Late Article : Wits Late Night Jam

I found myself staring at the stage as if a hobbit was gonna magically jump out of the drum kit. Eager and curious about who would grace the stage as the opening act, who would sweep the murmur of questions and assumptions right outside of the theater...better yet who would set the mood for this cozy situation we found ourselves in.

Lesedi

On came a lady draped in black clothes accompanied by a few gold pieces that made diggers focus, her strides towards the mic where humble so humble that I dropped my jaw through the floor and into the basement in complete awe, I had to know her name. Her name is Lesedi (Lesedi Dipheko) a Sesotho name meaning light or enlightenment, Lesedi is a songwriter, vocalist and actor majoring in jazz vocals. Along with her band they performed a song which I believe is titled “Butterflies” or “Butterflies in my tummy” a coy song that flirted with the innocents of the heart. She teased me from song to song with her vocal range often carrying me like a feather on a note and letting me glide down on to the next one. Her sound was a fusion of everything with soul, from the blues to neo soul and a guest appearance from our old love R&B, one could also not help but pick up a slight influence from chrisette michelle. The band performed very well as a team and I thoroughly enjoyed the variety of genres they threw into the blender to set just the right mood. We also threw invisible tomatoes at the engineer for totally screwing up the sound. 

Short break-tequila with a friend and a nervous Moonchild- a quick beer- back in my seat and I see a cute child running around in an uncontainable excitement as the next act is about to begin her performance. Motsatsing is on stage also in a black dress that rests lightly on every contour of her body with a slit that runs up her leg seamlessly disappearing back into the dark material. It was a surprise to see her with some new band members in the mix, but I figured it’s a new year and things will naturally evolve or change for the better right? From the get go the band was high in energy, the drummer smashed his drums and crashed his cymbals non-stop, that man was in his element. A mysterious member of the band who reminds me of Bushido Brown was playing a string based instrument in front of his mouth as he stood between the edge of the spot light and darkness; he pulled off an enchanting and equally amusing solo with about 3 different instruments without losing momentum. He goes by the name Tiko of the band Meat the Veggies. So wait, where is the lead singer? That’s the question I had in my mind, her voice was lost in the jazz and I couldn't figure out who was at fault here, was it our “favourite” engineer or our favourite vocalist? Either way her vocal dexterity failed to reach expectations especially in contrast with the quality of the band at hand, we lost Motsatsing and got kidnapped by the band, I even forgot that I was eager to hear other songs apart from her most well known song “Ma mo lahlehi” which also got lost in the hot source of instruments. Even with the disadvantages experienced I see an extremely soulful and gifted  African band on the rise here. Put your chips on the table.

Motsatsing

The last act I had the chance to see wasn’t the last act of the night but was indeed one of those acts you have to wait for, the type of act that teases your creative juices and feeds your musical soul. The stage was empty and everyone waited with curiousity, It seemed as if we all subconciously knew who would be up next to blow us away, out of our seats and straight into space. Moonchild walked on to the stage accompanied by a mysterious bare footed pasty lady wielding a trumpet, her name is Trynity.

Trynity

 Moonchild broke into a conversation with the audience introducing herself and juggling her library of words turned into messages which melted into song. It’s very difficult to explain this artist’s style of music without making reference to Erykah Badu…Nina Simone, Prince or even the sound track to the cool cats (a children’s edutainment show on free TV.). Her set was a trip of amazing melodic sequences through inner space and time via the scenic route; I couldn’t help but stare as she used the stage as her canvas splashing her versatility around from bright oranges to very dark hues of blues. She captivated the audience with her fictional character resembling a living African rag doll in Tokyo. Moonchild over powered the engineer’s mess with a little help from BLK JKS’ drummer Tshepang Ramoba who intervened to turn a few knobs to avoid compromising her sound. She is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and daring artists to come out of our time and country, one from the past but made for the future…

Moonchild

There were plenty other performances but I was too blown away by these three that I was too overwhelmed to take part in anymore listening. Truly a golden evening it was we hope to see more from Wits late night jam.

Written by: Lethabo Ngakane