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Before we launch a next set of rockers for 2020, we'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'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
In the week following Toni Morrison'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
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
Rafs Mayet's piece was astounding for its sense of history and the finesse with which he captured the details that led to the making of 'Teramma kassie vi' die musiek', 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
On the occasion of the Jean-Michel Basquiat retrospective at the @FondationLV, Riason Naidoo sent us this finely sculpted gem, which we ran on Jan 11 as our first double spread of the year https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-11-00-to-know-jean-michel-basquait-look-at-his-art
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
On the occasion of Options, Nolan Oswald Dennis' show at the @Goodman_Gallery, he and @TheKingsTings traded WhatsApp voicenotes on decolonial aesthetics, leading to this: https://mg.co.za/article/2019-02-22-00-worming-into-the-guts-of-the-unseen
Around the same period, Youlendree Appasamy wrote about Kiveshan Thumbiran's 'Kaliyu-topia', 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/
Then there was the time @nemesisinc reconstructed the key stages of singer @SakhileMoleshe's path with filmic precision https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-25-00-moleshe-answers-final-call
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
. @CarlCollison always kept us in his thoughts when he travelled, like when he touched down in São Paulo to party and reason with Batekoo https://mg.co.za/article/2019-04-05-00-be-your-queer-black-self-in-brazil
There was also this brilliant interview with @ManeoMohale, which we ran around the time her anthology Everything Is A Deathly Flower was released https://mg.co.za/article/2019-10-03-creating-poetry-out-of-violence
When it came to reflecting deeply on the craft, Mohale had a peer in @Lidudumalingani, whose contribution to #ThePortfolio represented the section's broadened scope https://mg.co.za/article/2019-11-29-00-the-portfolio-lidudumalingani
If your thing was jazz we had you covered in 2019. Nobhongo Gxolo teased out the undercurrents of @SphaMdlalose's Indlel' Eyekhaya with sensitivity and style https://mg.co.za/article/2019-11-01-00-siphathiseni-mdlaloses-road-home
...while @NirenTolsi brought new insights into the conversation on @MandlaMlangen12 https://mg.co.za/article/2019-05-17-00-mlangeni-sas-syncopated-society
We were also floored by @nemesisinc's tender and painstaking representation of @nduduzo_m's ability to galvanise a generation while remaining fully present in the moment https://mg.co.za/article/2019-12-06-00-nduduzo-makhathini-returnsto-the-underworlds
We also popped a few bottles, with @Za_Fika scrutinising the numbers behind the rise in MCC consumption, a rise driven largely by black women https://mg.co.za/article/2019-04-12-00-less-stress-more-champagne
. @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
It's safe to say we left 2019 with a bang in the form of #TheArtEdition. The lead article that week was @NkgopolengMoloi's lyrical take on Moshekwa Langa's Tropic of Capricorn, currently on show at the @Stevenson_ZA https://mg.co.za/article/2019-12-13-00-dust-beauty-and-geography
