Museum spaces and the culture of music
The core objectives of the Aluta Nova Festival of Museums programme are focused at promoting and marketing the museums of the City as Joburg as places of attraction.
For the most part, museums are not visited half as much as they used to. With the advent of technology and people exploring different ways to immerse themselves in culture, this is a key period to bring back the essence of museums. The festival’s continuous programme aims to provide creative SMMEs opportunities for market access and industry exposure, revitalise the City through quality and impactful Arts, Culture and Heritage programmes and contribute to the development of youth in creative industries through relevant public programmes.
On Saturday, the inaugural event will take place, after being postponed from its initial June date due to Covid-19 regulations.
Taking place at the James Hall Museum of Transport, the event will coincide with the celebration of Transport Month in South Africa.
Showcasing the vintage collection of vehicles at the museum, the festival will see a blend of the old with the new.
The line-up for the day will see eclectic artists perform on a stage set to make a difference. Bilal Da DJ loves the idea of playing at the transport museum because “I have a love for vintage transportation and I feel that my music brings a kind of nostalgia that will compliment the museum well, also because music in itself can be seen as a form of transportation.”
For Yourunclegarry the festival highlights the fact that the youth of South Africa are very aware of the current struggle.
“Even though it may be different to the struggles of the generations before us. As a DJ who prioritises playing music by black women from across the diaspora, I really feel at home on this line up. This space is needed so that we can ground ourselves in our present reality and use art as a way to propel ourselves forward.”
Uncle PartyTime believes this is an opportunity to reimagine heritage spaces in the city, without taking away the value they already hold in daily lives.
“Museums are all seen as archaic and removed from our daily lives to a point that we forget their existence, however there are many creative ways to invite people back to such spaces. It’s also a great way to educate the youth and begin to foster collaboration with the local creative scene.”
When it comes to music; Uncle Partytime says as collectors of music and researchers, deejaying is just the medium to share their knowledge.
“This event is perfect for us to showcase old and new music to a wide range of people. We also hope to use the atmosphere to freely express ourselves.”
Festival curator and chief curator of the museum, Gaisang Sathekge is the festival curator as well as the chief curator at the James Hall museum: The aim of the festival was to resuscitate museum spaces by decentering the idea that heritage is a traditional and sacred concept that should not be touched by the ‘unclean voices’ of contemporary culture.
“This is the idea that the City wants to disrupt and deconstruct through this festival. Aluta Nova simply means ‘A New Struggle’ – we are no longer fighting demons of a dead tradition but are faced with new challenges to rewrite history and reimagine our own place in the now.”
The festival will offer a London Bus museum tours, food/craft markets and an enticing live music line-up which will include live performances by Urban Village, Ami Faku, The Charles Gene Suite, Bilal Da DJ, Uncle Partytime, Your Uncle Garry, Kat Upendi and The Dig Experience.
