Monday, December 30, 2013

The Black Swan... 2014

  Black on flat water past the jonquil lawns
       Riding, the black swan draws
  A private chaos warbling in its wake,
  Assuming, like a fourth dimension, splendor   
  That calls the child with white ideas of swans   
       Nearer to that green lake
    Where every paradox means wonder.
Though the black swan’s arched neck is like   
       A question-mark on the lake,
  The swan outlaws all possible questioning:   
  A thing in itself, like love, like submarine   
  Disaster, or the first sound when we wake;
       And the swan-song it sings
    Is the huge silence of the swan.

….  by James Merrill



Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Scatterlings of Africa ... Baba Buntu

Johnny Clegg reminds us:
"We are scatterlings of Africa
Both you and I
We are on the road to Phelamanga
Beneath a copper sky
And we are scatterlings of Africa
On a journey to the stars"



" The biggest challenge is to get people to believe that they can"
- Baba Buntu





What is it about Africa that is so powerful? How do we change the branding of Africa as needy, helpless and dependent? How do we "de-colonize"? Some of the questions posed to Baba in our interview about sustainability through community work and the awakening of social entrepreneurship and the African soul in our country. 

Baba also shared information about Kwanzaa, a celebration based on traditional African harvest festivals. The opening ceremony will take place at Educational Programmes Centre in Malvern on 26 December 2013. There will also be a number of other activities to mark this year's theme: "Owning Our Land - Knowing Our Selves".

See updates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/266318763409893/ or the eBukhosini's website: www.ebukhosinisolutions.co.za
 

Baba Amani Olubanjo Buntu is a consultant, lecturer, writer and ­activist-mentor with more than 25 years experience in youth, ­organisation and community work

To listen to the show, just click play:



Thought for the day


Tune in to the iStart2 Show on Radio Today 1485 AM in Jozi, Nationally on DSTV Audio Channel 869 or worldwide on www.1485.org.za.

The show is broadcast every Monday at 18h30 and repeated on Fridays in its new prime time slot at 19h00 (SA Time) or visit our brand new website: istart2.com

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Hamba Kahle ... Tribute to Nelson Mandela

We pay tribute to Nelson Mandela with songs, personal stories and memorable moments:





"His legacy will live for a long long time and be aspired to by many many people" - Geoff Rothschild - Patron of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust, the Head of Government and International Affairs at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and its former chairman

"We felt him. We touched him" - Yvonne Chaka Chaka - The Princess of Africa, musical icon


"Let the angels have their wings over his body and family and the world and bring the world to a peaceful world"- Pops Mohamed - Celebrated musical legend and iStart2 Ambassador


"Madiba is my father and my guide on so many things" - PJ Powers - South African Musical icon

"I met him in Japan ... it was the first time I held his hand" - Jonas Gwangwa - Oscar nominee, Emmy Award Winner for Cry Freedom and iStart2 Patron

"Mandela leaves a revolutionary legacy of a nonracial South Africa which is able to reconcile with its past" - Solly Mapaila - Deputy General Secretary of the South African Communist Party and former  Umkhonto weSizwe cadre.


"When he was going to be released we bought two suits for him from the Council of Churches" - Malindy Myeza - Community Leader and iStart2 Patron


Hamba Kahle Madiba!


To listen to the show and tribute songs by Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Jonas Gwangwa and Brenda Fassie, just click play:




Thought for the Day


Tune in to the iStart2 Show on Radio Today 1485 AM in Jozi, Nationally on DSTV Audio Channel 869 or worldwide on www.1485.org.za.

The show is broadcast every Monday at 18h30 and repeated on Fridays in its new prime time slot at 19h00 (SA Time) or visit our brand new website: istart2.com



Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Ballade vir Madiba ... Gavin van den Berg, Shareen Swart, Kaz McFadden

Vreemde nag.
Skarlaken nag.
Koerantpapiere, baksteenmure, Neon nag.
Sirenes onder 'n donker maan.

Nag na nag.
Mens na mens.
Donker nagte, onverwagte.
Skadufigure.
En elkeen is uiteindelik.

Enkeling, vreemdeling, verstoteling rug gedraai op die ligtekring.
Agterstevoor, onderstebo.
Vreemdeling, enkeling alleen.
Agterstevoor, onderstebo.
Vreemdeling, enkeling alleen.
- Richard van der Westhuizen


  Old ballads never die! Our hero Nelson Mandela will never die ...he will live on in our hearts ... he will always live on through all South Africans embracing the values he immersed into our beautiful country.

This week on the iStart2 Show we asked two actors, Gavin van den Berg & Shareen Swart, from one of the most popular Afrikaans television series, Ballade vir n Enkeling, screened back in the Apartheid years (1987) to reflect on the past and to focus on the challenges facing actors today. Kaz McFadden, a young actor known for roles in 7de Laan, Egoli and Villa Rosa, joined us to reflect on sustainability in the arts industry. 



Jacques Rynhardt & Meisie Moolman. Remember?



Messages to President Nelson Mandela:

Gavin van den Berg: "You will be with me in spirit forever"
Shareen Swart: "I thank you for giving us a legacy of reconcilliation"
Kaz McFadden: " I hope there are many more like you Mr Mandela"

To listen to the show just click play:




Thought for the Day: 


Tune in to the iStart2 Show on Radio Today 1485 AM in Jozi, Nationally on DSTV Audio Channel 869 or worldwide on www.1485.org.za.

The show is broadcast every Monday at 18h30 and repeated on Fridays in its new prime time slot at 19h00 (SA Time) or visit our brand new website: istart2.com






Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Africa for Africans ... Nomsa Mazwai


"Sustainability is Life" - Nomsa Mazwai on the iStart2 Show

Through Emthonjeni Arts, her "baby"and an artists' residency in the rural town of Hamburg, she aims to help with the economic regeneration of the small community. 


Mazwai was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2010, won a SAMA award and was nominated as one of the 200 Top Young South Africans by Mail & Guardian this year. She also had the honour of  giving a presentation to the United Nations on behalf of South Africa on how to engage young people in the Millennium Development Goals.
Nomsa Mazwai starts2!
"iStart2 think about a future that is positive ... amazing ...

 something to look forward too"

We chatted to this energetic entrepreneur about the Peace Concert in Jo'burg at the Maboneng Precinct on 3 December @Zen, Emthonjeni Arts and her views on sustainability through community upliftment.

The Africa for Africans network and The Festival au Desert
partnership will be a melting pot of arts engagements, opening of new markets, collaborations and dialogues at a two-week long residency programme at the Emthonjeni Arts centre in Hamburg, South Africa from 3 – 16 December, 2013.

It is in celebration of Africa that we are hosting this collaboration of Mali and South Africa, in particular the Xhosa people of the Eastern Cape. Africans will come together to create magic! Because Africa is magical”, says Mazwai

To listen to the show and the song "Africa" by Salif Keita, just click play.



Thought for the Day:


Tune in to the iStart2 Show on Radio Today 1485 AM in Jozi, Nationally on DSTV Audio Channel 869 or worldwide on www.1485.org.za.

The show is broadcast every Monday at 18h30 and repeated on Fridays in its new prime time slot at 19h00 (SA Time) or visit our brand new website: istart2.com