The first was at a local church building, called Powerhouse, which is an Afrikaans-speaking group, situated above a meat emporium. This whole building was formerly a small campus for an independent high school. It is in Pasita Street, near to where our flat is located and I pass it almost every day, when I go out running and also when I visit my dance class, which happens to be next door.
When I visited Powerhouse for a Saturday morning seminar entitled, Israel and the Second Coming of Jesus, it was the first time I had entered upstairs and I found it very creatively decorated.
At first I wondered if this arrangement had been specially done for this meeting, but realized that it would have been a very costly and time-consuming preparation for one meeting. Later I found out that Powerhouse decided to decorate their building in such a manner because of the large glass windows, which allowed lots of light into the room (ideal for an educational setting) , but made it feel uncomfortable in the summer heat. This was an alternative to putting blinds up at every window.
However, it does mean that very little natural light enters the room and even with the many spot lights they used, it was a bit dark. They had several other smaller rooms, which had not been decorated in the same way. I didn't mind it at all, but others I was with, said they found it quite claustrophobic.
Skaapland is a meat (or vleis - in Afrikaans) emporium, another term for a South African specialist butcher's shop, that deals mostly with making the dried meat called 'biltong', so when you pass by there is a very strong meaty smell coming from the back drying rooms. Although I don't like the taste of biltong much and find it too chewy, the smell is quite nice and not at all like the nasty raw meat smell of butchers in UK. In the shop they also sell a range of fresh meats, usually packed ready for braai-ing, complete with a marinade sauce in the vacuum packs, together with a host of subsiduary products, including condiments, cheese and wine, and even pre packaged snacks like crisps. It's like a one-stop place for all things related to hosting a braai - but it is very expensive, so although we've popped in a couple of times, we rarely buy anything there, as the local supermarket is much cheaper.
Another place we visited when we had visitors was the Barnyard Theatre, again very close to where we live, which is unlike any theatre I know of in UK, apart from the stage area.
Barnyard have pioneered this idea of making theatre accessible to a wider audience, perhaps those who would not normally visit a theatre because it is rather formal and the focus is totally on what is happening on the stage. At Barnyard, eating and drinking, and audience participation is encouraged and so the room is set out with large wooden tables and benches, like they may be at a barn dance. Around the edges and in the balcony, people sit facing the stage, but at a fixed narrow ledge, which forms the table with fixed table lamps dotted along the rows. When the house lights are dimmed, the table lamps are very attractive and provide background light for the eating activites.
People bring picnics for a whole table to share throughout the evening and drinks are ordered from the bar. Some people even order pizzas to be delivered part way through, or bring pizza boxes in with them.
The first time we visited, in 2007, we found it so different from what we were used to at the theatre. This was our third visit and now it feels so friendly and relaxed, and definitely innovative.
By the way, the concert was a tribute band for Abba and the BeeGees, so the music was from several decades (60's, 70's, 80's and 90's) following the changes in their history, especially the dress styles and music tastes. We were in a group of six, all of whom grew up through the 60's and 70's and so much of the music was familiar and extremely well done. It was a very good show, with some special effects, numerous costume changes, interesting sets and the six vocalists, who played lots of different roles throughout, were accompanied by a top quality band. All in all it was a real treat and we enjoyed relaxing, singing along, muching our picnic snacks and even standing up and waving at times, to join in with everyone else, after a very hectic day of intense meetings.
Once a month the Barnyard Theatre is used for a local businessmen's prayer breakfast meeting, and it is packed to the doors.
If the concert at Barnyard was a 'blast from the past' the third event was like stepping into a 'time warp'. The building was not old, in fact it was held at a modern purpose-built facility of a large church grouping in Cape Town, called His People. This venue had been hired out, just for the concert and was set out in a large semi circle of blocks of 500+ seats around a stage area. There were thousands of people and I did take a photo but it came out too blurd to use.
The concert was the 'Gaither Vocal Band' SA tour. They are a traditional Gospel group, which was started in the 1950's by the patriarch of the band, who is now in his 80's. Other members over their long history have been family members and friends who have, or still do participate from time to time. They also do cruise tours and their style of music is obviously big is USA.
Andy & I had never heard of the Gaither Band, but they have been popular in South Africa for decades. We were surrounded by people much younger than us, in fact multi-generational groups of black, white and coloured South Africans (those are the correct terms to use for racial groups in SA) who sang along with gusto, cheered loudly as certain songs were introduced and who knew all the tear-jerking stories. We looked at each other with amazement when it started and had to supress some surprise laughter, which tried to escape, because it felt so old fashioned and twee. However, as the concert progressed we did quite enjoy it, especially when the highly accomplished blind pianist raised the beat and the mood moved away from 'syrupy' harmonies to quite good arrangements - for a while. Nevertheless, we were quite glad to leave at the interval - it had been a long week, and our guests were rising to fly to Angola at 6am the following morning.
The warm up act was a lady singing traditional Afrikaans Gospel songs - again she was very popular with the locals, but not really to our taste.
On the Sunday we heard about another concert, which had taken place on the same night - Bono and U2 had played at different venue and lots of the young people in the church we are part of (Josh Gen) had been to that. I'm sure we would have REALLY enjoyed that one!
We are certainly experiencing a diverse range of musical styles in Cape Town.
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