The Cape Town Music Academy (CTMA) presents Kwathi ke Kaloku – Once Upon a Time, a 60-minute traditional Xhosa storytelling and music event for primary school children by award-winning author and storyteller Sindiwe Magona and musician Bongani Sotshononda and his United Nations of Africa band.
Kwathi ke Kaloku
The production travels to four key points in the Western Cape from Monday 18 September at Masikhanye Hall in Gugulethu from 10am. On Wednesday 20 September, the performance travels to Guga S’thebe in Langa for a 10am show. On 21 September Kwathi ke Kaloku will be at Zolani Centre in Nyanga from 9am as part of The Fringe Festival. On 22 September the cast travels to Hermanus for a 7pm performance at Zwelihle, a primary school in the township of Hermanus. Here the performance will be for Sparklekids, a Learnership Programme that Magona regularly presents life skills to children from the area.
Mother tongue stories
Directed by Magona’s daughter, Thokozile Sayedwa with dramaturgy by Mandla Mbothwe, the cast includes actors Sivuyile Dunjwa and Awethu Hleli.
“While all stories enrich, mother tongue stories do a whole lot more – they anchor the child into the specific realm of the inherent self – inalienable and perpetual. Just as no child in the world should ever be denied the citizenship of the country of her birth, no child should ever be denied or deprived of the privilege of mother tongue. It is a birthright, sacred. To de-tongue a child, even by neglect or oversight, should be considered a criminal act,” says Magona
“The child who reads or hears stories in her mother tongue is much more likely to meet herself in books; see, hear and learn from characters who remind her of herself, people like her, situation and problems familiar to hers. Even those that may present the unfamiliar will have a ring of ‘new’ but within her world, concludes Magona.
While the production is for school children between the ages of 7 – 13 years, it is open to all other children who maybe at home with parents on the dates listed. This free entry production shouldn’t be missed.
Once the run is completed, the artists aim to record an audio version in CD format which will be donated to schools as an educational aid.
The CTMA aim to make this an annual production (adapted and developed), which will travel to deserving schools in the Western Cape and rural outskirts.
Who: The Cape Town Music Academy (CTMA)
What: Kwathi ke Kaloku – Once Upon a Time
Info: Luvuyo Kakaza 060 960 8935
WS
