The first ever Jive Culture Shock Klops and Malay choir competition is about to hit our homes in the next few days and the teams are ready to blow you away.
I caught up with producer Loukmaan Adams and he showed me some rehearsal clips of the competition and in my opinion, this show is going to catapult our culture to the next level, and the youth are going to love it.
I caught up with Ziyaad Hattas, the team leader of Capexclusive, one of the teams participating in the competition.
According to Hattas, the team was put together after he received a call from Wafique Simons, who wanted him to coach and manage the team from Bo-Kaap who he’s been working with for the last few years.
This is what he has to say: “Most of these youngsters, aged between 16 and 30, are members of the D6 Raw Minstrel troupe and some from various Malay choirs from all over Cape Town.
“Most recently I found myself stuck in Cape Town due to Covid-19 and not able to travel to my work place in the Middle East.
“I then started the Capexclusive Group which is a needs based service in Cape Town and these boys approached me for the name to be used in the online show.
“It was one of the ways they managed to get me to be involved as I wasn’t really interested due to previous labeling and consequences people faced for partaking in shows of this nature by the various cultural boards.
“I also didn’t want to jeopardise the minstrel and Malay choir I am a member of, hence not wanting to participate on certain names which are affiliated to the said boards.
“As I was starting up a few business initiatives my time was limited, I agreed to assist, but more from a managing director role and approached Raees Domingo, one of the young coaches in Malay choir, to assist with leading the newly formed group from Bo-Kaap.
“Raees is not a stranger to this group of guys and was the perfect person to work with them as he is also married to a special girl from the Lucas family in Van Der Meulen Street.
“His selection was more of a synergy nature as the items they selected were previous winners from the minstrel troupe we belong to.
“The only person now needing to learn the songs was Mr Domingo which with his experience was so easy.
“We decided to sing the first prize Mariam Kerrie Afrikaans Moppie from Mr Waseef Piekaan depicting the importance of water and why people should save rather than waste.
“For the English comic, we went with Magic Mike, written and composed by Mr Tauriq Bliqnaut, about a guy partying all night in Cape Town.
“This competition was an ideal platform to give opportunities to unknowns, so it was decided to give Mr Sulaiman Kannemeyer aka Boeta the opportunity to showcase his talents on leading the English Comic song.
“With the Nederlands song we gave Mr Wafique Simons the opportunity to lead the team with Wat Gyvoelig.
“Having the experience of Domingo, we decided to let him take the lead role in the Afrikaans Moppie item.
“On junior solo we had Moegammad Zieyaad Adams, an 11-year-old from Ottery, who sang his song in Afrikaans about a mother who has abandoned her child, this will bring tears to viewers’ eyes.
“I wrote this song for him in 2019 for the Malay competition and I wanted the message to be shared again with viewers.
“We performed at Carnegie Hall a few years ago and walking into the Artscape on opening day took me back to that day when we had the experience of a lifetime.
“I am so glad the guys could experience some kind of professionalism with industry norms like knowing where to step on stage with all these lights, stage positioning and having a change room experience.
“No more is Klops and Malay choir the “Atcha Culture”, we made it to the big stage and this is what we need to inculcate in our people, that with the assistance from professionals and corporate sponsors, it’s time for us to take this culture to greater heights,” said Mr Hattas.
Book your ticket via Quicket for the first section of the Jive Culture Shock competition.
Die ding gaan ruk!