SAMA winners Nomsa Mazwai and Nakhane Toure will be performing at Constitution Hill tonight the 26th of March. King Tha better known as Thandiswa Mazwai will be playing a DJ set.
The aim of the event is to raise awareness for the UN’s My World 2015 campaign. The campaign calls on people to vote for the 6 most important issues to them in their world out of the 1Edit6 topics listed. If a topic is not covered by the 16 listed topics, there is a 17th option where people can add a topic that is important to them.
Nomsa, who is also a social activist, is the campaign manager in South Africa. “On my website, I have a blog called #FunkItImWalking. It is a project I started to promote walking in South African cities and it focusses on safety, health and the environment. It is this campaign that brought us the #MyWorld2015 campaign in South Africa,” Nomsa says, on how she became the campaign manager.
Nomsa says that this is a grassroots approach to addressing the challenges faced by South Africans on the ground, much like #FunkItImWalking. The campaign will allow them to get an understanding of what issues are most important to South Africans and their goal is to get at least 1 million South Africans to vote by the 31st of March 2015. Voting in the #MyWorld2015 campaign is important as it allows you to ensure that your voice is heard by the United Nations in the formulation of the next global agenda.
“My role and the role of #FunkItImWalking is to get as many South Africans to vote in the campaign utilising social media in the month of March, and should we be lucky, roll out a campaign post March to reach South Africans that may not be on social media, or may not have access to technology and the platforms we are currently utilising,” says Nomsa.
The #MyWorld2015 South Africa show is but one activity in their strategy to get South Africans to vote. They also had an online discussion with #EntrepreneurConnect last night, the 25th of March to further discuss the campaign. There are celebrity ambassadors who are encouraging people to vote utilising their social platforms and there is direct communication with students on campuses around South Africa to get involved.
“Nakhane Toure is a talented musician who recently won the South African music award for best alternative artist. He has a special message to share and a beautiful sound and I wanted to treat the people of Joburg with his music. We chose King Tha because who does not want to know what a multi award winning South African musician listens to?” Nomsa says.
Nomsa goes on to mention that her sister Thandiswa’s music has also always been socially aware and has often brought to the fore the challenges faced by ordinary South Africans. “She tells the peoples story. We thought she would be a perfect ambassador for the campaign and a worthy DJ for the cause.”
People often expect celebrities to be social activists and advance social issues on behalf of ordinary citizens. Like Nomsa, Nakhane believes that we all have a responsibility, not just celebrities. Nakhane didn’t even hesitate when he was asked to be part of the event because he felt that it an important initiative that resonated with him. “One of the greatest things about this campaign is not that it’s the UN, but the fact that it’s so personal. You go online as individual and vote for the world you want,” he says.
What can we expect tonight?
Nakhane’s mesmerising, 21st century folk which owes as much to traditional African music as it does to recent Western rock, ‘60s soul and ‘70s jazz all from his debut album, Brave confusion and some stuff. Nomsa will be performing all the singles which you have probably heard. She will also be performing a new song with Ntsiki Mazwai which is on her album called Overrated Love and female MC Qba will be joining her to perform ‘I want that thing’. As mentioned before, King Tha will be giving us a peek into her playlist!
The venue, the Hill Cafe has excellent food for sale and signature cocktails. It promises to be an awesome night. Wanna party with a difference? Head over to Quicket and get your tickets.
Date: Thursday 26 March 2015
Venue: The Hill Café, 1 Kotze Street, Braamfontein, Constitution Hill
Time: 8pm
Entrance Fee: R100 early bird ticket, R200 General entry.
Don’t forget to vote for the 6 issues that matter the most to you on the My World 2015 website. It only takes a minute.
The hashtag is #MyWorld2015
Words: @AluwaniAudrey
