awards, including the 2011 Arthur C Clarke Award, the science fiction/crime thriller is set in Johannesburg. Although set in a parallel universe, the exploration of Johannesburg itself by the heroine (Zinzi December) - from Hillbrow, through Houghton and Rosebank, to Sandton and Midrand - is fascinating as the storyline itself.

People who have committed crimes in this parallel universe are magically attached by an animal familiar, which then create a "load" on their shoulders per se. Zinzi December is an ex journalist, recovering drug addict with a sloth familiar; who has the magical ability to find "lost" items (not stolen), as well as write some brilliant 419 scam letters.

The story weaves the tales of Africa itself - from rising musical stars and producers/hanger-ons that seemingly exploit them, muti magic to various sub plots of refugees, including the tales of the conflict in the great lakes. In fact, the sub plots of the DRC - be it the journeys that the refugees take to escape from their hell to a lesser hell, or the stories about the conflicts themselves could easily become great books themselves.

Zoo City is a fantastic story, and I am now looking to find the earlier novel by Lauren Beukes, Moxyland.

"Africa is not a country"

In the Mail & Guardian's blog platform, Percy Zvomuya has a wonderful piece on how Africa is often seen as one homogeneous country instead of being seen as a continent of 50+ countries. He gets a number of points spot on, specifically on how Africa is reported on in much of the Western media.

I would however argue that Africa is actually not alone - although other areas in the world are not necessarily bundled in one go. "America" for example, often encompasses Canada and the USA; while Europe usually refers to Western continental Europe, the Aussies often encompass New Zealand (except in the matter of Rugby or Cricket) and off course South America is more or less treated as a block also.

It is true that Africa is the largest of these blocks, and definitely the most diverse in terms of political and economical climate. But Africa also tries to portray itself as one in certain cases (esp when it comes to dealing with people such as Mugabe or more recently Gaddafi). But at very least, one should get the facts right, which is clearly not the case with regards to the reporting on the Zambian elections (as highlighted in the article).

Takumi

I was introduced to Minato by Dave, but sadly after I had left Cape Town. Shortly after that, the owner and chef, Papa San, sold Minato and left South Africa. The quality of Minato slowly deteriorated.

A few months ago, Papa San, opened a new restaurant in Cape Town - Takumi. The decor is very modern, the place seems to be smaller - but the food is as good (if not better), the portions are big, and the house rules are only a little less crazy (you can now order more than once for example). I have been to a fair number of sushi restaurants in South Africa, and Takumi is the best I have been to.

I had booked a table tonight, and when we got there, it was full. So I would suggest, booking in advance - even if it is on the day. And bring an appetite ...

Hi Jesus, Mohamed ...

Mohamed is a pretty common name, as is Jesus in Spanish speaking countries. Having a meeting with both of them in the room can be quite interesting to say the least. "Hi Jesus, Mohamed" is an email I wrote to them after the meeting which then led me to think of all the other prophet/gods I know - the gardener in our complex is "Moses", I know quite a few "Krishna"s and also one "Siddhartha" (i.e. Buddha before he was the enlightened one). Imagine getting all of them in one room ...

Wingsuit Flying Video - Wow

Bungee jumping is a rush, hang gliding is rather sedate - but wingsuit flying combines the two to something insane; especially in the hands of Jeb Corliss. This YouTube video is simply insane. I want to try it, but I think it is far from being commercialised (and hence, safe and accessible).

Gardening, Freddie Mercury, The Beatles and an Orchestra

Freddie Mercury's compositions (and Queen in general) often lend themselves well to orchestration, and have been performed by orchestras many times before. Likewise, there are a number of Beatle's hits that have been orchestrated. Last night, the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, put up a selection of the hits from Freddie Mercury, Queen and The Beatles, dispersed with a few classical pieces in "In Tune with Nature". The concert was sponsored by Mayford seeds, and thus together with the concert, one also got a number of gardening tips thrown in. It seems that gardening was a good fit with the audience, as most raised their hands to indicate that they are gardeners.

The sold out show, started with "Bohemian Rhapsody", though only orchestral, before a few more contemporary classical pieces, some featuring soprano Magdalene Minnaar. The first half also featured pieces from the "Beatlecracker Suite" - an amalgamation of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite with a few popular Beatles's pieces. It was weird in how well the two musical pieces joined up, but remained individually distinguishable (at least in the pieces I knew both).

