Monday Blues now at Bellavista

It's that time again where Monday Blues moves to another area... Let's all meet this coming Monday at Bellavista, kick off this new journey on good, positive vibes...

Start Time: Monday, November 2, 2009 at 8:00pm

End Time: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 2:00am

Location:Troyeville

Street:Corner Carnarvan & Bertrams

yo African Experience

Dani Ndebele wrote

The very very very first gig I went to when I moved to Jozi was Monday Blues - Kofifi at the time. I was hooked on Jozi forever after...

Monday Blues News

Monday Blues 12 October, everything was on time. At 20h45 Lebo the percussionist and Smash the drummer, kicked off the stage … nice combination of the two, afro-soul kind of stuff. Sindi Simpson and the Onion Eaters stepped up and rendered a very matured, entertaining poetry over keyboards and percussion. Malvern from Cape Town, (currently a street kid in Jozi) collaborated with the Deep Vibe Man on guitar, it was splendid!

Stone from PE, four piece band, played cover versions, it was well rehearsed and made a big impact… big up! Later was the Monday Blues activist, Sliq Angel! He played great as usual but to top it, he invited other artists who were in the room to come perform. Problem Child came first, Sol, Natti B, Zulu Boy and more. It came off brilliant! Masello came in on vocals accompanied by percussion and drummer machine samples... nice one. We want to acknowledge and give respect to the Monday Blues by loving and supporting the artists. We had a sound glitch, the crowd over looked that and the show went on, it was ecstatic.

On the poetry session there was Ntsikelelo done in Xhosa and English. After this Tina came on, sang over keys… it was magical melodies. Look out for Tina. The last was the drum and base jam, Tenda the vocalist joined in… that was the end of performances. See you next Monday, 19 October.

Monday Blues.... your AFRICAN EXPERIENCE

Below... artists that never fail to mention this legendary stage in their profile... click on their links to see their full profiles! As we celebrate Monday Blues birthday ths month, e-mail your story or experiences at Monday Blues for us to put up on the blogspot. meanzit@yahoo.com.

MXO eventually linked up with DJ Blaze and his Unity Recordings and before long was gaining recognition in Johannesburg by performing at venues like the Bassline, Horror Café, Monday Blues and other underground poetry and Hip-Hop spots including Jungle Connection, the Couch and Coffee, and more.

www.myspace.com/mxfunk

We are Blk Sonshine. We got together about 10 years ago in Yoeville which is a little suburb of Johannesburg in South Africa. We were both there playing our acoustic guitars at an open mic called Monday Blues. We went from doing little shows in South Africa to recording a CD in Los Angeles.

www.myspace.com/blksonshine

I (Ntsiki Mazwai) performed often at Monday Blues at the various locations it moved to, I later started hosting Monday Blues which groomed me for later gigs I would host..

www.ntsikimazwai.co.za/streetpop.php

Excuse me, I need some kwaito playing while I write this. Y mag had a soundtrack, abrasive in parts and with more than fragments of the toyi-toyi coming through, but it was largely kwaito that set the rhythm. Bennie was making us mal, Brenda was very much alive, TKZ were huge, Mdu was the man, Ghetto Luv and Ismael and Roots 3000 were nascent, blk sonshine were just jamming at Monday Blues and MXO was a little boy fresh from Dwezi (Ibayi) sleeping rough in a Mahala hotel, dreaming of getting onto that stage.

http://www.chimurengalibrary.co.za/

Monday Blues News

What a wonderful Monday, 05 October 2009. It was like a too good to be true scenario. We got to Ko’spotong a bit strapped of time; found a hand full of artists were already congregated with a reasonable audience. At 20h30 everything was set-up and Leero was ready to kick-off. DJ Zweli worked the mood right before the first performance. We had an impeccable line-up, with various genres’ and the good amount of first timers on the Monday Blues stage.

