Moral Magic at iStart2 Holy Cow Weekend

The Holy Cow Weekend on the 17 & 18th March 2012, celebrated our rich and diverse communities through performances by leading indigenous and sacred musicians and discussion sessions by leading academics, comedians and other experts.

Nadiem Solomon with an enlightening discussion on the Art of War…

風　Swift as the wind
林　Quiet as the forest
火　Conquer like the fire
山　Steady as the mountain

You have to believe in yourself.
Sun Tzu

Nadiem also milked some holy cows with his wonderful rendition of Jan Spies and other wonderful stories about the richness of South Africa’s diverse cultural groups.

Dr Abel Pienaar juggled the concepts of certainty, doubt and uncertainty… His T-shirt said it all…

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.The other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein

Prof Christina Landman entertained us with changing shirts, introduced new concepts like “Moral Ecstasy” and  enlightened us with her “moral magic”. Yeah, “normal” people are really scary. ;-)

Swannie Swanevelder.  His hands are sore but his heart is full … to quote John Malcovich.... his wife asked him: why dont you get a proper job? he answered: "But I’m a puppeteer"! Thanx Swannie for letting the little people talk! Good luck in Taiwan. Make South Africa proud, Boet!

JP du Toit. Young poet and writer, shared some poems and continued his story on “The Six”…

“A twenty-something white male was driving from Brooklyn to Centurion accompanied by a twenty-something beautiful black female and her twenty-something frumpy white female friend at 2AM in the morning of Thursday the 29th. It was as their motor vehicle joined the M18 that they encountered a road block. A policeman standing in the road signalled for them to pull over to the side…” 

World renowned jazz muso, Pops Mohamed and Yusuf  Ganief & Lynn Holmes-Ganief from Desertrose, fused South Africa's abundant and varied sacred music and engaged with a delighted audience,  engaging them in an evening filled with magical music.

Pops Mohamed has been leading the battle to retain the indigenous African sounds so they are not overrun by the American pop sounds and on his quest has been joined by numerous African legends including jazz great Moses Khumalo.

His nickname Pops dates back to his childhood enthusiasm for the comic seaman Popeye. The prolific and multi-talented South African singer songwriter Pops Mohamed has been attracting international attention for almost two decades for his effortless versatility on in playing traditional and for his ability to fuse a startling scope of regional African styles with his elegant original compositions.

Thank you Pops Mohamed for joining the iStart2 journey. It was wonderful to spend a weekend with you. We learned so much. We look foward to continue the journey in the months to come.

All events during the weekend explored a larger vision of getting people to take hands across barriers and contribute to a sustainable earth. Be sure to be at our next Holy Cow Event and experience the greatness of moral magic … magical moments you will never forget...