Category: Travel

DREAMY SINGER/SONGWRITER LUNA PAIGE IS ON THE MOVE WITH MUSIC THAT REFLECTS THE TIME

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Stellenbosch singer/songwriter Luna Paige will be in Pretoria and Philadelphia for rare performances to celebrate the launch of two new albums; the one in Afrikaans (Dis die Dors), the other in English (Harmony). DIANE DE BEER chats to the singer whose career she has followed from her early days – with admiration:

Storielied Reunion.Picture: Pierre Rommelare

For singer/songwriter Luna Paige the last few years has been a sharp learning curve. Since her early start in the industry (late 1999), she has been one of the most dedicated artists I know – and she usually does it all herself.

Her first look-in was when she was invited to record three of her songs on a compilation album alongside Lesley Rae Dowling and other female artists at the time. “It is what catapulted me into a music career,” she says. But driven as she is, and one has to be when you drive your own career as she does, she would have found a way.

Since those early days she has released five solo albums and one SAMA-nominated collaborative album. And since 2015, she has released numerous songs digitally  and she believes, she has come into her own this past decade. That is until Covid struck.

She established her own music production company which developed music-driven productions, hosted and organised, concert series and co-ordinated music workshops five years ago. In her capacity at Iluminar Productions, she also represented other musicians and musical groups.

She found herself collaborating with many artists and produced shows such  as Her Blues, Korreltjie Kantel and Smeltkroes. She also played a supporting and promotional role in the popular My Miriam Makeba Story featuring the luminous Sima Mashazi.

Because her business was still young and primarily focussed on servicing art festivals and live entertainment venues and clubs, the pandemic was disastrous as for so many other artists who depend on audiences.

Luna knew it was time to join the workforce and between 2021 and 2024 she worked as a marketer and fundraiser for Paul Roos Gymnasium, a prestige Stellenbosch school. But she’s back in the music business, armed with many new skills and ideas she wants to implement in the music industry – as well as two new albums.

During Covid she had time to reflect, and, coming out of the pandemic, her thinking and that of the world around her, has changed. That is also what her songs reflect; her collaborative intent as well as the fast-paced changes in our society. “The last time I released an album, the world looked a lot different. The digital era is now in full sway. It has affected everything outside of us, but also our own internal way of processing information, and life in general.”

And that is exactly what she sings about.

When you ask Luna about her life, she speaks about the difficulty of packaging herself. “Let’s be honest, I am so many things!” She is a singer-songwriter. She writes in her mother tongue but also in English. She doesn’t compose in a specific genre. “For me, the song, and the story behind it, dictates the genre the song needs to be in. I find my influences from a wide array of genres.”

But then she is also a social worker, an altruist and an organiser. She feels she is a catalyst of sorts. “I know how to bring an interesting group of people together to do great things.” And with those words in mind, I predict exciting performances in the future.

Luna has always had to fight for her place in the industry. Performing isn’t an easy way to make a living. Music is her life, and she has always known that’s where she wants to be. Armed with new skills and insight, she believes that private investment in the arts is essential for its survival. “I believe artists have a huge responsibility to not only expect funds, but to also give back to their own communities. And the causes they believe in.”

While fundraising and marketing something other than herself, she became aware of her own different facets. “I have always seen them as separate things, one not having anything to do with the other. But now I know it’s the combination of these elements that makes me unique.”

She’s excited to explore what she calls “fusion of self”, how it will unfold and the kind of creative endeavours it will lead to.

These two latest album releases also reflect her new-found knowledge, showing the different sides of self.

“My Afrikaans side and my English side. Why? Because I do express myself differently in these two languages. It is interesting to me how I almost have a different voice in each of them,” she explains.

And speaking of voices, Luna also does different voices when she speaks and when she sings. If you have a conversation and have never heard her sing, it sounds like a completely different person.

On her Afrikaans album, Dis die Dors, she pays homage to two iconic poets – Jeanne Goosen and Antjie Krog. Their poems, which she puts to music, touch on the subject of either loneliness or aloneness. “It’s a theme I am quite interested in – especially the difference between the two. The power of the one versus the sadness of the other.”  Both poets, she notes, also touch on our thirst – for something meaningful in what can be a challenging world. “I sing about purpose, about nature’s generous supply of lessons, and about the labels we embrace for our own self-preservation.” She also addresses online nastiness and real-life kindness, and borrowed time.

And as always with the soulful singer, the genres vary from gypsy jazz and world music to folk rock, rock ‘n roll, troubadour-style songs and one typical Luna-style piano rock ballad.

On the English album, Harmony, she included some of the songs released digitally during 2021 and 2022, as they didn’t reach enough people. She believes they deserve a good resting place. She describes the album as bolder in sound and voice. “I am sharing ideas that I have never previously introduced in my music. Ideas about a lot of –isms. In my song Whose life is it anyway I am encouraging freedom of expression, of individualism, freedom from whatever the mainstream demands. In Circle of witches she addresses the sensitivity towards feminism (even from women themselves). “It is a modern take on feminism and why I believe it is still relevant.”

Not one to stand on the sidelines,  Middle Class Shoes  is dedicated to May 29 when we stand in line to vote for our next ruling party. “It is a song about classism – something we don’t acknowledge remotely enough when talking politics in SA,” she says.

Luna Paige. Picture: Nardus Engelbrecht

Real news that feels like fiction, alcohol abuse, the power of owning aloneness as well as her love of the continent all feature. And there’s much more.

What she does with her music is speak her mind. All she asks is that we take the time to listen. And I certainly can’t wait. She has a voice that melts your heart and touches the soul. And she offers wisdom and wit with her thoughtful lyrics.

Much thought and research went into producing these albums and how to package them for this digital age.

What she has decided is to release her music in USB-format.

The 2024-USB will include the two new albums, poster art, lyric sheets and two music videos. The Full Collection-USB, will offer all her releases since 2003, multiple videos and live footage. She will also be selling personalised Luna Paige notebooks – with lyric extracts inside.

Her first performance was in Stellenbosch this past weekend and these two follow in Gauteng and Philadelphia:

Sunday, 14 April. Moonshot Café. Pretoria. 2.30pm. Tickets cost R200 at Quicket. Ticket link: https://qkt.io/tR9Nhd. On stage: Luna Paige and Mauritz Lotz.

Wednesday, 17 April. BV Hall. Philadelphia. 8pm. Pre-drinks and dinner at The Pepper Tree from 5.30 to 7.30pm  (Reservations: (+27) 84 707 3177. Show time: 8pm. Tickets cost R200 at Quicket. Ticket link: https://qkt.io/DAlG8G. On stage: Luna Paige, Mauritz Lotz, Schalk Joubert, Kevin Gibson.

And then she’s off for the rest of the year as she recharges her creative instincts and inspiration. She will be visiting places she has always dreamt of like Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and possibly Slovenia. She will be walking and writing, researching business ideas and checking in with artists who work in a social impact sphere.

She will be vlogging for those who wish to follow: https://lunamusic.co.za/blog-and-chat/

AUTHOR JUSTIN FOX IS A NOMAD WHO CONCEDES THE TRAVELING BUG IS WHAT DRIVES HIM IN LIFE

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Author Justin Fox, as DIANE DE BEER discovers when speaking to him about his latest book, Place South African Literary Journey (published by UMUZI) at Garsfontein’s Boekeplek & Kuierplek, has a mind as restless as his wanderlust:

The cover is a painting by Erik Laubscher titled Overberg Landscape.

When you are sent a book and asked by a publisher to help with the launch in your city, your first instinct, especially if you don’t know the author, which I didn’t in this instance, is to hope that you won’t hate the writing or the book for that matter.

Up to now, I have been blessed and again, Justin Fox’s Place is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the writing, found it a wonderfully original concept and the reading very accessible.

What this author did was to select nine authors whose writing he found to be determined by a specific landscape or place, capturing the spirit, hence the name and the idea. Think, for example, of  someone like Herman Charles Bosman and your mind automatically reaches for the Marico or Dalene Matthee’s passionate love affair so inextricably linked with the Knysna forest.

