Being welcomed by the sound of the nervous young and upcoming talents, jokes, poetry, songs and dance was the order of the day. Despite being in my second year at the University of the Free State already, I took a short left to the ever so famous AAMPS. I must admit that I got more than I had bargained for, although the session started later than scheduled. The outcome of the show was mind blowing and there was a clear distinction between the regulars and the newcomers, but the performances were still great. One of the performances done by George Marake had my sister, Matimba, and I laughing so hard that we almost fell off our seats! It may have been his first time performing but this young man has great comedic talent, even though I did take offence when he made a joke concerning Limpopo, seeing as that is where I am from. But everything was soon forgotten when he had us chuckling once more at his next joke.
“It is a beautiful thing that students get to showcase their talent like that”, says Marake.
The dancers were also fun to watch; I may not know anything about hip hop or dancing but I was taken aback by the performance by a crew that goes by the name of Exclusive. This is their second time performing for AAMPS, and they are made up of first and second year students. Kagiso Madona says he is glad because he gets a lot of attention and the group gains exposure by performing at the AAMPS events. He also goes on to say that “It motivates us to do more and to better our performance.”
His fellow crew members say that they felt their performance was great and that it was refreshing. Another performance that had me itching to “bust a move” was done by a group called Enigma who have been performing for almost a year at AAMPS, “ I liked it and the level of performance has gone up,” says Nonkululeko Mpembe a member of the group who makes one wish they could dance every time you see her.
One of the voices that left the crowd yearning for more was that of Dudu Nyakong who says she and her band, Basic Soul have been performing at the AAMPS events for two years now - and boy, do they know how to touch a sisters soul! When asked about how she thought the session went she replied by saying: “It was okay, not wow, but there was one last year which was at the Scanea theatre - now that was the best.” The group will be having a show of their own sometime during March.
After the show my companion and I swore we would be going back to the AAMPS sessions for more of the entertainment that we had received this past weekend. “We have got to come to the next AAMPS session no matter what,” were the last words I heard from my sister as we left the Albert Wessels Oditorium. I couldn’t help but agree.
By Maidi Monareng |