The Folklore Festival returns for its third year with a diverse lineup of storytellers throughout a variety of presentations. On August 7, the National School of Arts Theatre in Braamfontein hosted a one-of-a-kind cultural opening celebration.
The launch promises an immersive experience combining music, storytelling, and tradition. Pilani Bubu, festival director, unveiled the August and September lineup, which includes a varied range of performers and disciplines.
According to the organizers, the event coincides with Women’s Month and Heritage Month, and will focus on social justice, black emancipation, and community development. The evening’s performances and DJ sets were intended to link spectators with the storytellers and build a greater understanding for South Africa’s unique cultural fabric.
The festival will take place in three cities: Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town, over seven weeks in August and September.
Week one is the launch. Week two focuses on art, theatre, and folk jazz. Week three focuses on literature and alternative folk. Week four features spoken word, poetry, and band. Week five features folk tales, exhibitions, film screenings, and folk selectors. Week six covers literature, acoustic folk, oral traditions, and family. Week seven is a continuation of Folklore Festival days one and two.
On day one of the launch, Nicky B opened and closed the evening with a deliberate and folkloric DJ set, followed by a performance by Bubu herself with band.
Bubu, the festival director, is in charge of ensuring that the 2024 Folklore Festival runs well. At the age of nine, she discovered and recognized her ability to sing, which stimulated her interest in music and instruments.
Bubu, who is already well-known as a TV presenter, singer, and marketer, says she wants to be remembered as an indelible storyteller who is able to create a platform that allows her to express herself in multiple dimensions while also telling South African stories and taking them around the world.
When asked if the festival’s success is everything she had hoped for, Bubu said: “We have somehow made very little go a long way, and I am incredibly proud of being able to truly be about community, to look at the numbers and say we will all have a share from this, we will all be able to do this.”
She went on to say that she wants people to engage in indigenous knowledge systems, whether they are traveling through history or modernity. There is something to behold since everyone has something to offer.