Zakes Mda with his Heart of Redness is nestled on the Wild Coast, JM Coetzee has Michael K traveling and hiding in the Moordenaars Karoo and Olive Schreiner’s Story of an African Farm has its footprint in the Eastern Karoo.

The Lowveld is Jock of the Bushveld’s stomping ground, Deneys Reitz’s adventures, Justin narrowed down to the invasion of the Cape with Eugene Marais finding solace with his baboons in Waterberg.

The only one I wasn’t familiar with and the author with whom Justin perhaps identified with most strongly is Stephen Watson, who had a strong affinity with the Cederberg.

Wondering if he had qualms about not having the perfect representation, he admitted it was something he thought about, and he did try.  He had to rely on authors who had a special affinity with a particular landscape or region, which was reflected in their writing.

With this mix, he also spread the love throughout the country geographically and in the end, that’s what determined his choice.

When first reading the book and seeing that it was In Memoriam of Uys Krige, I wondered whether he was related to actress Grethe Fox, whom I have encountered in my theatre writing. And of course, she is his sister and joins him (as he writes) on one of his author adventures.

They are indeed a family truly invested in the arts. Justin’s father is the architect Revel Fox and his mother is Uys Krige’s sister, then there’s also a filmmaker … and the list goes on. And then he divulges the family secret. His grandmother Sannie Uys was determined to guide everyone in the family into the arts.

In fact, she felt this so strongly that  it was highly frowned upon if someone decided to turn to medicine or law, for example! Especially in terms of for the richness of the arts, wouldn’t this country flourish if there were more of these kinds of grandmothers? Anyone linked to the arts in even a minor way will know how a life is enriched.

The Geelbek Blockhouse also features in the book.

The wealth of artists in one family when taking a peek at their family tree starts to make sense. That and Justin’s particular bent and imaginative mind. There’s not much he hasn’t tried in the artistic sphere of witing. He is listed as a travel writer, novelist, poet and photographer and, as the former editor of Getaway magazine, he could easily include most of his passions in his daily life. And now, having left them, it’s easy to see how he keeps doing what he does – writing mostly books.

For Place, for example, he travelled to all the places of his chosen authors so that he could not only write from his research on the authors but also experience the place for himself. And that’s what makes this such an intriguing read. It’s as though he has aimed his skills sharply for this endeavour – and it serves him and his reader well.

Even someone like Dalene Matthee’s favoured region (which is close to where I spent my youth) came with new insight from this reading. And probably much of this can be linked to the fact that Justin has “itchy feet”, but also that the research is what really inspires him. It is what he enjoys most and what obviously informs and enriches his writing.

Having travelled the length and breadth of Africa during his former life as a journalist also brings much knowledge to bear. And then probably his writing was further nourished and polished by his doctorate in English at Oxford as well as his time as a research fellow at the University of Cape Town.  But don’t expect to find a bookish approach to his storytelling or his writing. The way he uses language is one of the joys of the reading experience.

His latest endeavour or, perhaps more accurately, the one he is hoping will receive more attention is the two books already finished and hopefully a handful to come of his fictional World War 2 novels with Jack Pembroke as the hero. Justin describes himself as a Jack of all trades, but that’s underselling his expertise.

He ascribes his writing in so many different genres (google his writing history) as “getting bored quickly”. His favourite author is Patrick O’Brian whom he describes amusingly as “Jane Austen at sea”, as well as crime stories, and then of course he loves reading anything about World War 2, hence the fictional series in which he focusses on adventures from the war, unfamiliar to many. The current one with a South African focus is a battle that has been forgotten by many.

His next focus is African islands which he hopes will have the same impact as Place, which has already sold out.

The Fox Family (Justin left) on a Greek sojourn, one of his earliest travels.

“I’m a nomad,” he says, and he concedes he has the bug worse than most.  And while writing per se is not his happy place, the research, edit and travel to promote his latest invention all find favour. And that’s where his drive comes from and his determination to escape into another adventure – whether fiction or non-fiction. I’m crossing fingers that the current book, Place, will be so popular that the publishers consider a colour version richly illustrated with Justin’s photographs. That was the only missing element for me. His writing takes you to the places he describes so imaginatively and there are a handful of black and white pictures. I realise it was an issue of cost, but still …

BONGI BENGU COLOURS THE WORLD BRIGHTLY WITH HER ART, HER LAUGHTER AND HER LIFE

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The artist Bongi Bengu is having a major exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum which runs from this Saturday (September 9) until November 5. She told DIANE DE BEER about her passion which is constantly evolving and reflecting her life, her dreams and hopes:

Pictures of Bongi Bengu taken at the Pretoria Farmer’s Market by Thomas Honiball.

When you first meet Bongi Bengu it is not a surprise to learn that she is an artist. She looks like an artwork herself.

She’s brightly dressed and the one characteristic most dramatic is her laughter. This is someone who loves life and her enthusiasm is contagious. She’s also not scared of showing herself.

But when you start talking about her art, her mood is reflective. “It’s a calling,” she says about this career which she has been passionate about for the past 26 years.

Her art is all about expressing herself but also healing, she says, something she hopes those who come to her exhibition will also experience. She infuses it into everything she does, her cooking, her clothes, dancing and music choices. “Art is like breathing.”

Titled The World / Umhlaba, the exhibition has been inspired by the tarot card called The World. “It means the end of a cycle and the beginning of another,” she explains. But she expands: “It could also mean that you’re in a powerful position to manifest your desires.”

The exhibition was first held at the Alliance Francaise, Pretoria where Pretoria Art Museum curator Mmutle Kgokong first saw it and felt that the space was too small for her work. “It looks cramped,” he said and invited her to show it at the museum.

Bongi feels it was meant to be. “We create our own world,” she says and that’s why this transformation from one exhibition to the next came quite naturally to this South African, who spent her youth in exile in Geneva Switzerland where she completed most of her schooling until the last few years, which she spent at Waterford Kamhlaba in Swaziland.

Bongi’s Golde Orb Mask

Her parents (her father Sibusiso Bengu was both an ambassador and Minister of Education) felt that she needed to experience some of her school years on the African continent. And this is also where she forged her future. While doing a research project for which she earned a distinction and which included interviewing established  artists, she discovered Helen Sebidi who was an inspiration and opened her eyes – and her heart – to the art world.

“That’s when I knew,” she says about her artistic beginnings. Becoming the world traveller that she is, she later enrolled and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree at Mount Vernon College, Washington DC, and completed a Master’s degree in Fine Arts at The University of Cape Town. She has since participated in numerous international residencies and workshops.

For this current exhibition she wanted to reflect on the different stages of her work and she has tried to select pieces from all the different periods. She started with pastels and charcoals using mostly earthy colours.

Bongi’s Rebirth IV

Then she joined the Bag Factory Artist Studio where she did mostly collages initially and then turned to an organic period where she focussed on leaves and soil.

Only then came colour which now seem such a part of her life. She confesses that she sees herself as an artwork and when you look at her, it’s easy to see why. What a canvas she has been given to play with. It’s not only her work that turns heads.

Once she started planning this exhibition, she started a conversation with two curators, one at Washington DC’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Teresa Bush) where she had interned for a while and the other in Sweden (a South African lecturing there, Nkule Mabaso). “It was through dialogues with them about my work that I made selections,” she says. They will also be writing for her catalogue which will be available at the end of the two month exhibition.

Bongi’s Self portrait in the sand

When discussing her work, Bongi explains that she is inspired by her life and the experiences she has had. It all begins in her head, but once she starts working on paper or canvas, it’s usually something quite different that emerges.

Working mostly on your own can be quite a lonely existence, but Bongi enjoys her own company and finds her painting therapeutic. “This is how I work through problems,” she says. “I never feel alone.”

Bongi at work.

In her life as in her work, she describes herself as someone who doesn’t conform to society’s norms. “That’s not easy in my community, a single Black woman with no children!” But it’s her life and she marches to her own beat. Growing up and travelling around the world yet returning to South Africa, she functions easily wherever she finds herself.

