Before we launch a next set of rockers for 2020, we& #39;d like to extend shoutouts to all the writers who brought their A game to the table in 2019. We ran many timeless pieces but for now just revisit these 19 that did the things in 2019, in no specific order...
The news of Oliver Mtukudzi& #39;s death in January 2019 set off a mild panic in the newsroom, coming as it did on a Wednesday afternoon. It was @percyzvomuya who suggested we contact @RangaMberi for an obit. He turned in this masterpiece within 15 hours. Ace https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-25-00-just-singing-to-his-situation">https://mg.co.za/article/2...
In the week following Toni Morrison& #39;s demise, Mbali Sikakana ( @khanyisile) pulled off a similar kind of magic when she filed this self-referential piece that somehow still centred Morrison https://mg.co.za/article/2019-08-16-00-the-fraternity-of-lived-genius">https://mg.co.za/article/2...
When the Binj succumbed to illness, Zukiswa Wanner wrote about him not only as a cultural figure but also deftly tracked the development of their friendship https://mg.co.za/article/2019-05-24-00-a-life-spent-rewriting-africa">https://mg.co.za/article/2...
Rafs Mayet& #39;s piece was astounding for its sense of history and the finesse with which he captured the details that led to the making of & #39;Teramma kassie vi& #39; die musiek& #39;, which he titled for us on the spot. He disregarded the word count and we loved it https://mg.co.za/article/2019-03-15-00-the-portfolio-rafs-mayet">https://mg.co.za/article/2...
In March @Za_Fika interviewed Tracey Rose ahead of her Venice Biennale showcase as part of the South African Pavilion. Naturally, it was a charged conversation with Rose riffing widely, likening her creative process to warfare https://mg.co.za/article/2019-03-29-00-more-than-one-layer-to-the-art-and-life-of-tracey-rose">https://mg.co.za/article/2...
Around the same period, Youlendree Appasamy wrote about Kiveshan Thumbiran& #39;s & #39;Kaliyu-topia& #39;, an exhibition in which he used Hindu mythology as a way of exploring his place in contemporary South Africa https://beta.mg.co.za/article/2019-02-08-00-kaliyu-topia-displacement-questioned-at-the-end-of-days/">https://beta.mg.co.za/article/2...
A quick DM to @dreamhampton yielded the interview that drove this piece, in which she spoke at length about the importance of South Africa in her own political awakening and how drained she was by the process of making #SurvivingRKelly https://mg.co.za/article/2019-03-15-00-darkness-of-producing-r-kelly">https://mg.co.za/article/2...
If your thing was jazz we had you covered in 2019. Nobhongo Gxolo teased out the undercurrents of @SphaMdlalose& #39;s Indlel& #39; Eyekhaya with sensitivity and style https://mg.co.za/article/2019-11-01-00-siphathiseni-mdlaloses-road-home">https://mg.co.za/article/2...
. @tcmallinson, our dependable book reviewer, has a way with these hybrid pieces that are part review, part interview and part profile. She was in fine form here, interviewing Sarah Ladipo Manyika https://mg.co.za/article/2019-09-13-00-storytelling-is-in-her-blood">https://mg.co.za/article/2...
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