BY Obakeng Maje

Pampierstad- Northern Cape province will be buzzing with much more fun this weekend when one of finest gospel groups touring the place.

The Glory Boys gospel group featuring many more gospel artists and others from various genre.

“We will be performing live and presenting soulful music to our fellowers” Mawise Gasebake said. 

“We chose Kgomotso High school because I want to show message of support to the people of Kgomotso village and sorrounding areas” He added.

Mawise matriculated at Kgomotso High School and went on to embark on new adventures.

At its most basic level, gospel music is sacred music. It is a unique phenomenon of Africans which had its earliest iterations toward the end of the nineteenth century.

“Gospel is folk music which suggests that it and its secular counterparts are greatly influenced by each other” Mawise said with that angelic voice.

Just as much of the contemporary gospel music of today sounds like R & B and Hip-Hop, so did most of the early gospel music sound like the Blues.

Gospel, meaning “good news,” derived its name from it close connection with the gospels (books in the New Testament).

As we look at the common themes in the gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, we find many references to God’s goodness and mercy

A Graspan-born artist said the gospel music will be combined with tradition.

One of the world renowned comedians Kenke originally from Botswana will also be part of the lineup. 

Kenke affectionately remembered (from tswana comedy featuring Radijo) will grace the event with other traditional groups.

“Tickets are available and are selling fast like hot cakes,so please make sure you get yours and come and experience one of hottest festivals in Mzansi” Mawise added.

Tickets are already available and you can contact Mawise Gasebake on 0721261954/0834202745 or Thabiso Masione Kgwenyape on 0781983744.

In order to reach the widest possible audience, there are no “style” restrictions on gospel music; only the thematic content remains constant.

Coming out of an oral tradition, gospel music typically utilizes a great deal of repetition.

This is a carryover from the time when many post-Reconstruction blacks were unable to read. The repetition of the words allowed those who could not read the opportunity to participate in worship.

Gospel music over the centuries has ministered to the downtrodden and disenfranchised. To sing about a God who comes in the nick of time to deliver his people from uncomfortable circumstances is a consistent theme, which has been at the core of gospel music.

This music has been enjoyed for many decades and it continues to grow in its variety and sound.

Gospel music has a history which can be traced to the 18th century. During this time, hymns were lined and repeated in a call and response fashion and the Negro spirituals and work songs came on the scene. Because the enslaved Africans attended their masters’ worship services, the seventeenth century influences on Negro spirituals and work songs were traditional hymns the enslaved Africans heard in worship.

Worship services served several purposes; not only were they a means by which the Africans could be monitored, but they also served as a reinforcement of the slavery indoctrination.

Quite often readings were from St. Paul where made to being good servants and loving, obeying, and trusting one’s master. At this time it was also illegal for more than a handful of blacks to congregate without supervision.

This meant that the blacks were not free to worship on their own they had to attend worship services with their master.

At these services they would grow closer in their understanding of Christian doctrine and role that music played in that experience.

The worship music (hymns) of the whites masters became the backdrop for the music the enslaved Africans would use at their eventual worship meetings.

The unlawfulness of the blacks congregating did not keep them from secretly holding “campground” meetings. These meetings were typically held at a distance from the main house to assure discretion and avoid possible punishment. It was during these such meetings that “newer” renditions of traditional hymns were developed. It is often wondered how such creativity and beauty could have come out of such a dismal time. As we listen to gospel music today with its sometimes downtrodden themes, it continues to be curious how such beauty and richness can emanate from troubled times.

In the tradition of the black church, call and response in singing and in speaking has been and continues to be a foundation on which the gospel is delivered. Through this participatory delivery system beliefs are reinforced. There is an expectation that when there is agreement with either the spoken word or song because of either its content or its contexts that verbal affirmation will be given. Those who are witnessing, speaking, or singing are encouraged by the responses and those who are about to experience issues are empowered to be victorious.

Gospel music can stir many different emotions. The audience for this spiritually moving idiom continues to grow as do the types of venues where it can be heard. No longer bound to the walls of the American church, gospel music captures the creative and spiritual imaginations of increasing numbers of international audiences. For gospel singers and listeners, making a joyful noise unto the Lord is what the music is about and it invites the participation of all to come together, honor the past, look forward to the future, and through song, renew our faith.

