Festivals are best in the Bay

NON-STOP entertainment will be the order of the day when the sixth annual Northern Arts Festival kicks off in Nelson Mandela Bay’s Sanctor this month.

Included with the regular festival flair, festinos can expect to be bowled over by famous faces from television soapies. National theatre production, Platform 9, will take to the stage. Platform 9 is produced by Christo Davids, better known as Errol in 7de Laan. The play also includes Theodore Jantjies, from 7de Laan, and Maurice Paige from Isidingo.

“The Northern Arts Festival from September 21-24, has certainly become an event not to be missed.  Apart from Platform 9, local entertainment includes musicians, bands, dancers, poets, rappers and gospel singers. The festival has grown significantly in the past five years and we believe that this can a attributed to fact that the organizers source not only national acts but also give local talent a chance to shine,” said Mandlakazi Skefile, chief executive of Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) in its support of the event.

Festival director Billy Paulson said organisers hoped to take the festival to a new level of success, by introducing new aspects to the programme, “Our focus has always been to encourage community participation because this is a festival for the people of the city to embrace and to own. This year, there are various opportunities available for those who wish to get involved.”

The festival’s programme of entertainment has expanded to incorporate a broader range of activities, including music and dance, theatre production, arts and craft market, food stalls, a potjiekos competition, a marching band parade and cultural shows.  Included is local production, My Bra se Tjirrie, featuring Benito Carelsen, Darryl Kopp, Tamin Newing and Earl & Agemi. (Unfortunately so much is lost when you translate the title of this production to “my brother’s girlfriend”. To understand the true meaning - one must understand the colloquialism because in reality the play talks about the blurring of lines – things not necessarily being as they seem in relationships.) 

This year’s theme is, Dis Duidelik Kleurvol, translated into English means ‘It’s Clearly Colourful’.
 
“Two competitions will be run this year.  One is a dancing competition and the other is the The Sky is the Limit talent search. Both competitions give local performers the opportunity to showcase their talents and perform in front of thousands of festival goers. Besides the talent searches, there is also a host of seasoned local musicians, bands and dancers who will take to the stage,” said festival spokesperson, Lauren Human.

The festival will be held at the Marock Road Sports Grounds in Sanctor. Entry is R5 per person per day. The festival grounds open on Friday, 21 September at 4pm and on each day the festivities last until about 10pm.

For more information visit the Northern Arts Festival Facebook page or follow the event on twitter @NorthernArtsPE.