As I watch her finding her feet at Silverton’s famous Farmer’s Market, it’s easy to believe her. She’s colourful, has a laugh that stops a crowd and a life that’s creative and of her own making.

Bongi’s Montana Birds (left) and Life of Domesticity (right)

She says she knows she was a man in her former life and that she wanted desperately to paint, but it wasn’t possible. “At that time, the women were the painters making huge murals. I knew I would come back as a woman so that I could fulfil my dream. And now I also know when women think that men have easier lives, it’s not always true!”

The exhibition will run until 5 November at the Pretoria Art Museum.

It will be opened officially by His Excellency HE Mr Antonis Mandritis, Ambassador of Cyprus and the work can be toasted courtesy of Durbanville Hills. Everyone is welcome.

AUTHOR SIHLE KHUMALO KEEPS IT LIGHT WHILE SPEAKING HIS MIND ON SERIOUS ISSUES

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With his latest book Milk The Beloved Country (Umuzi), author Sihle Khumalo speaks his mind on many issues, and with the focus on local, it gives readers the chance to reflect on what they have and what the future holds for this country and its people. DIANE DE BEER spends some time with the man who has much on his mind and likes to share:

At our first meeting I realized that it would be impossible to try to give a summary of who this man, Sihle Khumalo, is.

I culd capture more of this prolific writer by giving you the titles of the books he has already written: Dark Continent – My Black Arse; Heart of AFRICA; Almost Sleeping My Way to Timbuktu; and Rainbow Nation My Zulu Arse.

And then the one I will focus on most sharply here, his latest, Milk The Beloved Country. He tells that the first book was  the result of his travels from Cape Town to Cairo using public transport. This was also to celebrate his 30th birthday.

In 1999, to celebrate his 24th birthday, he bungee jumped at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe; for his 25th he ran the Comrades Marathon (11hours 40 minutes); for his 27th birthday, in 2002, he started parachuting (on static line) at Pietermaritzburg’s Oribi airport ; in 2003, he did aerobatic flying (as a passenger) at Rand airport.

He currently lives in Johannesburg with his wife and two children. And the two women he dedicates the book to is his mother and his mother-in-law. For me that also speaks volumes and probably more revealing than anything I could add.

Perhaps this is not the kind of book that would have caught my attention if I didn’t have to speak to Sihle publicly – twice – which also meant I read the book twice. That in the end was a good thing, because it was with the second reading that I realised exactly what he was doing. It seems to be all over the place and yet, after a more careful reading, I was starting to get the drift of this very active mind.

Sihle Khumalo will have you thinking. With this smartly tongue-in-cheek book, what had me doing just that from the start, was wondering how he comes up with the concept. And even now I’m still not sure he knows. He has an active mind and personality (if that’s possible) but once you pin him down and start taking his words seriously, he has some very interesting stories to tell and points to make.

Myself (Diane de Beer ) with authors Sihle Khumalo and Deborah Steinmair at the Vrye Weekblad Book Festival at Cullinan earlier in April.

But take note, there is sleight of hand, because it might all seem frivolous, yet it’s anything but.

His previous books are travel-driven, so the research was done while visiting different places, but in this instance, the research had to come in more traditional fashion; libraries for example rather than the excitement of travel.

But he wanted to do it this way and it will be interesting to watch his future adventures to see whether they will be of the physical or mental kind.

The book is neatly divided into three sections, starting with the names of especially smaller towns and villages and where these come from. It’s intriguing and something all of us might have thought of or even discussed with children during tedious journeys, but he makes a study of it. And while there’s much to smile at, he also makes sure to spotlight some sharply observed issues, as this following notice in https://theconversation.com/africa daily email reaffirms:

“Today marks 60 years since Kenya attained internal self-rule from the British colonial powers. Names of places and other urban symbols were used as tools of control over space in many African countries during the colonial period. This strategy was epitomised by the British, who applied it vigorously in the Kenyan capital Nairobi from the late 1800s. Street names celebrating royalty and officialdom dominated the central part of the city, while African names were relegated to peripheral neighbourhoods. Melissa Wanjiru-Mwita explains the ways in which this strategy actively alienated the native African majority while promoting the political, ideological and racial dominance of the colonialist.”

What tickled me though is remembering the fuss from the white population about changes to the names of towns and provinces, for example when we were just staring out on our democracy in the early 90s. I can remember the anxiety expressed while wailing about their heritage ….

Much of the name changing has happened without fuss but, as Sihle reflects, many more changes wouldn’t be a bad idea – including the name of our country which to his mind, points to a destination rather than something which would reflect the people living there. I still have to scratch my head to remember and hold on to some of the name changes, but they do make sense and feel much more part of the continent, the country and all its people.  It is the diversity of the country that is our strength and it should be reflected in as much as possible publicly so that it becomes commonplace.

The second section starts with the intriguing quote: You’ve got to find some way of saying it without saying it (Duke Ellington) and this is something that I personally think drives Sihle’s writing.

Titled The Power Brokers he dives right in, exploring our very own secret society, the Broederbond. He starts with the role players and their influence and then moves on to the private sector and intelligence.

As with the names of towns, which most South Africans might say they’re familiar with, the Broederbond because of its secrecy was intriguing to many, but for those of us not invested in the politics of the apartheid state, we thought we knew more than we actually did. And this, coming from an outside point of view as well as after the fact (or so we hope!), reminds us where we come from when we start pointing fingers.

Politics has always been about power and we can only hold thumbs that it comes from a good place – even if just most of the time.

Drawing a line through all that secrecy, he moves to different groupings of people including the freemasons; the unions and then couples the taxis, religion and traditional leaders together concluding with The Masses and sadly, the fact that we the people warrant less than a third of a page, says it all. That and the first sentence: There is nothing significant to report here.

What I also like about this particular section is the comparison of the past with the present. Corruption for example, we all speak about it as if it’s something new. Read on …

And in conclusion, Sihle tells us to Pause and Ponder:

Two weeks after the 2021 insurrection, The Washington Post described our “celebrated rainbow nation” as the “global poster child of economic inequality where deep poverty sits in the shadow of astronomical wealth.” If that doesn’t make you weep, nothing will.

He sums up the apathy by focusing first on the Feeding frenzy on state resources. I know that surprised me most post 94. I didn’t think that the leaders would turn their back on the very people who needed their assistance most. (And I do understand that they had the best examples in the former white regime).

For those of us puzzled by the ruling party’s elective conferences, he takes a closer look at: 2007, 2012 and 2017.

The Constitutional Court and the judiciary also come into play. It’s under attack in so many countries, the US and Israel, to name a few? It’s always been my beacon of hope, and I do still in spite of, believe that our people, our strength will pull us through. Sihle speaks his mind as he does on the following hair raising issue: Is South Africa a failed state? And when exactly was it captured?

And then finally, on a second reading, this lucky packet of a book truly spoke to me. Not just about what he was writing about but also learning more about this man with his wandering mind. I have heard different opinions about his writing. I cannot speak to any other than this latest book.

Some could argue that Sihle Khumalo is a man of too many seasons. But he speaks his mind and where that takes us is what appealed to me. As a fellow South African, I want as many opinions as are out there because in the end, most of us just want to be left to get on with our lives. And, if possible, to have a government that lends a helping hand. Life is tough enough without any extra hindrances.

And while some might be milking the beloved country, we should remember what we have and that the people and the place are real strengths and not something to mess with.

TWO OF THE BEST CHEFS IN THE BUSINESS MAKE MY HEART SING WITH THEIR ARDENT APPROACH

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It’s a blessing to have had meals cooked by two of my favourite chefs recently, not having been at their tables for quite some time and as always, their food was simply the best. DIANE DE BEER pays tribute to two of the best:

Enchanted garden.

I have been a Lientjie Wessels fan forever – of her food, her art, her writing and more. Having tried for quite some time to go to one of her Cullinan long tables, I was excited when finally I could go with a group of foodie friends for one of her delightfully quirky meals.

Lientjie Wessels.
Portrait: Hennie Fisher

That has always been part of her charm for me. She makes the kind of food with ingredients I really love. A long time ago she told me that for her mother, who passed on her love of food to her daughter, it was all about taste. I think she also taught her about unusual flavours and combinations.

