If you’ve read some of my articles before – you’ll know that I am the biggest advocate for the creative economy. Maximising our arts & culture sector in order to progress the entire economy is extremely important, yet continually overlooked by many, especially the government. What the easing of lockdown has led to within our local nightlife scene is beautiful to witness; a flourishing party scene which continues to innovate in order to elevate, and ‘Genesis All Black’ is a perfect example.
As a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Vogue Nights Jozi, KOP and Until Until, the event proved to be a massive success – a euphoric trance into the true meaning of Jozi’s nightlife.
Serving as a tasty prelude to Pride Month, our celebration of the existence and contribution of the LGBTQIA+ community, Genesis All Black proved a fitting pre-gathering for Johannesburg’s Queer community. Hosted on 28 May 2022 in the eclectic Newtown area of Jozi, with the support of Johnnie Walker and Heineken as sponsors, this event produced a roster of incredible local artists and performers. In a wall-to-wall line up of local talent, led by the likes of Blxckie and Reece Madlisa and Zuma, accompanied by a plethora of exciting deejays such as Fiflaaa, Skits & Nkuley, and more.
The 360-degree focus on art, in its entirety, is the pinnacle for the betterment of our nightlife scene. Genesis All Black clearly got the memo over here because there was indeed a big event focus on the arts scene, with emerging fine artists such as Bemo Doll, Gabriel Stephen, and more, all on showcase with live installations. A couple of months ago, I wrote an article for CEC touching on the parallels I discovered between Joburg’s current art scene and SoHo, New York, in the 1970s. A lot of the thoughts which I had conjured up within that think-piece seemed to resurface after witnessing the outcome of Genesis. An example:
“A key element that drove the success of the “party scene” during this era of 70s New York was the thriving queer Black community. Now fast forward over fifty years from then and analyse Johannesburg – has much really changed from then? I think not. Topical queer and femme-forward events such as Vogue Nights, by Lelowhatsgood, further reinforce my point.”
Another massively enjoyable aspect of Genesis All Black was the return to festival culture. It’s so refreshing to see the large festival-esque signs and banners at venues once again, with live performances from artists gleaming from the stage lights. And with popular local festivals such as Rocking the Daisies returning in full swing following Covid absences, it seems that the space is opening up for independent creative organisations to cultivate their own large-scale events.
Vogue Nights Jozi, founded by eponymous award-winning cultural curator, writer and Deejay, Lelowhatsgood, is at the forefront of reinventing and redefining South African queer culture through tastefully curated ballroom events. These are inclusive and are centred around dance, music and fashion. It reminds me of how aptly Siwa Mgoboza described it in relation to his art fair, ‘Siyabangena’.
“Siyabangena22 is an afterparty that pertinently considers South Africa’s relationship of political discourse and collective organising as shaped in the shebeens of Black townships during apartheid. It considers how the existence of ball culture was founded underground by African-American and Latin American LGBTQ+ communities – “Houses” – in New York City in the late 19th century, resisting queerphobia. These disco sites serve as robust incubators of radical discourse about questions of the Human, where a reading of sound, performance, and collective organising are grammars of certain philosophical positions of being.”
Another topical independent creative organisation teaming up with Vogue Nights Jozi for Genesis All Black is ‘Until Until’ – represented by the duo of Thulani Dandala & Lenzo Mangonyane. Until Until hosts a few of the hottest events in Johannesburg, such as Sunday Roast, i.e.”The Happiest Place on Earth”, Bacardi Holiday Club and Good Morning. There is a consistent thread between all of these curated events and that is their emphasis on redefining comfort and prioritising inclusion.
The final creative partner to complete the trio is KOP represented by its co-founder Amira Shariff – a youth-driven creative space and platform redefining the culture of music and art. What I enjoy about KOP is their retrospective perspective towards nightlife culture, and how they are able to transfer this ethos into contemporary event spaces.
The combination of these three creative brands clearly makes so much sense. As nuanced as their vision and missions are, they somewhat all congregate at the same corner. The true intersection of local youth culture – where all forms of art converge into one. Genesis All Black has executed a giant leap for our arts & culture scene, depicting the true essence of what a collaboration is meant to be.
