SA pop songs workshop hosted at Cambridge

Hosted by lyric soprano Joyce Moholoagae, the event, organised as part of the South Africa at 20: The Freedom Tour, will take place from 1.30pm-3.30pm at the Faculty of Education in Homerton college. 

 

Mandela era songs

 

The CAFF workshop will see students learning simple, comprehensive melodies, embodying the sense of freedom of expression that is so central to the South African Freedom Tour. As a native speaker of several African languages, Moholoagae encourages her audiences to interpret and reflect on the meaning of the words, whilst providing helpful tips on articulation and pronunciation. The inherent joy and emotion of the Mandela era songs that will be taught at the workshop - and the poignant simplicity of the popular lullaby Thula Baba - engages singers beyond the realm of spoken language. Moholoagae’s cross cultural exchanges engage her performers in ways that words cannot, and in a space where age, race and nationality, for a while at least, are eclipsed by the immeasurable beauty of the music itself.

 

An immersive experience

 

The event has been organised in conjunction with the UK’s 2014 South Africa season as part of a partnership between the Department of Art and Culture of South Africa and the British Council. An experienced workshop leader in both the UK and South Africa, Moholoagae epitomises the sense of cultural fusion and reciprocity that underpins the tour. After gaining a diploma in music performance from the University of Natal in Durban, she went on to enhance her instinctive understanding of musical traditions with further training at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Moholagae is thus able to bring a nuanced and sensitive appreciation of African and Western musical styles to the fore for the benefit of her audience. Her warm and welcoming approach to teaching has been attracting students to her highly successful Mbawula workshops since 2006, where students of all ages and abilities  are encouraged to be part of an immersive experience which simultaneously engages “the head, the feet and the heart.”

 

To secure a spot at the workshop, go to http://bit.ly/songsworkshop.

 

 

Run voluntarily

 

CAFF is the longest running African film festival in the UK. Run completely voluntarily, this edition, taking place from 1 to 9 November, is supported by two main co-sponsors, Trinity College and the Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge, as well as supported by Cambridge Arts Picturehouse and the Cambridge Film Trust, the French Society at Trinity College, Cambridge-Africa Programme, the Centre of African Studies at the University of London, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Key Travel, The Humanitarian Centre, the African Society of Cambridge University and Menelik Education. Screening over 12 titles followed by Q&A with guest filmmakers, scholars and students, from South Africa, Mali, Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon and Nigeria, and running parallel events such as live music, a photography and Africa seminar,an exhibition, a panel discussion and a South African popular song workshop, CAFF aims to show the best of contemporary African films, increase understanding and awareness of African and black culture in the UK, and offer an important counterbalance to the Western media’s stereotyping of Africa.