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Khuphuka Nasingeni
I have been checking if we have any form of performance art form that is patented in our country.A� You may be wondering if I mean trying to patent some modern variation of amabhiza or isitshikitsha. Some energetic neighbours of ours are literally running off with the bacon and claiming rights over some of the performances that I believe are our joint heritage. A�
Take, for instance, the toyi-toyi.A� Can anyone claim ownership over that agitated rhythmical stomping with revolutionary undertones?A� It appears we are slowly ceding rights to that performance to the South Africans that have effortlessly managed to infuse the march/dance into all facets of their lives. Just this week they danced, toyi-toyied and burnt tyres as is practice before veering off the confines of art into uncharted territory, in as far as art is concerned.
Zimbabweans used to toyi-toyi quite a lot and I recall a few musical performances of that nature, not to mention the Jamaicans that come in for shows that appear to do the toyi-toyi better than us.A� We may never win this toyi-toyi tussle . . . I was just thinking we could adopt the kongonya as a universal language that expresses both our happiness and anguish, with the vigour with which we dispense it showing the intensity of the emotion.
All these thoughts occupied my thoughts as I saw demonstrations in South Africa, and dances, an embodiment of the election atmosphere. There is another atmosphere in the United Kingdom, and in the US as well, where a referendum and elections are in the offing.
We have seen dances around statues that later fell, almost Jericho style. There is another fight over statues across many seas but interestingly, this one is over egos as it centres on the size of one statue over another, and who has the right to have a statue bigger than so and so.
Please, give us a break, we have better things to dance or toyi-toyi for! There is a campaign fighting for Florence Nightingalea��s statue to remain the biggest to denote that angelic nursea��s achievements.
The campaigners are agitated that some black Mary Seacole statue is threatening to steal Florencea��s thunder since her backers appear to have made the busta��s dimensions rival their idol in size. Really!
The fight over election candidates appears to be a universal phenomenon but how the fights pan out differs from one continent to another. The UK referendum is on its possible divorce from the European Union and serious campaigns were all over of late.
Remember the Constitutional Commission? Let me not digress, the issue is over whether to leave or stay in the EU.
Got me thinking if any couples would break up if a referendum was held in which their children were asked to decide if mum or dad should leave or stay!
Family matters are quite emotional issues, issues quite close to onea��s heart. I realise Rory McIlroy, who celebrated Northern Irelanda��s qualification for the next round after their narrow loss, will not be at the Olympics in Brazil.
There is also a chap, I just like this guya��s forward planning, he could have been some Noah of some kind had he lived during that era.A� British Olympian Greg Rutherford has reportedly frozen a sample of his sperm before heading to Brazil.
Remember the Zika jitters that we discussed in this very column months ago . . . the little virus that has been with us since its discovery in the year of that great drought in this country in the 1940s?
This athlete has decided to freeze his sperm before heading off to the Olympics; he aina��t taking any chances.
According to him, he plans to sire more children with his wife in future and he will not let his shot at a medal stymie his dreams of fatherhood. I hear more athletes are taking that route and have frozen their seed as a precaution. Talk of saving sperm for a rainy day!
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