The star performance was from Loyiso Bala, who did a good job in singing some of the classic Queen tracks, and though he did not have the stage presence of Freddie Mercury, he was not a bad replacement. The concert finished with "Barcelona" - a piece I didn't know existed, but well worth watching on YouTube.

Gautrain Notes

The Gautrain has become quite popular in the office - many of my colleagues make use of it for daily commute, and they are all quite impressed with it. One of them made the point that it is not actually faster - but it is a lot less stressful than driving, and according to him, a lot less expensive even without tolls. Others, often comment that every day they have not take the train (for example, because they have had to work much later or have to commute elsewhere), they have spent a lot longer on the road; so it also faster.

I have taken the commuter service only once, but on Wednesday/Thursday I had the opportunity to take the train to the airport. It was a rather unusual time for me - with an afternoon flight, so I got to see some "other" users of the Gautrain - a mother and daughter returning with shopping, some people going to the airport, and a few business men commuting between meetings. And on my return trip (around 19:15) I saw something that Vavi and co say the train doesn't support - the low wage worker (a security guard, not employed by Bombela) using the train.

Yes, the Gautrain does not extend to everywhere. Yes, the Gautrain fare structures need better work (why not use zones instead of fixed distance pricing). Yes, the times that the train current runs is inconvenient (I cannot make the first flight out of OR Tambo with the train, nor most of the evening flights) - but these can be fixed easily. The foundation itself is strong!

Suikerbosrand

Just outside Heidelberg (in Gauteng, not Germany), Suikerbosrand is a fairly large nature reserve, and excellent hiking trails. I have been hiking (more like walking) the Bokmakiere day trails (there is a fork halfway with the routes being about 10.5 and 11.5 KM respectively) for over a year now, though I have not been there much this year.

Recent veld-fire (apparently in July) has completely transformed the trail area. Previously, grass on either side of the trail was, at times, over my head - and now completely burnt away. There is a stark contrast between the green sprouts and the untouched yellow veld on the opposite side of the valley. The change in landscape has also meant a change in wildlife - at least in the scenery of the wildlife. Previously, wildlife spotting along the trail was an occasional affair - yet, yesterday I saw an abundance of Zebra, Eland and Red Hartebeest - and perhaps even Wildebeest (in the distance). On the downside, the chatter of birds has diminished greatly with the loss of large shrubs and trees.

Movie: Incendies

I expected a "heavy" movie, but wasn't exactly sure of what this movie will be about. A woman dies (seemingly from some type of shock), and her twin young adult children are given a very strange missive in the will - for the daughter to find the father, who they believed was dead, and for the son to find the brother they didn't know existed.

Although never mentioned, the movie takes place in the backdrop of the brutal Lebanese civil war. As the daughter traces her roots in Lebanon, the parallel story of the mother is shown. It is a remarkable story of woman who fights for her ideals, though not necessarily the ideals of her community.

It is one of the best war movies I have ever seen. It does not hide the brutality, it does not hide the horrors, and at the same time it also highlights what often drives the horrors (in the tit-for-tat battles). Superbly acted, brilliantly written and directed, it is definitely a must see.

Freddie Mercury

Today marks the 65^th birthday anniversary of the legendary Queen frontman. Queen was in its prime before I was born, and in its second coming, I was a child - so there are not Queen memories per say.

I have however listened to many of the great hits, seen countless YouTube videos and concerts and even seen, what is left of Queen perform at the first 46664 concert in Cape Town. It is great to see some of the many tributes around the web, be it the official Google Doodle (which features some great animation, hopefully soon to be archived here), Google Blog post by Brian May, and Time's compilation of Freddie's 5 greatest videos. Most interesting in that lot, is Bohemian Rhapsody, performed with Freddie, in a ballet.

Most interestingly, for two days only, Queen's 1986 Concert Video - Live in Wembley will be streamed on Queen's official YouTube channel.

Queen is now very much part of popular culture, and it is certainly one of the bands (in its original lineup) that I would have really liked to have seen live.

Interesting Challenge

Former F1 driver (and now commentator), David Coulthard is going to race against PS3 drivers of Gran Turismo 5. What makes this race interesting - Coulthard will drive a real car (Mercedes SLS AMG) on a real track, while the PS3 drivers will drive the same track, but virtually, using the virtual version of the car. To make it more honest, no one will be able to drive the track before the actual event.

