Creatives all over the Eastern Cape converged once again at the “One Blood” concert held at the Grand Hotel in Port Elizabeth. Now in its 5th year running, the concert saw the best of the best in local and international rap music and poetry take to the stage.
Passionate rhymes and flows spilled from the mouth of talented and soulful Tshidi ‘JEAN Grae’ Ibrahim, daughter of legendary jazz icon Abdullah Ibrahim. She kept the crowd firmly rooted on their feet with a rousing performance. Australian slam poet Luka Lesson was next to take to the stage, delivering witty and heart wrenching lines with fiery intensity. Eastern Cape held their own with a scintillating performance by Jbux with his equally talented band, other duo bands like Ntsika Tyatya & Lelethu Poeticsoul Mahambehlala, D Vers Ct of Cape Town, Jazz artist Asanda Mqiki, RnB singer Rob Thomson, Raggae collective Skank n Roots, Hishaam and Don Geel.
Founder, John Lambardo, who provides after-school visual art mentoring and gives academic support to children along with New York artist and tutor Andrea Lamonto took time to lead a workshop on the value of arts and crafts addressing social issues. The children were equipped with lessons on puppetry, poetry and protest posters days before the actual concert. Those fortunate enough to attend this year’s event were also treated to the works of renowned photographer Mike Scheiber , whose famous pieces have been featured in XXL,VIBE and Rolling Stone.
For an event that stems from very humble beginnings, great strides were taken to ensure that it became a world class event. Conceived by France native, Louie, it has become a joint venture between the Frenchman, True sight music, Artworks for the youth and Artec, Bay Tv, Nmmu and local hip hop activist Rushay, it includes panel discussions and poetry evenings to enrich young minds and to raise funds to support the art movement in the communities of PE.
Written by Nande Dyantyi