 Pretoria – An Algerian man is fighting for his life after he was shot four times from behind, at close range, during a business meeting at Parrots restaurant in Menlyn shopping mall.

The alleged shooter, also from Algeria, was arrested moments later by Parrots management and a member of the public who followed him to the exit. “I will tell my story in court,” the alleged shooter said as he was handed over to mall security.

Parrots manager Wayne Koning said the incident happened at about 2pm. Shoppers scattered as the sound of gunfire echoed through the mall. “The restaurant was half full when an unknown man casually walked in and opened fire on one of our customers,” he said.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – The animated advertisement begins with the words “Dinner time at Nkandla” appearing over an image of a mansion.

The next frame is indoors. A woman, seated at one end of an extremely long dining room table lined by children and several other women on both sides, says in isiZulu: “Oh Zuzulicious, we’re having fish and chips from Shabba today.”

The huge family is enjoying a dinner of fish and chips.

An animated President Jacob Zuma responds: “Eat up honey bunch, there is a lot of good food here. It’s from the Fish and Chip Company. There are many of you in this house, at only R25 even Pravin will approve this.”

The ad was supposed to be aired on SABC on Monday night until February, but was pulled just two hours before it was scheduled to be flighted for the first time.

Paul Warner, the creative director at MetropolitanRepublic Group, the agency that produced the ad, said the SABC had told the group that the commercial was banned because it was “degrading to the president”.

“They said our bosses have made the decision not to flight it,” he said.

Warner, who said there was nothing degrading about the ad, did not understand how it could be pulled on the basis of being offensive without anyone having complained about it.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve never had an ad be banned before it was even aired,” he said.

Warner said the agency had submitted the commercial to the SABC more than two weeks ago and was not given a chance to react to it being pulled at the last minute.

Carlo Gonzaga, the chief executive of Taste Holdings, under which the Fish and Chip Company falls, said it was “astounding” that the SABC would take a unilateral decision about the ad on behalf of the public. “I think it’s presumptuous.”

Gonzaga said the company had already paid R1.5 million in media bookings for the commercial.

There was nothing offensive about the ad, he stressed, and if anything, it was encouraging the public – as the government had been doing – to tighten belts.

“It’s satire to say even the president must tighten his belt because of the tough economic times.”

SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said he was not aware of the ad or any SABC officials issuing instructions for a commercial not to be aired.

This is not the first time the national broadcaster has interfered in content involving the president.

The SABC’s head of news, Jimi Matthews, has forbidden news staff from referring to Zuma’s private Nkandla property as a “homestead” or “compound”, and has banned the use of “Nkandlagate” or “Zumaville” in the public broadcaster’s reporting.

The instructions were issued to news editors almost a month ago in an e-mail that The Star has seen.

Editorial staff were instructed “with immediate effect” that Zuma’s “Nkandla home should be referred to as the president’s, or Mr Zuma’s, Nkandla residence”, and not a “compound” or “homestead” or “any other such term”.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

BY Staff Reporter

Violence against women and girls transcends race and class and should be confronted and defeated wherever it raises its ugly head, North West Premier Thandi Modise said on International Day for the elimination of violence against women on Sunday.

In commending Ina Bonette for the courage to confront in court those who had allegedly violated her and calling for united action for a 365 days campaign for no violence against women and children, Premier Modise called on women and girls to speak out against physical or sexual abuse wherever they experience it, be it in their homes, workplaces, schools, streets and communities to end the culture of impunity.

“Perpetrators of violence against women should be exposed irrespective of who they are. Women must fight the sense of fear and shame that punishes them as victims who have already endured crime and now face stigma. Perpetrators should be the ones who feel disgraced, not their victims. We implore our courts to restore the dignity of our women with stiffer sentences and equally appeal to victims not to withdraw cases against perpetrators” Modise.She called on communities to challenge the culture of discrimination that allows violence against women to continue and for real men to support the 16 Days of activism for no violence against women and children campaign.

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