Right from the start, my chef consort Hennie Fisher was just blown away by her very first dish of the day: Japanese-style pancakes, homemade mayo (and she was heard murmuring as an aside that she had put this together incidentally but would include it in her repertoire, it was that good!), bonito, lowveld wild honey and spekboom.

Japanese style starter.

What Hennie loved about the dish was once again her creative playfulness. “It’s the clever way she emulated bonito with the fine powder biltong, almost turning the biltong into a kind of ‘land’ bonito,” he explains. “But also because she so cleverly combines meat and fish (even if both are dried), because it is so often a combination used in Asian cuisine. And how brilliant to make that connection with biltong and bonito!”

Just listing the ingredients should inform anyone about her innovative choices. But she’s not just throwing things together. Her cooking is instinctive yet thoughtful and she knows her customers. In her kitchen, she is always at play. And for diners, this is a fun adventure if you’re up for it.

Miso and peri-peri prawns.

The next one stuck to the Asian theme and clever combo with peri-peri prawns and miso with sesame coleslaw. It was just a dream and perfectly cooked. She seamlessly ticks all the boxes.

Koji beef rump, buttermilk krummelpap and ginger steakhouse sauce.
Individual servings on different plates.

A Lientjie meal is possibly the only time I won’t shy away from krummelpap (maize, polenta), not one of my favourite foods but I knew if anyone could, she would convert me. She won me over with her specific buttermilk version served with Koji beef rump, a ginger steakhouse sauce (how can you not fall in love with that choice!) and pickled cucumber. It’s in the detail and the combinations, everything contributes to that single spoonful taste explosion.

And to perfectly conclude in Japanese style, the dessert, a cotton cheesecake with cinnamon syrup and tennis biscuit crumbs, sealed the deal, which I proclaimed perfection. Even as a cheesecake fanatic and two visits to Japan, I had never encountered a Japanese cheesecake before.

And blessings to the internet, which explained that this version is also known as a soufflé-style cheesecake, usually lighter in texture and less sweet than the more traditional version. But then also to serve it with Tennis biscuit crumbs! How could she not?

It’s not only the food that’s spectacular – the fact that Lientjie no longer has a restaurant in Cullinan hasn’t deterred her one bit. She simply commands the kitchens of friends in venues that contribute to the ambience of the event. And this one certainly did as I’m sure each one will. The walk up to the house was like stepping into a fairy tale.

Lientjie has recently bought a house in Richmond (Cape), a town that is fast becoming yet another food destination but with added interests like Die Karoo Padstal, Richmond Rooms and Café, MAP gallery with one of the best local art collections you will find anywhere, a bookshop to keep you busy for days and much more. It’s the perfect halfway stop.

And in future, when she’s in town, she will also be doing lunch in Richmond, like on April 9 when she is presenting a fantastic feast. If you’re passing through or sleeping over, book a table. She’s also doing a dinner in Cullinan at the Vrye Weekblad Boeke Fees, which promises to be spectacular.

Check her out on Facebook and Instagram for information. And whatsapp her on 082 531 6141 for bookings.

Die Karoo Padstal

But while in Richmond, that’s also the location of my other much loved chef, Klaradyn Grobler of Richmond Café and Rooms and Die Karoo Padstal fame, who is also back in business. Yet she is still arguably the hardest booking to pin down.

I was thrilled when on our last trip to Cape Town, to show the London family the best of the best, we could manage to secure a booking for dinner while sleeping over at another guesthouse, one with an attached gallery – it is that kind of town, one with many hidden gems.

We had the best of all worlds to show off this spectacular landscape with a dinner celebrating Karoo lamb included. On our journey that morning we were sent the menu on our phones with three of us opting for lamb chops with roasted vegetables, while I couldn’t resist the lamb curry and one of the diners who couldn’t eat lamb, had a bacon pizza.

As with Lientjie, the venue is just as important as the food. In fact, I recognised Klaradyn’s style (having seen it in the Free State) when I first had a meal at her Richmond Café and Rooms. It’s unmistakable, buzzing with creativity and  probably complemented by her husband Nicol’s architectural skills.

And with both these chefs, their style enhances the full experience. On the night, we had two charming women in the kitchen, and as they had our choice of meals ahead of time, everything ran very smoothly.

Fresh home-baked bread and home-grown tomatoes.

We sat down at 6 pm because the kitchen closed at 7 (one listens to their commands!) and were presented with what was the perfect starter, home-baked bread (deliciously thick slices) with farm butter and fresh tomatoes from the garden. We had to battle not to indulge to the point of messing with our mains.

And then the main attraction. I absolutely lost my heart to Simon’s lamb curry with flatbread even though the lamb chops (I had a taste) were fantastic. For me the curry had just the right flavours to celebrate the lamb and after a long day’s travel, it was the best comfort food.

Lamb chops and roasted vegetables
Simon’s lamb curry with flatbread

The chops were served with roasted vegetables in just the right mix. It is a skill to present a simple meal to perfection. There’s nowhere to hide so everything has to work. And it does!

On the counter was the night’s dessert, a bumper milktart, which had us licking our lips. At R250 a meal, it’s a steal.

Both these chefs, Lientjie and Klaradyn, popped in to discuss their food and acknowledge that they were dealing with diners who are devotees of their special way with food. We appreciated that.

It’s not difficult to understand these two spectacular women, the way they cook and how in different ways they celebrate their strengths. For me part of the charm is their similar ethos, presenting diners with food to die for and yet, their menus are so different. It’s about how they go about it and what they come up with – and in the end, as they say, the proof is in the pudding!

For bookings and info: Richmond Café and Rooms 079 755 8285.

PANTO SOCERER JANICE HONEYMAN AND HER FANTASTIC CAST STAGE THE PANTO OF ALL PANTOS

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PICTURES: éenroC photo & video.

DIANE DE BEER reviews:

Adventures in Pantoland packs a dynamic punch.

JANICE HONEYMAN’S  ADVENTURES IN PANTOLAND

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JANICE HONEYMAN

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Bernard Jay

CAST: Michelle Botha, Dylan du Plessis, David Arnold Johnson, Didintle Khunou, Ilse Klink, Hlengiwe Lushaba Madlala, Carmen Pretorius, Brenda Radloff, Justin Swartz, Grant Towers, Ben Voss and the rest of the ensemble

THE BAND: Dale Ray Scheepers (musical director and arranger/keyboards), Silas Naicker (assistant musical director/ keyboard), Redgardt de Bruin (guitar) , Viwe Mkizwana (Bass), Keith Marishen (drums).

CHOREOGRAPHER: Nicol Sheraton

PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Andrew Timm

COSTUME DESIGNER Bronwen Lovegrove

LIGHTING DESIGNER: Johan Ferreira

SOUND DESIGNER: Adriaan van der Walt

RESIDENT DIRECTOR: Timothy le Roux

VENUE: The Mandela at Joburg Theatre

DATES: Until December 24

David Johnson as Jabulani The Joburg Genie and and Dylan du Plessis as Aladdin
Evil Action Inc with the Wicked Queen Evilina (Radloff), Captain Hideosa Hook (Johnson) Madame Kakkeloura Khakibos (Klink) and the Abominable Abanazar (Voss),

There’s a reason the panto is billed as Janice Honeyman’s Adventures …

She is the one with the pocketful of fairy dust, bags of laughter, and the knowledge to strike a balance that has the kids captivated and the adults engaged.

That’s quite something in a world where they have everything at their fingertips with iPads and iPhones.

But Honeyman won’t be phased by any of this. She simply goes next level. She has a design master (Timm) who also flies even higher than last year. He takes the audience into a wonderland unimaginable with state-of-the-art LED screens which seemingly have unlimited qualities to transform the stage constantly in front of your eyes.

The explosion of colour and artistry bedazzles you, but with typical Honeyman ingenuity, she doesn’t allow the beating heart of her production to be overwhelmed. When picking her cast, she makes sure that these are performers who command the stage and bring mountains of personality to the two or three characters everyone on stage inhabits.

