South African live-looping band uKhoiKhoi will be on stage in a dance production by acclaimed choreographer, Robyn Orlin, to be performed for the first time in South Africa at the 2024 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience in Durban, and at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg.
uKhoiKhoi
uKhoiKhoi, consisting of musician and composer Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist and performing artist Anelisa "Annalyzer" Stuurman, has been composing for and performing in Orlin’s stage productions since 2021. The band, together with dancers from the Johannesburg-based dance company Moving into Dance Mophatong, has toured extensively across Europe with these shows over the past 3 years.
Orlin, a world-renowned and award-winning South African choreographer, is honoured as the 2024 JOMBA! Legacy Artist at the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts from 27 August to 8 September 2024 in Durban. Orlin’s work “we wear our wheels with pride, we slap your streets with color…we say ‘bonjour’ to satan in 1820”, which pays homage to Durban’s rickshaw drivers, will be performed in South Africa for the first time during the 2024 JOMBA! dance festival.
As composers of the music in “we wear our wheels with pride…”, uKhoiKhoi forms an integral part of the performance. On stage, multi-instrumentalist Sullaphen and vocalist Stuurman, known for her blend of indigenous chanting and operatic styles, use a multi-layered approach to create the music with their distinctive Afro-electro sound. In real-time, they seamlessly layer electronic, acoustic and indigenous instruments, together with Stuurman’s vocals, resulting in a dynamic musical experience.
Recently, uKhoiKhoi has also been collaborating with Orlin on another one of her dance productions, “...How in salts desert is it possible to blossom...”, together with the Garage Dance Ensemble from O’Kiep in the Northen Cape. In June this year, they toured with this production across the south of France, with more performances scheduled in Italy and France towards the end of the year. Orlin says, “One day I hope ‘...How in salts desert…’ will also come to South Africa.”
In addition to the international performances with Orlin’s stage productions, uKhoiKhoi has since its formation in 2019 performed across South Africa at festivals, such as Mieliepop and Fête de la Musique, and at other live events.
uKhoiKhoi is currently working on a new album which is scheduled for release in 2025. This is in addition to their debut offering which was a self-titled 3-track EP, released in 2020, followed by their second EP “Nongqawuse”, released in 2022.
About the upcoming performances in Orlin’s dance production at JOMBA!, Stuurman says, “We are excited to perform ‘we wear our wheels with pride…’ for the first time in South Africa after having toured internationally with this production over the past few years. It is an honour for uKhoiKhoi to collaborate with a choreographer of Robyn Orlin’s stature.”
uKhoiKhoi will be on stage in “we wear our wheels with pride…” at JOMBA! in Durban at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on 7 and 8 September 2024, and at a satellite festival at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg on 11 and 12 September 2024.
Tickets for “we wear our wheels with pride…” at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre are available at Computicket, and for the shows at the Market Theatre tickets can be purchased from Webtickets.
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