Folklore Festival Reprise CAPE TOWN: SIFISO KHANYILE film screening A NEW COUNTRY and music by DJ’s, CHOSI & MORENA LERABA

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The festival year on year closes with a REPRISE.What is the definition of a reprise: “in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition”

This year’s Folklore Festival Reprise will be held in Cape Town.

FOLKLORE FESTIVAL (REPRISE) - LINE UP ON 20 & 21SEPTEMBER IN CAPE TOWN AT THE GORGEOUS GEORGE PINK ROOM FROM 6PM TILL LATE,FEATURES…

MORENA LERABA, KUJENGA, DIGITAL SANGOMA, CHOSI, SIFISO KHANYILE FILMS: UPRIZE & A NEW COUNTRY, with DJ MIGHTY AND ATIYYAH KHAN (EL CORAZON)

Our Saturday headliner is Morena Leraba Over the past nine years, Morena Leraba has become a globally acclaimed flagbearer of a remodelled and genre-defying sound of Lesotho, manifested through a series of live performances, numerous high-wattage collaborations and, a debut record — Fela sa Ha Mojela — released in 2023 by The Good Times Co and Permanent Record. Fela sa Ha Mojela (“song of Ha Mojela”), captures Morena Leraba’s ability to fuse traditional Famo-inspired vocals with music inspired by various genres, all part of creating an evolving sound that is psychedelic, entrancing and future-facing. The enigma of Morena Leraba — real name, Teboho Mochaoa from Matholeng village, in Mafeteng (south of Lesotho’s capital Maseru) — a shepherd musician hailing from the mountains of Lesotho merged ideas with other musicians in South Africa and formed a band in Johannesburg, meshing cultures and sounds from far to create a truly sonic experience beyond language boundaries. Famo is a sub-genre of Sesotho traditional music and poetry and is famous in Morena Leraba’s home district of Mafeteng. “I understand Famo,” says Morena Leraba. “However, because we also have influences from elsewhere musically, I’ve always re-imagined Famo. I’ve always re-imagined Sesotho traditional music. So, coming to Johannesburg and meeting all the musicians that contributed to our journey so far, was the manifestation, perhaps, of that re-imagination.” The alter-ego, imagery and message behind the music, is a celebration of the shepherd charisma through stories that touch on the village but that also reflect Morena Leraba’s more recent experiences — both (and especially) his time in Johannesburg, and his travels abroad. The stories told on Fela sa Ha Mojela are nourished by accounts of other Basotho migrant workers that Morena Leraba normally commutes with. “These are stories of migration. Labour in the informal sector. Johannesburg and its hardships. Hope. Finding strength and courage. Spiritual calling. Death and having to live with the memory of loved ones.” Since surfacing, Morena Leraba has also been an in-demand collaborator with highlights being Major Lazer’s 2021 album “Music is the Weapon- Reloaded” (Mad Decent) where he was featured on “Hands Up” alongside Moonchild Sanelly from South Africa and his voice also provides the spiritual roots for “Johannesburg”, which was the first single off Damon Albarn’s Africa Express 2019 record, EGOLI — a song that features Sibot and Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals). London-based collective ONIPA also featured Morena Leraba on their 2020 album “We No Be Machine” (Strut Records) and Internationally-acclaimed BLK JKS from Johannesburg released their leading single “Harare” featuring Morena Leraba off their second sophomore album “Abantu- Before Humans” (Glitterbeat Records). In collaboration with South African musician and producer Spoek Mathambo, Morena Leraba is again featured on Paris-based collective Mawimbi’s 2021 album Bubbling (Mawimbi Records).

Supported by Chosi, who hails from the dusty streets of KwaZakhele Township in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. She describes her sound as a soulful blend of jazz nesingqi. Her influences are her family’s church - the Zion church. She comes from a musical family, from choral to gospel music. She realised her artistry when she started writing poetry to help make sense of the socio-political climate she was in at the time. From poetry, she wrote songs.

To begin we have film screenings and curated DJ sets by Sifiso Khanyile featuring DJ Mighty and Atiyyah Khan (El Corazon)

Sifiso Khanyile is a Producer/ Director of Anaphora Films. He has works as writer, archive researcher and has worked as a content producer on SABC shows such as Imagine Afrika, Zooming In on Men,Talk SA and Hatch. After studying, Khanyile directed Spiderman and Romeo(2008), a ground breaking short documentary about the thrills and dangers of train surfing on the notorious Metro rail Soweto line. The film was screened at numerous local and international festivals and shown on BBC and Sechuan TV(China). Khanyile's first feature documentary directorial credits include the acclaimed Uprize! (2017) and A New Country (2020).

Atiyyah Khan (El Corazon) is a? journalist, DJ, archivist and cratedigger from Johannesburg, based in Cape Town.? Her love for music was nurtured through years of writing about South African sounds and learning? through listening.

She started collecting records more seriously when co-founding music collective Future Nostalgia in? 2013, with a few other music lovers, as a way to come together and listen. The collective is a platform to? bring ‘collectors, selectors, deejays, and diggers’ together and has hosted events all over South Africa.

Atiyyah believes the best part about music is getting to share it with others. Her sets as DJ El Corazon? (the heart)? in Future Nostalgia, digs deep into her record collection to weave in sounds including jazz, african? funk, latin? groove, middle-eastern rhythms, dub, reggae, gnawa, cumbia, taarab, soul, funk and beyond.Her sets? explore music beyond boundaries and form connections that conjure up a curiosity in the possibility of? sound.

DJ Mighty is a prolific vinyl collector and DJ with a very broad and creative selection - fromHouse to Jazz to Funk to Afro. He has been spinning records for over a decade in clubs and at events. Mighty has played at some of Southern Africa’s most prominent music festivals, including the Bushfire Festival(Swaziland), Holi One Festival (Cape and Johannesburg), Red Bull ElectronicMusic Festival (Cape Town) and Rocking the Daisies (Western Cape).

DJ Mighty only spins vinyl. His unique psychedelic and voodoo-like performances have been known to move crowds wherever he plays.

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