And even after 20 plus pantos, some of my favourites were unrecognisable and the newbies are rehearsed to operate like seasoned pros.

From Radloff’s wicked queen to Pretorius’s and Khunou’s enchanting Princess Aurora and Snow White, to Du Plessis’s and Justin Swartz’s charmers Aladdin and Jack the Joller, we’re completely hooked from the start.

Tripping the light fantastic in China, Ilse Klink as Emperina Wun-Phat-Bum and Michelle Botha as Empress Wun-Tun-Tum with Grant Towers as Widow Twankey.

And don’t dismiss the Good Fairy (Madlala) with a voice that is as commanding as her presence, which is precisely what you want. There are truly no standouts, they all sparkle.

This is not simply one pantomime, it’s a big bunch of them, all rolled in one. To tie it all together, Honeyman has picked Good vs Evil as her theme and there’s more than enough of that going round at the moment to keep it prescient and present. She has her finger on every pulse.

It’s all in the detail. So while the enormity of the stunning costumes and travelling sets envelops you, it also allows you to take in those winks and nudges with a picture of an oh-so-famous person displayed as Employee of the Month, or a sign pointing to the Doek Nook or simply the complexity of the costumes that tell a story all their own.

It’s bright buttons and sparkly shoes, a bright kopdoek or a fancy fan as we trip our way through the abundance of adventures in this pantoland – all on a quest to preserve goodness and kindness  ̶Honeyman’s credo.

Snow White (Didintle Khunou) hoodwinked by the wicked queen Evilina (Barbara Radloff).
The devastating panto dames Dolla Double-D (Johnson), Widow Twankey (Grant Towers), the good fairy Flora-Dora (Madlala), Nursey Nora (Botha) and Kitchen Katie Klink).

While pantomimes were very much a feature of my end-of-year planning in the past, I haven’t been for a few years. And having seen 20 plus, a break was necessary. But this one is truly special.

One can always bank on Honeyman’s super powers, but this time she had double the expectations. Not only is the Joburg Theatre celebrating 60 years, this is also her and producer Bernard Jay’s 21st end-of-year celebratory collaboration.

Not many would keep it as fresh and manage to tick all the boxes all of the time. Of course she does!

Fo0r her it is all about finding the angle, which she did, having audiences lean forward into the show – and with the explosion of colour and talent on stage how could they not, but then right at the top of her list is a show with a beating heart.

The spectacular cast in the shimmering finalé.

Finding and exploring new wow factors and selecting a cast that will deliver with energy and enthusiasm are where Honeyman excels. It is her inner child, that constant twinkle in her eye that creates the magic and keeps pulling the audiences in.

We’re blessed in Gauteng that we don’t have to imagine the festive season without the Honeyman pantomime adventure.

You go girl!

And as an incentive, they have a special on Black Friday (this week). Buy tickets for any of the panto shows at a mere R100. That’s a steal!

THE PURPLE HAZE OF PRETORIA’S JACARANDAS CREATES THE PERFECT PICTURE OF A CAPITAL CITY

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DIANE DE BEER

PICTURES: Thomas Honiball

PRETORIA, jakarandastad,

Dis weer Oktobermaand…

Miskien is dit die rede dat

Ek só verlang vanaand,

Want hoeveel jare het jy nie

My life en leed gedeel

En stil geluister wanneer ek

My ou kitaar bespeel

This is the first verse of singer/songwriter sublime Koos du Plessis’s ode to Pretoria.

He frames his beloved city in a cloak of purple haze, which is how many of us identify the most colourful capital city.

But much controversy has surrounded this emblem of the city over the years and there are visions of fights for this particular tree and the replanting and upkeep of the city’s pride for those of us living here long enough.

Money talks, and the hordes of tourists who visit the city annually is proof enough for everyone who witnesses this influx that, at least for the moment, Jacarandas are allowed to flourish and bloom in all their splendour.

The four annual stages of the Jacaranda tree

Jacaranda trees were first imported from Rio de Janeiro by Baron von Ludwig of Cape Town in about 1830. A travelling nurseryman from Cape Town named Templemann brought two Jacaranda trees to Pretoria in 1888. He planted them in the garden he had laid out for Jacob Daniel (Japie) Celliers at Myrtle Lodge in Sunnyside, shortly after it was established as Pretoria’s second suburb.

In the 1890s Celliers secured a concession from President Paul Kruger to plant trees in Groenkloof for the Government of the Republic. James Clark, a wholesale and retail seedsman, florist and nursery, received the order to import seeds from Australia.

The story goes that among the consignment of eucalyptus seeds Clark imported for planting in Pretoria in 1898, a packet of Jacaranda seeds had found their way.

On 16 November 1906, the 51st anniversary of the founding of Pretoria, Clark presented 200 Jacaranda trees to the City Council as a birthday present to Pretoria. These trees were planted in Bosman street in Arcadia Park where the Pretoria Art Museum was established in 1864.

Frank Walton James was appointed as town engineer in 1909. He suggested the planting of Jacarandas in all the streets of the town to enhance the status of Pretoria as the proposed capital of the Union. When Jameson left the Council in 1920, fewer than 6 000 trees had been planted. By 1939, with the constant encouragement of Jameson, the number of trees had risen to 17 000.

Today there are approximately 40 000 Jacaranda trees in the streets of Pretoria.

And these facts were all handed to me in a letter by Jacaranda activist, architect Thomas Honiball, a man who has always battled and fought for the preservation of Pretoria as the beautiful city it is.

Some of us still remember the huge controversy about the west façade of  Church Square, which was going to be demolished, but was finally left intact thanks to Honiball and a committee he had established with exactly this in mind. And the city proudly hails this part of its heritage today.

The aforementioned letter was written with a request to the Minister of Agriculture for the planting of Jacaranda trees in the city of Tshwane – and fortunately those battles were hard fought and won.

For Thomas, who lives in Nieu Muckleneuk with a spectacular view of Jacaranda blossoms when they are in full bloom, these trees hold and embrace the spirit of the city. He believes they were first planted to establish the character of a city that would be named the country’s capital – and thus it was.

“We have something that no other city boasts in such abundance,” he says. He also argues it is especially the city’s layout, the long streets, and the koppies,  that allow for the spectacular showing of this tree Pretorians have claimed for themselves.

And he has many anecdotes to claim the city’s towering Jacaranda status. “I was told the story that Elon Musk’s grandfather when he flew over the city and saw the spectacle of the purple blooms was so overwhelmed, he emigrated here,” he says.

He also remembers as a young Free State lad paying his first visit to the city and sighting the purple spectacle, how it overwhelmed him. “It was just so pretty!”

Thomas Honiball and the book of listings he instigated.

That’s not all he achieved in this city. He was also instrumental in the production of a book with the listing of buildings worth holding on to, often used by city planners to save specific buildings which form a part of the city’s heritage. It’s not something South Africa has always done well and we need these visual planners who understand the importance of cherishing the old while celebrating the new.

He is very aware that everything cannot be kept simply because its old. There’s a saying that if a city centre doesn’t change, keep up with the times, it will die.

Fortunately for Tshwane, we have citizens like Thomas Honiball in our midst who have the city’s interests at heart and understand the importance of the picture perfect visual that keeps us all mesmerised.

JAPANESE TEAM PRESENT DREAM CUISINE, TIME AND AGAIN

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DIANE DE BEER

The exquisite tastes of Japan as presented by the Japanese embassy.

If a Japanese ambassador brings his own chef (and, as a bonus, the chef’s wife who is also his assistant in the kitchen), you can know there’s something interesting happening both in the kitchen and at the table. We have been privileged (myself and chef/wine connoisseur Hennie Fisher) to be part of these Japanese dinner adventures a few times:

Because Ambassador Norio Maruyama arrived in this country almost at the same time as Covid19, he has had to keep his wits about him when trying to fulfil his mandate. Sometimes there was nothing to do because lockdown prohibited all gatherings, but with the lifting of restrictions, he came up with the idea of hosting small dinner parties rather than large gatherings.

