Voorkamerfest Darling

Voorkamerfest 2008

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Performers

	Alfred Schaffer The Netherlands One of the famous younger poets from the Netherlands, Alfred Schaffer, will read his poetry; for several years he lived and worked in Cape Town. Click to visit his web site

	Bafana Republic: Extra Time South Africa Rea Rangaka as seen in Mike van Graan's satirical journey towards the 2010 FA World Cup continues with Bafana Republic - 'Extra Time'

	Barefoot Company England Martha Harrison and Ian Marchant amaze the world with their acrobatic movements Click to visit their web site

	Black Noise South Africa Celebrating their 20th Anniversary, these pioneers of South African Hip Hop present a show packed with original B-Boys/Breakdancers, DJ, MCs/ Rappers, Capoeira Artists, Poetry and Graffiti. Black Noise has toured far and wide internationally with 7 CDs, 2 DVDs & 2 books to their credit. Click to visit their web site Web site 2 and Web site 3

	College of Magic South Africa The College of Magic presents a fascinating glimpse into the secret and exciting world of sleight of hand and illusion. Presented by South African Sleight of Hand Champion, Stuart Lightbody, assisted by Monica Nyakatya and Mawonga Gayiya, both finalists at the World Teen Magic Championships. Click to visit their web site

	Compagnie Meyer/Chaffaud France / Switzerland / India One of the leading small modern dance companies is the Compagnie Meyer/Chaffaud: dancers Isabelle Chaffaud and Jérôme Meyer, accompanied by Indian musician Surajit Das Click to visit their web site

	Darling iAfrica DramaQueens South Africa Local amateur comedy-drama group - Ivy Johnson, Anna Williams, Diane October, Maureen Hoop, Sari Vlotman and Sylvia Mateyise. Having made their debut at the 2nd Voorkamerfest (Sep 2005) the Darling iAfrica Drama Queens proudly return with another dramatic comedy-take on their town: they have created a bar-room entertainment in Afrikaans, written by them - 'Genoeg is Genoeg' is their warcry and they invade the sacred ground of rugby, beer and Die Manne, to make their point.

	Eva de Roovere Belgium Eva de Roovere with guitarist Roeland Vandemoortele, sings the most beautiful new songs (flemish) Click to visit her web site

	Hendrik Hofmeyr & Pretty Yende South Africa Prize-winning soprano Pretty Yende sings glorious songs and arias from the classical repertoire, accompanied by SA composer and pianist Hendrik Hofmeyr.

	Katharina Vogel Switzerland Butoh dancer Katharina Vogel, assisted by her musician Martin Schumacher (accordion) Click to visit her web site

	Marc Uys South Africa Marc will be playing a programme for solo violin including works by JS Bach and Hendrik Hofmeyr. Marc has won several prizes and awards. Marc plays a fine 18th century Italian instrument on generous loan from the Lindbergh Arts Foundation.

	Marji Geldenhuys South Africa Marji takes us on a unique journey of storytelling & traditional music from the slopes of Table Mountain - 'HOTNOTES FROM THE HOERIKWAGGO'

	Mathew Reid & Pieter van Zyl South Africa This dynamic South African duo recently won the Kanna award at the Oudtshoorn KKNK in the classical music category. Click to visit their web site

	Nibs van der Spuy South Africa An acoustic guitar player and singer - legend in SA. As an instrumentalist he effortlessly mixes Blues, Reggae, Folk, Pop and bit of Indian music. Click to visit his web site Click to visit his other web site

	Niki Romijn The Netherlands Dutch actress/singer Niki Romijn will perform her production about Ingrid Jonker; with guitarist Erik Robaard Click to visit her web site

	Outspoken Zimbabwe Outspoken is an 8 time "House of Hunger poetry slam" winner who will be bringing Zimbabwean social commentary backed by his acoustic guitarist from his group 'Outspoken and The Essence', delivering rhythm and rhyme for a reason accompanied by guitartist MALLORY GONDO. Click to visit his web site

	Phillippa Yaa de Villiers South Africa "Taller than buildings" is a poetry recital based on her acclaimed first volume of poetry. Performer Phillippa Yaa de Villiers takes the audience on a roller-coaster ride through the feminine psyche. Click to visit her web site

	Souldada The Netherlands Folk / pop / jazz / worldmusic ensemble Herman Woltmann, Willem Smid, Maeike Sytsma, Johan Keus, Carel van Leeuwen - they bring soul from Friesland Click to visit their web site

	Thembi Mtshali-Jones South Africa Thembi will be performing stories of her childhood and songs accompanied by Ray Molefe with percussion. Click to visit her web site

	Tshepo 'Pius' Mogale South Africa One of SA's most celebrated stand-up comedians. Click to visit his web site

	Wired Strings South Africa Music runs in this family with youthful South African Foursome - Anouk, Nigel and Vicente Espi (sister and two brothers) and Jeremy Hewett (cousin). They are prize-winning string players in their own right, and as a quartet have compiled and polished a lively repertoire through years of performing together.

Review

Now that the Voorkamerfest of 2008 has been packed away in the "agterkamer", as a group we have to pass out kudos to the organisers of the fest as well as the wonderful people of Darling.

2008 was our second fest and it is impossible to say which of 2007 or 2008 was a better fest as they were both so good.

Your producers choice of artists for the 2008 fest was fantastic. We saw 12 shows and felt that it was perfect in terms of the number of shows to see..
We had 9 winners, two so so and one losing show which I think is a fantastic fest record as it is perfect in my opinion. The crazy thing about this all is that the show we spoke most of was the "loser". (-:) As far as I was concerned the fact that this was the case just shows how successful the fest was.

We started our fest with the wonderful Marji Geldenhuys and ended with the amazing Pretty Yende. 5 years ago Marji was a bank manager to me in Sea Point so you can but only imagine how happy a surprise it was to me when I once again met her in the most surprising circumstances of the fest stage.
Furthermore her 25 minute "hotnotes" show was very moving and excellent in presentation. 3 years ago we identified Pretty as an operatic diva of the future; at the fest we sat three foot away from her in Nina's wonderful home (where we thoroughly enjoyed Stef Bos in 2007) listening to her show off her amazing talent. I am sure that this is the closest we will be able to be with Pretty Yende in the future because she will most definitely be climbing
her ladder to operatic stardom. When this happens we will hopefully be there to see and listen to her in operas that she will be performing in and rest assured we will then proudly proclaim " we sat right 3 foot away from her while listening to her at the Darling Voorkamerfest of 2008".

The above are just some of the experiences that the fest offered us in 2008 and in its unique way it could never have happened if it were not for the slick organisation of the fest administration. For this we thank you and your staff highly. Tasha I also want to thank you personally for all that you did to make the 2008 fest a successful event for us as a group. It was truly very, very much appreciated.

Finally I would like to just mention that the Voorkamerfest really is a wonderful advert to the outside world for your very charming and quaint village. The people of Darling bend over backwards to accommodate and you have no idea how much we appreciated all that was done to make us feel so at home over this past weekend (as well as the weekend of the 2007 fest).

Kudos go to cleaners, stall owners, taxi drivers, "pen" ushers , house owners, guesthouse owners, restaurant owners, organizers or anybody else linked to either the fest or the town of Darling.

In closing what more can we say other than "thank you Darling for 2008 and you can bet your bottom Rand that it will take heaps to prevent us from seeing you all once again in September 2009". Tasha go well and in great peace to you and all the people of Darling.

From Selwyn Davidowitz
2007 Wanderlust International Tourguide of the year
I Love Cape Town

Sunday 7th Sept 4pm
Free open air performance for the community in Darling