Preserving our last stories of culture with Castle Milk Stout

Matriarchs umama Madosini and ouma Katrina Esau are taking South Africans on a journey to preserve our dying cultures. 

Castle Milk Stout, the brand that has become synonymous with enhancing and sharing African culture, partnered with award-winning film director Lebogang Rasethaba to produce the short film Last Stories of Culture.

The film follows umama Madosini; an internationally acclaimed award-winning musical legend who is skilled in making and playing traditional instruments such as the uhadi and mhrubhe musical bows, and ouma Katrina Esau; the last person on earth who can fluently speak the endangered N|uu language.

Through its Heritage month campaign Castle Milk Stout worked with Rasethaba and his team to document the journeys and rich heritage of the two cultural doyens of amaXhosa and Koi-San linguistic and musical institutions. 

The launch of the campaign took place on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at Newtown Junction Mall’s Ster Kinekor Cinema. 

Attending the event in cultured style was actress Letoya Makhene, rapper Kwesta, actress Dineo Langa, actress Manaka Ranaka and host for the night presenter Hulisani Ravele. 

“This is a meaningful space for us to gather with the true custodians of preserving and celebrating South African culture and heritage. We find ourselves making two worlds meet, the old and the new.” 

She added that if South Africans continue losing their cultures, they will become a society that is homogenous and does not celebrate what makes them South Africa- individuality in all cultures. 

Over the last few months, Rasethaba spent time with the two matriarchs to learn and unpack ouma Katrina’s wish to save her language from being lost to humanity forever and gogo Madosini’s efforts to pass on her gift of playing Umrhube and Uhadi to the coming generation. He then documented his journey in a heartwarming and thought-provoking manner that aims to motivate the younger generation to lean into the last stories of culture as they are in danger of being no more if enough is not done to preserve them.

“The last few months have been a rewarding experience for me as a film director. I got an opportunity to partner with an iconic brand that is telling stories that really matter and are at the risk of disappearing if they are not brought to the attention of the public. It definitely is a huge responsibility to ensure we tell people’s stories authentically and give these two cultural sages their flowers while they are still here and celebrate them for their role in ensuring that our young people are aware of these important stories passed on through generations.” 

Khensani Mkhombo, Castle Milk Stout Brand Manager, shared her own journey of reclaiming her culture and the campaigns that followed to help South Africans reclaim their heritage. 

“We first started telling a love story, this is where the brand started shining the light on love through culture. Get It Back was centred around our cultures being lost and we needed to get them back, it was such a strong message that we still continue with it to this day. We then went on a journey to teach you your clan names, we put the praises on our cans to represent our people. Then we did clan beats, to merge the old and young through the power of music. We then created the first ever Ancestor’s Day to show the importance of honouring our African spirituality.” 

Mkhombo added that the brand wanted to make sure African spirituality was not treated as taboo. 

This campaign, Last Stories of Culture shows the importance of continuing the many different cultures South Africans have and not letting them die or fade away over time. 

“As a custodian of African heritage, we were inspired by our consumers’ efforts to constantly bring to the table conversations about heritage that need to take place in mainstream South Africa. The issue of endangered cultural practices was high on the agenda of our consumers’ concerns, and we responded accordingly by creating a platform to encourage the conservation of our diverse cultures as Africans, through telling the stories of these two powerhouse matriarchs.”

In addition to the short film, Castle Milk Stout also partnered with leading denim brand, Tshepo Jeans to create a bespoke collection that also carries the message from the small screen to the streets through fashion. The bespoke collection will be available for purchase online by visiting www.castlemilkstout.co.za or following @CastleMilkStout on social media and tagging #LastStoriesOfCulture. Castle Milk Stout will match the money raised by purchasing these clothing items and donate the proceeds towards the preservation projects led by Gogo Madosini and Queen Katrina. The short film will be available to the public on various Facebook pages, Instagram, YouTube and on www.castlemilkstout.co.za, illuminating the role that some South Africans are playing at an indigenous level to help safeguard our endangered customs and traditions.