This, of course, especially for those of us not part of the diplomatic scene, was a perfect solution and one that worked brilliantly. Sometimes at the large ambassadorial events, the diplomatic corps gather for dinner talk and other guests are left dangling somewhat.

Yet with these small dinners, not only can the food be more splashy, but –  especially, as in this instance, when  your host is both a foodie and a wine lover (one with excellent knowledge of local wine, to our excitement)  – the dinner can also turn into a huge learning as well as extravagant sensual experience.

From the first dinner (which I wrote, about in previous posting), we knew that not only did we discover new delights when presented with their amazing cuisine, but – especially we also lost our heart to the host and his chefs, Jun Suzuki and his wife Mutsumi.

Returning recently for a dinner, we both felt that because the chef was aware of our admiration for his food, he could relax and be more comfortable in what he presented us with. We are the kind of diners who like being surprised and discovering different levels of a cuisine we are getting to know. And with the excellent wine pairings, as well as detailed descriptions of each dish, it’s my favourite kind of meal. I’m getting nourishment of both the soul and senses – narrative and nurturing. What more could one possibly ask for?

******

And here some wine notes from wine connoisseur Hennie Fisher, who accompanied me on these dinners:

Often, people who love food also feverishly investigate and research beverages to enjoy along with their food. This includes wine, but also other drinks. In fact, the art of pairing food and wine seems to be an increasingly popular pastime. Ambassador Murayama, who loves wine, of course came to the right country to indulge his interest. One seldom visits someone’s house to be presented with wines from your own country that you know nothing about. You may not previously have drunk that exact wine, but at least, because you have close interaction with wine as an agri-product in South Africa, you generally know either the producer, farm, or estate where the wine originated. On different occasions, Ambassador Murayama brought out the big guns, local as well as international – one example is a sake from Ichinokura.

The ambassador was especially proud of a white wine made here in South Africa, by Stark Conde ‘Round Mountain’ Sauvignon Blanc, because the Japanese symbol for round mountain is the same as his surname, Maruyama. On another visit, we were served a barrel-selected Roussanne 2013 from Ken Forrester, which was probably one of the most exciting wines I ever had the pleasure to drink. A Storm Pinot Noir 2018 was also sublime. On yet another occasion we had a

Testalonga El Bandito Cortez, an orange wine by Elementis, followed by a Taaibosch 2018 Crescendo, and we ended the meal with some serious Japanese whiskies such as Hibiki Suntory, a 21-year-old whisky. We will miss the ambassador’s fine palate when he moves on to his next posting.

Kanpai!

******

As on a previous occasion, we again started off with One Bite of Happiness, a title I love, and it’s exactly what you get. As pretty as a picture, the deep-fried tofu with yuzu was exquisite. This was followed by a Tataki of tuna which simply means the method (pounding in this instance) of preparation served on a dashi foam. You can’t fault the Japanese on fish – and that’s no exaggeration. Next was their delightfully inventive gooseberry salad, taking the place of  the more traditional palate cleanser.

Duck yakatori style was the main and this was presented with great flair, to the guests’ absolute joy. And this being our first duck experience à la Japanese, it was quite splendid – and it had to be, not to disappoint after such a theatrical entrance.

Sweets started with an Amarula ice cream with the citrussy mikan and finally a work of art in the form of three sweet things: walnut, mochi (rice cake) and yokan (red bean paste).

Our appreciation was complete and we loved the way they paid homage to the host country with ingredients like the gooseberries and the Amarula.

Chef Zane Figueiredo from Brooklyn’s Wood and Fire with the two Japanese counterparts Mutsumi and Jun Suzuki with the restaurant staff all part of the glorious evening.

For the second time in almost a month, we attended a Taste of Japan held annually at Wood and Fire in Brooklyn, as the guests of Ambassador Maruyama. This time Jun and Mutsumi stepped into the kitchen of the restaurant and with the help of yet another of my favourite chefs, Zane Figueiredo, produced an extraordinary tasting menu which was the perfect infusion of Japanese cuisine to satisfy both the novice and those of us who feel we have been introduced to their food by those who know and love it best.

Okonomiyaki

The welcome snack of edamame beans with schichimi togarashi (a red pepper spice) is a staple on Japanese tables, familiar here but less frequently served. It’s a pity because it has that moreish quality which makes it difficult to stop and it’s healthy!

Okonomiyaki, another Japanese favourite and quite yummy, is a savoury pancake (almost pizza-like) and this was flavoured with green cabbage, beansprouts, kewpie (mayo), ginger, nori and otafuku sauce (close to our Wocestershire).

Prawn Soba
A delicate arrangement of sashimi

Noodles was next on the list with prawn served with a shiitake broth, assorted veggies and shiso (a mint herb) followed by a delicate arrangement of sashimi, including salmon, sea bass, and with a nod to the South Africans, Springbok carpaccio all with a dash of different Japanese condiments which just take it to another level.

Yakitori (either chicken or green beans with spring onion) was the last appetiser before the mains consisting of Katsu Curry, which included a choice of pork, chicken or aubergine with fukujinzuke (Japanese pickles) and short grain rice.

Most of the servings were small and with healthy food inherently part of  Japanese  cuisine, it was again a broad introduction to many Japanese ingredients and flavours in a meal that was delicately balanced and, as always, finished with a flourish of mochi and ice cream!

Soudai na (Magnifique)!

DIS BAIE LEKKER BY DIE SEE

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Publishing this following story about a Durban/Kwa-Zulu Natal visit a month before the horrifying insurrection was quite tricky. In fact it was going to appear a day before the riots – but fortunately didn’t. In the meantime we’ve all been holding our breath so I’m hoping and have checked the places mentioned and nothing has changed apart from the city (I am told) getting a clean-up around elections, so please, if you’re planning to holiday in that region in the coming festive months, have a blast.

And for those who don’t understand the heading: It’s very good at the sea, or some such!

DIANE DE BEER gives a few impressions:

Our final birthday destination: Shangrila Beach House (in Bazley), a self-catering house, cottage and chalet with an exquisite garden designed by indigenous landscape gardener and botanist Alice Pooley.

When a friend decided to celebrate her 50th birthday on the Kwazulu-Natal South Coast recently, five of us decided to travel to Durban for a few days prior to the celebrations to explore especially the art and the food in a city none of us knew at all.

Art and culinary adventures are passions for all of us and we had read enviously about the hot spots in both Durban and the coast and we were excited to go on this adventure.

Travelling down by car, our first stop was for lunch in the region of Van Reenen’s Pass where two of our companions had previously enjoyed some excellent meals. The road to Oaklands Country Manor with a name change to Oaklands Farm Stay turns off (for a few kilometres) at the little town of Van Reenen and is easily worth the detour.

Together with the handful of super siblings (four sisters and a brother I think) who are in charge, the setting and the farm itself is special. On the day we stopped which happened to be a Sunday, there was a polo match in progress but quite a few families were occupying the outside tables with spectacular views, ready for lunch.

The splendours of Oaklands Farm Stay.

The menu was perfect for travellers, simple but with enough variety to cover the spectrum.

Salads either garden or chicken, toasted sarmies with chips, beef burger and chips, game pie or tagliatelle with garlic, chilli, anchovies, capers, broccoli and parmesan were the options. Our table covered the full menu and while the rest of the team started with a special cocktail, as the dedicated driver, I went for the homemade ice cold kombucha-style mixer, which was spot on.

The food was delicious, (I shared the game pie and the tagliatelle with the birthday girl because we both were undecided), but so was the atmosphere, the company and the hosts. We will be back whenever we travel this way.

We had ample sustenance for the rest of the journey which isn’t an easy one with all the trucks making their way to the coast. The bill without the lunch drinks was R250 per person (coffees included) which was a really good deal.

Durban was a huge surprise, great fun but not exactly what we expected. We took into account that we were there just before a strict lockdown and as we arrived the province was struggling with high covid numbers.

The splendours of the Phansi Museum.

On the art side we had two excursions: the one was the truly mind-blowing Phansi Museum (with on the side the exquisitely stocked African Art Centre if you’re in the need for some serious local craft shopping) and the other the Kwazulu-Natal Society of the Arts with a vibrant indoor/and out coffee bar/deli attached which was buzzing when we arrived.

