Queertopia: A soul-shifting reimagining of a country through music

JOHANNESBURG - "My set is determined by your energy, I want to connect with you on a spiritual level," Nonku Phiri said while sitting cross-legged on the floor.

I don't even know how to describe Phiri's set, I can only say that I felt my soul shift as the mood for the night was birthed by her.

Phiri was part of a group of artists that performed at Queertopia by Other Village People.

The House of Spirits - one of the themes - as the night was dubbed was set at the Old Fort at Constitution Hill.

One could only imagine the souls of our ancestors who had been locked up in the fort by the apartheid regime swaying to her beautiful voice.

I did not know whether to cry, go pick flowers or just lay down on the ground as her voice carried me to quiet spaces within me.

Night Embassy JHB Ambassadors are exploring new directions in nightlife culture at their November and December residencies.

Night Embassy Johannesburg by Jägermeister is a residency programme centred around 'Freiraum', a space for unbridled self-expression and unlimited creativity.

DJ Andiswa Dlamini (AN.D) and curator Kefiloe Siwisa, who make up Other Village People, spoke of the importance of their three-day event.

"We live in a country where queer people are killed for just being, where we are marginalised, and we wanted to create a safe space to celebrate life but to also honour the ones we have lost."

The space had a mixture of age groups, races and people of different backgrounds standing in the same courtyard that once confined a number of prominent political prisoners during its 100-year history, including South African Communist Party leader Joe Slovo, who served time here during the state of emergency in 1960, offering legal counsel to warders and prisoners during his incarceration.

"When Kefiloe come out as queer we were sad not because of her sexuality but because we worried we could not protect her from what comes with being queer in South Africa. The homophobia, the chances of her being assaulted and killed increased, and we were sad and afraid. We did not sleep that night," said Kefiloe Siwisa's mother as her husband wrapped his arm around her.
Conversations about life experiences in queer bodies were shared among the crowd of queer bodies and allies.

LGBTI activist and Feather Award winner, Virginia Magwaza, was in attendance.

"A parent said to me that when her child come out she went into the closet, we do not think about how families are impacted by our queeerness, the second-hand victimisation that happens," said Magwaza, who is the founder of Parents, Families & Friends of the South African Queers (PFSAQ).

South African Venda-Folk singer Muneyi had the crowd singing along to to tales of his grandmother as he sat on a solo stool with his guitar in hand. With his powerful voice he had everyone singing along to his songs of love, loss and healing in between telling all about the lessons his Makhulu instilled in him.

Muneyi strokes his guitar as he longingly sings Leon Bridges' _River,_ with the crowd echoing the lyrics "Been traveling these wide roads for so long, My heart's been far from you, ten-thousand miles gone".
Who would of have thought that the once overcrowded, unhygienic fort and the isolation cells would hear the sounds of Buhlebendalo singing Brenda Fassie's Too late for Mama to a mixed-race crowd backed by an all female band?

With her sage burning, she gave thanks to her ancestors and all those who came before us and as she beat her drum, one could hear the hearts of all present dancing to her music of activism and praise.

One could say that the three-day event thanked those who mourned those who came before us, thanked them and celebrated them.

”Queertopia is a re-imagining of a country, a new world order that normalises and celebrates our differences as if it’s always been that way,” Siwisa said. "The people are the centre of queertopia. Imagine what the world would feel like if it were designed by and for queer communities,” said Dlamini.

The three-day lineup also featured Moonchild Sanelly, DBN Gogo, Nonku Phiri, Buhlebendalo and more.