It is an interesting concept, and would raise the interesting question - should there be someone faster than Coulthard, would they give him/her a remote control version of the SLS AMG to race to see whether the physics translate correctly?

The Telegraph will stream it live - hopefully there will be a downloadable version available.

Movie: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

After the previous movies in this series, I was originally not too keen to watch this movie, but M was, so I went along. While the previous movies explored the world where the Apes had superseded humans in evolution to start running Earth, this movie explores how it got there in the first place. Like many Science Fiction "disaster" movies, it starts off with a well meaning scientist who invents a virulent drug, and things go wrong.

While John Lithgow plays an old man slowly wasting away with Alzheimer's, the real star of the movie is Andy Serkins as Caesar, the chimpanzee. While his performance as Gollum was sublime, I think this role was even better, and the high production values and the attention to detail certainly helps the movie a great deal. In fact the general "acting" of the apes was superior to that of the humans for most of the movie, perhaps signaling the message :) I am certainly glad that I went to see it, and it is a much more enjoyable movie when compared to its predecessors.

All the Americans - JPO's 3rd Season, 6th Week

The final week of the JPO's 3^rd Season featured only American composers; and while the Russian week (1^st week) was quite traditional, this week had a lot of jazz influence. The JPO's Principal Guest Conductor, Bernhard Gueller was on the podium for the week.

The first piece of the evening was Gershwin's "An American in Paris", which was also played by the MIAGI Youth Orchestra in May this year. Overall, I think this performance was better - it felt a bit more alive, and the jazzy components stood out a lot more. It really gave the vibe of the Parisian cafe from before WW2 (as depicted often in movies).

The second piece was Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F, with Nina Schumann, (or rather Prof. Schumann, as her students would call her :)) at the keyboard. This piece had even more jazz influences, and was one of the best piano performances I have heard at the JPO.

Aaron Copland's "Corral Nocturne" from his Ballet Rodeo, was the most traditional piece of the evening - very soothing, and calm.

The last piece of the evening was Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from the "West Side Story". Taken from the Broadway hit (also scored by Bernstein), the Symphonic Dances give an orchestral performance of 9 songs from the musical (though they are not arranged in sequence of the story). Once again, there was a lot of "modern music" influence, a lot more Jazz in feel; and was definitely different to the traditional JPO fare. In some respects, I think the JPO should perform a lot more of the newer crossover pieces, as it opens up the concert to a much wider audience. I would particularly like to see scores from movies performed once a season to get a wider audience involved.

Johan Botha Gala Concert

Johan Botha is probably South Africa's best known opera export, and is by all accounts a sought after tenor on the international opera circuit. So it was not surprising, that his one off gala concert in Johannesburg on Saturday had a full house. Supported by young South African opera singers, as well as the CT Opera Choir and the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, he delivered a brilliant concert, and truly showed his class.

I am not a big fan of Opera, so I do not know all the concert pieces, and the background in the wider opera story - but it is easy to pick up on the ones I did know and compare it to other performances. I think the concert program could have done more in this regard, to be honest.

He had a number of encores, including an Afrikaans song (which got a wild applause from certain members of the audience), and finished off with the popular Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot; and his final performance was better than the "concert" performance and is one of the best performances I have heard (though it doesn't really compare to the Pavarotti).

Movie: Captain America: The First Avenger

Early Superman comics were just as nationalistic (there are comics showing Superman, fighting the Nazis); and Captain America was conceptualised at the height of World War 2; and largely takes place in that time period. A weak, but courageous young man, who wants to enroll, gets drafted into a covert bio-engineering program and is transformed into a super solider. He is first drafted in to raise funds for the war, but later leads the charge against the other super-soldier, mad scientist/Fuhrer wannabe.

As an action movie, it is passable - nothing brilliant, but not bad either. 3D is, as is expected, completely useless, with most of the movie employing next to no 3D effects. The explosions are big, there are car chases (and plane chases, and train chases); ticking bombs and off course beautiful women. So, quite an enjoyable movie to watch - but nothing special.

Movie: The Perfect Host

It is hard to say much about this movie, without revealing the plot. An injured bank robber charms his way into the home of a man hosting a dinner party; except all is not what it seems. The movie is really notable for its brilliant character development (of the criminal, the host, and some of the other side characters) - and the brilliant acting of David Pierce (of Frasier fame).