The Phansi Museum will blow your mind. The breadth and scope of the collection is simply overwhelming and one wonders why this isn’t duplicated in every city in this country. There’s hardly a more accessible way to introduce the depth of the different cultures in South Africa. And I would travel all the way to the coast if only for a visit to this world-class museum.

Taking a guided tour with the embracing and embraceable guide, it’s amazing to discover the wealth and cultural riches of our people. Even if you are aware of the diversity out there, to see it all gathered together is magnificent. And there’s much to admire and much to learn, a truly heavenly experience.

This was followed by the Society of Arts also in the vicinity but unfortunately they were setting up for their next exhibition, which was a development project. We were, however,  enchanted that in spite of the lack of any art happening at that precise moment, the café was packed. That is good news and I want to appeal to all the large art institutions around the country, in Pretoria in particular (The Pretoria Art Museum, The Javett and Association of Arts particularly on my mind), to find a way to serve at least good coffee with some refreshments. It’s a way of drawing people in whether for an exhibition or simply to gather for some bonhomie.

This particular space is enchanting, and you could see that the refreshments and food were as good and it has to have that stamp of approval. Nothing could be more welcoming and it makes perfect business sense if you get it right. They also have a fun museum shop and anyone traveling to world museums, will know how important those are. Our art venues have to find ways to appeal to visitors. Once there, they will hopefully be captivated by the art.

We popped into one independent gallery just off the well-known Florida Road, but they were also busy setting up and apart from these three, that, according to what we discovered and were told, was it.

Florida Road, a destination we returned to time and again.

On the food side it was also hit and miss. Our first stop was a breakfast/coffee shop which came highly recommended in an online paper and sadly was a huge let down. When writers go all out with their praise that might not be warranted, you are then reluctant to follow their advice. With only a few days at our disposal, we didn’t want any more disappointments.

Fortunately we also had some pointers from friends and locals and we started with what for me was a real find and a must if you go to the city. Glenwood Bakery and its pumping pavement area is an instant comfort. These are locals and you can see this is their regular haunt.

Glenwood Bakery breakfast was a huge hit.

Our visit explained why. Starting with the bill, breakfast with two cappuccinos each, cost R100 per person, which was quite extraordinary considering the quality of the food. Bread and pastries is a big thing at the Bakery and our choices were as varied as our taste – from my mushroom and egg affair which was perfect in size, produce and preparation to bagels with various toppings, and even sweet delights with flavours like hazelnut and apricot which had to be set aside because things were flying off the shelves. We were told probably to preserve freshness, only a very specific amount of baked goodies are prepared each day, so once they’re gone, that’s it.

After our previous flop, this was at the other end of the cuisine spectrum and one to keep in mind if you need a failsafe option. It’s guaranteed!

Of course we had to do Indian and the name we had was Palki, which a few sources had recommended. On our last night we wanted to do take-out and as there were restrictions anyway, it worked out well.

Our cuisine connoisseurs made the choices and we had a mixed bag, which in this style relates to a food feast. Again it is the option to go for when you have such a diverse group of diners, all foodies but with different tastes. But it also allows you to be adventurous in some of your choices and to add new dishes to the group’s repertoire. This time round, it was the not to be missed paratha and dhal makhani, both of which should be part of any Indian meal. Added were a paneer driven dish, a chicken curry and a brinjal pakora. And for the solo diner who is reluctant to be too daring, there’s always a Lamb Curry mince.

And that’s how we even drag the less adventurous along who eventually cannot resist and grow their palate. Palki is not cheap, but it’s quality with great flavours – which is what we were told.

A series of coffee shops and ice cream parlours to choose from in Florida Road.

In between we hung out in the popular Florida Road, kept missing the Patisserie du Maroc which is French flair with Moroccan inspiration, but we had a Monday and public holiday squeezed into our stay, both not good for certain businesses. We caught up on lots of good coffee and artisanal ice cream (a delicious rum ‘n raisin flavour) and even managed to squeeze in some samoosas at the Indian market.

Which is where we spent the rest of the time; a variety of markets on and around Warwick Junction. Outside of lockdown, there are tours available and probably one of these can be fun to do as the different types of markets within the bigger precinct will be showcased.

The colourful area in and around the city markets.

We didn’t have the luxury of a tour guide, but old hands, we easily found our way around the colourful markets, which range from typical Indian and African fare to the ubiquitous Chinese goods which seem to have invaded all local markets.

Getting goods during these difficult times are also problematic and without the foreign buying power, these markets also seem quite depressed. We nevertheless had a great time just walking around, checking the scene (in between a confluence of railway tracks and a graveyard with some interesting gravestones) and seeing how the city centre functions.

From there it was a brisk walk to the Durban City Hall, Post Office and some other majestic buildings including a beautifully preserved Norman Eaton building from a bygone era but many of them still in use today. Sadly the back stairs of the post office was a sight to behold and those who are responsible for cleaning, cannot point fingers at the state of the rest of the city centre if this is the example.

And that was the sad thing about this very vibrant and embracing city centre. With its wide avenues leading to the sea front, it should be a tourist mecca with the markets and beautiful buildings included in this space. But the neglect is horrifying and typical of so many South African cities as white business moves out, it appears owners of the buildings also stop caring.

Also disturbing was the fact that we were the only white people in the area on both days we were there. Just the traffic and the double parking and navigating was like an hilarious movie. It just seems such a pity that a space this vibrant if spruced up and embraced by a much wider community – could become a real tourist mecca.

We had a blast and were welcomed everywhere we went but my heart bled for those who had to spend their lives day in and day out under these sometimes horrific circumstances while hardly a kilometre away, the Durban seafront is a completely different matter.

Personally I suspect its all about money but there’s bags full to be made if the city centre was given a touch of love and care – not gentrified – just a look that a buzzing city centre deserves. It already has all the basics!

The magic of the Durban beachfront.

We concluded our Durban trip with a breakfast at the promenade at Circus Circus. We were told they serve great coffee and the breakfasts are hale and hearty. It was good to witness the Durban community in all its splendour with joggers, cyclists, rickshaws and hawkers all part of the parade.

From there our trip became a celebration as we moved to a little touch of heaven called the Shangrila Beach House (in Bazley), a self-catering house, cottage and chalet (depending on the amount of people) with the best sea view, its own access to the beach first crossing a working railway line, and an exquisite garden designed by indigenous landscape gardener and botanist Elsa Pooley.

The bliss of Shangrila.

And I haven’t got to the best yet, a mass of friendly dogs and the most wondrous wrap-around stoep. Self-catering with a chef (á la Dr Hennie Fisher) in our midst was bliss and apart from an excursion to Botha House (now a guest house with spectacular views), which was built for the former prime minister Louis Botha by his friend Sir Frank Reynolds, we pretty much stayed put in our imagined home away from home.

Two last suggestions on the way back, was a fuel stop just off Pinetown called the Polo Pony Convenience Centre (571 Kassier Road, Assagay) with a Woolworths food store with the best takeout sandwiches and coffee.

A little further up the road, again at Van Reenen’s Pass (this time on the left hand side of the road on the way to Jozi), there’s the perfect lunch stop at The Little Church Tea Garden which serves food made by the local farming community.

We opted for pies followed by scones and coffee as well as browsing through their well-stocked shelves for some last-minute pressies if needed. There’s also a chance to visit the little church and while having lunch, the views are spectacular. Again, it’s the perfect stop before hitting the road back home.

A PIECE OF ART HEAVEN IN THE KAROO

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All pictures courtesy of MAP

MAPSA Contemporary Art Gallery in Richmond
Mapsa logo

When traveling internationally, we wouldn’t think twice about going into an art gallery in a village you might be passing through, but locally – not so much. Harrie Siertsema and his team have made sure that both Richmond in the Karoo and Mpumalanga’s Graskop should stop you in your tracks. DIANE DE BEER takes a closer look and loses her heart:

MAP Opening of exhibition by Sam Nhlengethwa at Harrie’s Pancakes in Pretoria.