Leero dusted off the stage with two songs; later Zweli from Joy of Jozi did a solo performance playing some blues, rock and afro grooves. Sliq Angel went on after that, to no surprise a great reaction from artists occurred when Shaun joined in on the drums, base guitarists and some back-up vocalists jumped on stage to join in. Sliq’s music is known and it was like they rehearsed plus the crowd loved it. Tumisani Dlamini aka Crocodile, Chester courageously sang a Zulu song about his travels around the world making a good impact with some dance moves… excellent.
There was a couple a jam sessions giving authenticity to the day, Nqobile is easy to remember, surprised the room with educated yet cultural melodies with limitless ranges. Russere is Zim national, played Mbire and sang those with good ears heard his amazing work. Sizwe Vena later blessed the stage with three songs, doing it with a full on band as well as back-up vocalists, Aviwe Damane carried it to the last.

We closed with back tracks, Mzantsi a raga hip hop soul act, DOC Tswana / English rap and Ntsikelolo Xhosa poetry over beats. Appeasing, the show ended, thanks to the crowd, artists, venue and the Melville community at large. See you on Monday live at Ko'spotong, 12 October!!

Monday Blues Birthday Celebrations throughout October

This incorporation has been a special one in that Monday Blues was established 1991 October and Arts Alive in 1991 September. Both these companies have been running for years with nothing but drive and passion to uplift artists and the industry in South Africa. For the first time in both their existence, they joined forces and killed it!

So here's to a lifetime friendship between Monday Blues & Arts Alive!!

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This month we are celecrating this legendary stage's birthday, established October 1991 but Peter Makurube. It began in Hillbrow and has since been presented in various communities in Johannesburg. The format is based on performance of whatever art form and exhibitions of visual arts. It has staged live in music venues around the city and welcomes all cultural expression.

Yeoville has been our main base, starting in 1997. Our first home there was Jahnitos, where fantastic performers like JIMMY Dludlu, Zim Ngqawana and Sandile Dikeni played to full-houses every week. We then moved to Raymond Street, where Blk Sonshine was born. Both Neo and Masauko met there and formed this incredible group that went on to win many fans across the social and geographical barriers. Time Square, a few blocks up the road also provided some memorable events - Roots 2000 was born there (Sliq Angel/MXO). The two have since become big names in the music scene. We once again relocated to Orange Grove - this time to Club 206, where Victor Ntoni's career was revitalized. We also put a lot of artists on the map, among them, Waddy Jones(rapper) who ended up as a recording artist and television presenter. This venue attracted the biggest number of audiences for the movement. Other venues, Horror Cafe in downtown Joburg, Mega Music, Rosebank (Mama's) and many more followed.

The Monday Blues has been strong on poetry, music, film, dance art and comedy. Projects undertaken by the movement are varied and are aimed at improving relations between people both inside and outside South Africa. Our longest campaign is the anti-rape project - whose target is men who don't rape. The artistic approach toward discouraging and condemning this scourge has helped create awareness and breaking resistance from men in general. The idea is to encourage law-abiding men to beinvolved in combating rape. It went on for four years and we intend to keep highlighting this issue until there is no reason to do so anymore. We have also undertaken projects to eliminate other prejudices - homophobia, chauvinism and xenophobia. The latter project helped bring in refugees both political and economic into the mainstream of society in South Africa. To this day Monday Blues remains the most inclusive cultural movement on the continent.

So as we celecrate this beautiful creation throughout the month of October we urge all of you that have been to Monday Blues to share your stories and experiences at Monday Blues. Please feel free to put them up on the Monday Blues wall or e-mail them for us to put up on the blogspot. We know, groups have been formed, friendships started, careers revitalized, marriages formed, tell us all about it. CD's of MB recordings and T-shirts will be on sales at Monday Blues throughout the month so by all means, put that in your monthly budget :)

Lastly, a HUGE thank you to Peter Makurube for the initiative of creating such a beautiful stage. Not forgetting, thank you to everyone that has ever attended at Monday Blues show, whether it was to perform or to watch... Thank you all!