Camagu!

Here is an offering by Driemanskap, a Cape Town Band from Gugulethu! It is superb, and is the epitome and the true spirit of Inkokhelo.
Vumani Bo, SIYAVUMA!
This song, takes one home, wherever home is.
Sibamba ngazo zozibini, bantu bakuthi.
Masihloniphe amasiko nezithethe zakwantu.

click here to watch the video

Camagu!!!

Identity matters

Shaqir Erasmus walking the beaches of his Khoi Khoi ancestors.

A very big Thank You for coming to Inkokhelo.com and for your support. You might have heard us interviewed on Umhlobo Wenene and Bush Radio recently about this project. These interviews have contributed to the expansion of our project to celebrate more cultures, and in future, we hope to explore all identities of South Africa and beyond.

Our latest portrait is of Shaqir Erasmus whose ancestors are a mixture of Khoi Khoi, Javanese and French Hugenots. We talked to Shaqir to find out more about his unique heritage and sense of identity.

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Shaqir talks about the importance of finding out where you come from.

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He also talks about having pride in who you are

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He gives his take on the culture of his own community.

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Shaqir explains the divisions that exist in his community.

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Finally, he highlights the differences and similarities between South Africans.

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Distinctly South African.

We shot a portrait of Shaqir Erasmus earlier this week, and had an interesting chat with him about his identity. Shaqir has his ancestry from Khoi Khoi, Java and France (Hugenot) which makes him quite uniquely South African. We will upload some interview clips later to this blog so keep on coming back to hear what his views are on his community and South African identity in general.

More information on our portraits and how to commission one you can email amkelwa@voxpopafrica.com

More interviews.

Bulelani Zantsi collects his portrait.

Imbongi Bulelani Zantsi came to collect his portrait and we wanted to upload some more interview clips from him. First he explains the difference between regular poets and praise singers.

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He also talked about other signifigances of the clan names.

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Interview at Umhlobo Wenene

Tomorrow, Saturday 18th of April, early in the morning Amkelwa is going to be talking at Umhlobo Wenene about Inkokhelo.com. Set the alarm clock for 5am and listen from your radio (fm frequencies here) or online.

Aah! Bhele, Dlambulo, Khuboni...

Bulelani Zantsi portrait with his clan names by Inkokhelo

The Imbongi - praise singer - who welcomes you to our web site on the top of the side column is Bulelani Zantsi. We went up to the mountain with him to take photographs for his portrait and talked about praise singing and clan names. You can listen to his explanation of his specialisation and the meaning of praise singing, ukubonga, in African culture.

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Bulelani Zantsi praises Madiba

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Dr Abner Nyamende speaks about Clan names

Dr Nyamende from UCT talking about Iziduko - the Clan names

In order to explore the context within which our portraits exist, we talked to Dr Abner Nyamende, one of the custodians of African heritage. You can listen to his insight on the value of the Clan names, the meaning of ancestors and a host of other topics regarding Iziduko.

Dr Nyamende introduces himself

To put Clan names in context and gain some perspective, Dr Nyamende explained about African indigenous knowledge.

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Dr Nyamende explains the concept of Clan names.

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Dr Nyamende explains the practicalities of Clan names and marriage.

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Clan names as source for identity.

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Dr Nyamende explains the signifigance of Ancestors.

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Dr Nyamende explains the relevance of ancestors in modern day society.

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