“Living with art” is a phrase invented for art connoisseur and instigator of the Modern Art Projects South Africa (MAPSA) Harrie Siertsema, which is mainly found in the small Karoo town Richmond and Graskop with two extraordinary galleries.

That’s right, not many when driving through or rather passing by on their way to either Cape Town or in the other direction, Johannesburg or pass through Graskop, would consider it possible to visit what many consider world class galleries.

But that’s exactly what Harrie and curator/artist Abrie Fourie have established with financial assistance from Harrie’s longtime partner Willem van Bergen with art possibilities growing and evolving at some speed..

It all began with Harrie buying what he thought was a single house in the small Karoo town, only to discover at closer inspection that it was much more – almost an entire block. While peeping through a window of the house he was interested in, someone tapped him on the shoulder and asked for work. The deal was done.

MAPSA Collection Richmond: from left Eric Duplan, Jan van der Merwe, Seretse Moletsane and Maja Marx

When you arrive in Richmond, this same George Williams will welcome you to MAPSA or for a stayover at their guesthouse.

With the purchase, Harrie’s many hours of play as a youngster-  when this former architect was measuring not only every room in his childhood home but also the furniture – kicked in.

But not only that, he can remember buying his first artwork at the age of 15 with money he earned working at a local stationery shop. “I still have it,” he says as I sit admiring the amazing art I can see over his shoulder in his city home, a constantly growing extension of that first purchase.

This is a man with a straightforward passion, but one he has followed without fail while on the way, not only supporting established artists, but also discovering up-and-coming artists at shows, SASOL New Signatures and Absa L’Atelier.

  • At the Richmond gallery, Strijdom van der Merwe used the MAP logo to start the installation, which also works as mini amphitheatre, a fireplace or a gathering space.

He describes his particular art bent as close to the Italian Arte Povera (poor art) movement that emerged in in the late 60s. “It wasn’t as if I knew of them at the time, it simply must have been a part of the zeitgeist,” he believes. His interest is recycled and rescued art rather than the corporate kind and when you look at the names like Jan van der Merwe, Gordon Froud, Jeremy Wafer, Sam Nhlengethwa, Willem Boshoff, Robert Hodgins, Cecile Heystek, Diane Victor, Claudette Schreuders, Sandile Zulu, Seretse Moletsane and Strijdom van der Merwe (a who’s who of local artists and the list goes on).

The narratives grow and there is a multitude of  South African stories being told by a diversity of local voices magically reverberating in places that will hopefully capture a much larger audience – of both local and international travellers.

  • MAPSA Graskop Contemporary Art from left: Temba Gule, Sandile Zulu, Jan van der Merwe and Doris Bloom
  • From left works by Strijdom van der Merrwe, David Koloane, Elza Laubscher and Andrew Munnik

Since its inception in 2005, MAPSA’s activities have included exhibitions in various venues in South Africa (Cullinan, Dullstroom, Graskop, Pretoria, Aardklop, Potchefstroom and Richmond) determined by Harrie’s many other business interests.

Like in Richmond where an old supermarket packed with broken pinball machines was turned into a spacious art gallery, Harrie was having a pancake at a small café in Graskop when before he knew it, he was the owner of a pancake joint with two burners. Many years later it has been turned into a flourishing business with Harrie’s Pancakes thriving in Graskop, Cullinan, Dullstroom and in Pretoria with a Delagoa Arts and Crafts alongside.

Colombé Ashborn’s MAP Graskop Cottage

Further expansion in Graskop also includes a hotel where it really all began and where some of his favourite artists were asked to decorate the rooms, which allow visitors the delight of sleeping in a space filled with not only the individual artist’s art, but also a real sense of the artist. A gallery similar to that in Richmond also features in this Mpumalanga town with space that artists can usually just dream of.

  • Does The Ground Feel Tears by Ella Ziegler in Richmond
  • A closer view

There’s always something happening in their art world. MAPSA has commissioned site-specific installations and published limited edition monographs while artist’s residencies, workshops and retreats are ongoing at different properties in Richmond.

They constantly engage with the community and well as dealing with the challenges facing contemporary artists. They are determined to make a difference and to contribute to change and development whenever possible. Collaboration is something they encourage and nurture and with Harrie and Abrie a dynamic duo backed by the rest of the team, including the logistic genius, executive manager Morné Ramsay, they are constantly at work to provide creative opportunities to artists from around the country as well as Richmond inhabitants.

For people tackling the N1 in any direction, Richmond is the perfect stop for a stayover. The first time I did this with family and friends, finding ourselves the next morning with mugs of coffee still in pyjamas in a gallery with spectacular art – in the middle of the Karoo – was simply magical and unexpected. And still feels unreal and something to be cherished with every stopover.

That’s what art can do for you. It keeps on giving in the most imaginative fashion and when you have someone like Harrie with the team he has surrounded himself with as he would, you know that you have to keep an eye on what they come up with next.

MAP Richmond Bookbinding Project, from left to right, Jesica Olifant, Felicity Pipes, Elizabeth Jones, and Mongezi Ncombo

On site in Richmond for example, they also have an extraordinary Bookbinding Project overseen by artist Mongezi Mcombo, an Artist Proof Studio alumni, who also produces his own work on the premises, OpenLab, a biennial project where artists can explore site-based public interventions, an interdisciplinary laboratory, the yearly Land Art Project for art students of the University of the Free State under the guidance of Professor Willem Boshoff (how can you resist with the never-ending vistas of the Karoo) and an informal Clay Brick Making Collaboration. And this sentence should really be open-ended because they are constantly coming up with yet another collaboration or creative venture that adds to MAPSA’s art experience.

Staying over is an option, but not everyone wants to take such a specific break when on the road. In that instance, Richmond is the perfect turn-off for a well-deserved artistic break. Pick up a MAPSA art walk map from the gallery, which will point you in the right direction to include their magnificent contemporary art collection. Also discover Willem Boshoff’s dictionary Word Woes (which as the title suggests works in different ways when read in either Afrikaans and English) as well as work by Strijdom van der Merwe, Johan Moolman, Gordon Froud and Abrie Fourie in the connected Sculpture Garden.

MAP Martli Jansen van Rensburg room in Richmond

Included in this space is also the previously mentioned bookbinding project and Ella Ziegler’s Does The Ground Feel Tears?, a text-based work using handmade alphabet bricks, a MAPSA collaboration with local brickmaker Trevor Snyders.

Sculptor Guy du Toit has added his version of Two Thousand and Ten Reasons to Live in a Small Town, a public art project facilitated by VANSA and funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, which has many different goals incorporated in a single project.

 The latest in the MAPSA series is Richard John Forbes’s Black Room (see more detailed story following in this space) which will blow your mind and give you a sense of experiencing art in a very distinct and visceral manner.

Add to that MAPSA’s fruit and veg garden, Hoggie Viljoen’s indigenous garden as well as Shane de Lange’s text-based work The Fence and Hannelie Coetzee’s Tokkas, Londa and Oom Samuel engraved on a plastered wall.

If all of this sounds quite hectic, this is just a taster and not even half of it. But it can all be explored in your own time.  I would simply start with the gallery, have a wander through the sculpture garden and then see how much more is possible or keep the rest for the trip back or whenever you pass through Richmond again.

It can easily turn into a lifelong and life-enhancing discovery.

For more info and bookings:

www.map-southafrica.org

For stayover bookings at Richmond: contact Hazel Mbuyane on 073 386 8509 (but be aware that they often have residencies or other activities which prevent stay-overs)

The gallery has a number for George Williams on the outside which can be contacted for info or a walk-along: 073 436 4413

For bookings at the hotel in Graskop: 013 7671244

Phone Harries’s Pancakes manager Lindy Kruger, for gallery viewings or accommodation in Harrie’s Cottage: 078 111 9060 .

For good food when passing through:

Vetmuis: Magriet Burger on 082 380 1196 or

Die Padstal: Klaradyn Grobler 079 755 8285.

READ INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST RICHARD JOHN FORBES AND THE ASTONISHING BLACK ROOM FOLLOWING: