While watching & listening to Ilizwi, I appreciated Mzansi's musical voice(s)

After a successful couple of days of the SHAPE Africa conference, various Global Shapers attended a jazz musical concert at the Nedbank Auditorium in Cape Town. I was hoping to see a famous South African musician perform. Yvonne Chaka Chaka was there. No, she didn't perform, she was in the audience like us. She's also a member of the World Economic Forum. We were all attending Ilizwi, a musical. South Africans are such great singers and I always said that I wanted to find myself singing in the streets of Soweto with people one day. I'd be dancing the gumboot dance in addition.

Ilizwi is a musical production by the Casterbridge Music Development Academy. It's directed by Vuyo Jack and Ingrid Wylde. Learn more about Ilizwi here. Ilizwi means "voice" in Xhosa. The musical told a great story and found a way to incorporate many popular South African classic (songs). Here are a few tweets I posted to capture what was happening













I met Yvonne Chaka Chaka briefly and had some conversations with her. I met her later at the World Economic Forum and we had a great conversation. I have a special blog post dedicated to her coming. There was a young girl who played a character of an older woman and her musical range was phenomenal. When most of us in the audience discovered she was under 18, we couldn't believe it. Many of the singers will be like Yvonne Chaka Chaka one day. South African just seems to churn them out all the time.

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