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This performance was part of the Standard Bank Jazz Festival, and musically was fantastic. Sibongile Khumalo can really sing and Mike Del Ferro was amazing on the piano! Although Jazz is not my first choice of music, I felt that I needed to see a little of it, and chose this because of the classical bits and pieces which were promised.

The integration of the Opera and the Jazz was fantastic and well worth attending. However, I could not enjoy the performance properly because the “Crew” kept on letting people in after the performance started and were themselves talking at times. I came very close to complaining. I would warn anyone attending a Jazz event at DSG Hall to NOT sit in the raised section at the back, the noise from the door is really distracting.

Mike Del Ferro’s piano solo was amazing and made up for me not going to the piano recital I was considering attending this afternoon.

On the side, we have booked fringe events. I wondered down to the Village Green after lunch and stood in the queue to book the tickets. For a queue that length, I didn’t feel that I had to wait too long. I then met up with Dan and Sarah and had a beer in the beer tent. All in all, I am seeing 19 productions. I couldn’t get a ticket for Romeo and Juliet (a dance version) which was going to make it 20. George has indicated that she doesn’t really want to see it, and so I might get her ticket. The Jazz tonight was performance number four, already!

I spent the better part of my day working, I started by creating my Thesis and adding content for the Scan Types chapter. A simple copy paste of the SAICSIT paper into the newrucsthesis style took it to 18 pages. That’s 1/3 the length of my Honours Thesis! I also started working on my ISSA slides. These will be finished by Monday.

I didn’t book any actual shows for today, but decided that there were two things on the Fringe that I wanted to see, so booked for those. I have just come back from the first – The Spirit Lives, the other is at 20h30. I wondered down to the Village Green with Nick and booked tickets. Its definitely busier today than it was yesterday – but I reckon it will be at its busiest tomorrow and Sunday.

The Spirit Lives was also excellent, unfortunately there was a guy who answered his phone during the performance, and another who was videoing it with his phone. The actual performance was a Musical and it was a natural extension to yesterday’s theatre. It was about the Sharpville Massacre, but was a story of how the spirit of those who were slain is kept on through music. All our emotion is represented through music.

It was a good performance and enjoyed it along with the live music. The band was already on stage when I took my phone out to switch it off, so I took a photo. Its a crappy photo – my phones camera isn’t great – but its a photo nonetheless.

Tonight I went to see Cissie which is the the first performance I have seen at this my first National Arts Festival. It is unbelievable how different Grahamstown has become, but it isn’t quite as busy as I thought it would be.

We booked tickets ages ago, on the 21st of May, so our main Festival Programme is already sorted. We didn’t book any Fringe stuff though, so we still need to do that. George has a programme so we will look at that. I will get round to getting one at some point.

Fest started off last night with dinner. I had Nick, Barry and Prof Wells round for dinner and we had a great time. I only got to bed at 1am though, so slept a little late. Mathe and I wondered down High Street towards Church Square, which is unrecognisable for all the containers for the Transnet Container Craft Fair. We were going to get a snack there, but I have been put off festival food. So we then wandered down to The Village Green and browsed round there for ages. It was good fun, and there are lots of things I’d like to get.

After a light snack, George, Mathe and I went to our first event, Cissie. Cissie is a play about a strong woman: Cissie Gool. It was a wonderful play and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is set in Cape town between the early 1900s and the 1950s. Cissie, daughter to a Scottish Suffragette and an Indian Doctor grew up knowing that she was different to her mother. Eventually she would campaign for equal rights for all and most importantly for the right to live in her home – her home in District Six.

The play starts in the present time, and jumps back to recount the tales of Cissie. At the end it returns to the present with good effect. The only criticism I could give it was that Cissie’s speeches were not given justice by the actress and the constant set alterations did get a little distracting. The use of a projector was excellent and when scenes from District Six and of Cissie Gool were shown at the end, the standing ovation turned to her applause – cast included, which was wonderful.

Cissie herself died before by the Group Areas act District Six was declared “for the ‘White Group’”. A day that residents of District Six will never forget.

After the play Mathe and George went to see some Jazz and I started partying with Dan. We just chilled at his house and had a few drinks, playing XBox. Afterwards we went to The Rat and Friers, which was pretty empty. Surprisingly so. A fantastic end to Day One of Fest!