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The idea of the Buyel’Ekhaya Music Festival, which kicked off on Friday evening at Hemingways Mall in East London, is more nuanced than simply coming home as the name suggests.
The organisers are trying to convey a sense of returning to our roots.
City Press sought to find out how this festival, which is celebrating its 10th year, has grown and what it has offered the people of East London – beyond a lovely annual concert.
The main attraction is the concert today, featuring Kwesta, Busiswa and Sho Madjozi, among others, and it is the quintessential coastal festive bash.
In the past four years they have cleverly added a fashion element as a fringe event. A room on the rooftop of Hemingways was made available for a fashion extravaganza showcasing established names, such as Maxhosa by Laduma Ngxokolo, Linda Sithole and Palesa Mokubung’s Mantsho, as well as young designers and models.
Finding a sliver of time in her busy schedule, the director and founder of the festival, Nomahlubi Mazwai, couldn’t have been happier.
“It’s important to have a strong affinity for where you come from.
“My children used to find that it was actually boring for them to come home and it made me wonder why there aren’t places, events where we can gather and uplift ourselves. Spaces for social cohesion. We really need to start going home, wherever that may be, to plough back. That’s the main idea,” Mazwai said.
She sees the Eastern Cape as a hub of culture and creativity and she wants to find local talent who can be mentored in the province without contenders having to make the artistic pilgrimage to Cape Town or Johannesburg – as so much of our talent has to do – to gain a footing.
Designer Sithole said: “We are trying to uplift. We are Xhosas and doing things like this and in this way allows those who have to leave the Eastern Cape for work and other reasons to know that we have kept things the same and steeped in culture for their return.”
She offered advice to newcomers and anyone looking to get involved in fashion, saying consistency is even more crucial than passion.
“The cake is big, we can all get a slice. You need a niche and then research it and work on that consistently.
“Think about at least one design a day,” Sithole said.
Fashion shows can be painfully boring but this one had a sincerity to it. There is an immense difference between what fashionistas wear to a showcase in Johannesburg compared with East London. It’s way more relaxed and less pretentious.
Mokubung has been in East London since Tuesday helping the 10 young designers she handpicked.
The well-dressed sorceress of stitching and draping said it had been a busy time trying to get the show ready.
She seemed relieved and happy it went off as well as it did.
“I’m very proud of what they have been able to do. It’s all really good quality work,” she said.
All the designers are locally based and hungry to prove themselves.
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