Six blind artists from South Africa will be on the stage at the Voices in the Dark concert, presented by the Northern Cape Society for the Blind (NCSB).
This concert is a first for Kimberley and the Northern Cape, as all lights will be switched off during the performances in the Northern Cape Theatre.
A variety of music genres will be heard with the emphasis on the artists’ talents, while the audience experiences the phenomenon of relying on hearing, vibrations, and the euphoria surrounding you.
This event on Friday, 27 October, is part of the NCSB’s observation of World Sight Day which takes place annually on the second Thursday of October; a global event meant to draw attention to blindness and vision impairment.
The band 2OfAKind+ consists of two main members who are visually impaired, Mhlupheki Abel Mkhwanazi and Sindi Lethole, as well as three members who are fully sighted. The band plays a variety of music genres, including jazz, gospel, wedding songs, pop, R&B and African Jazz. Mkhwanazi (on trumpet and flugelhorn) started his music career at the Federated Union Of Black Arts (Fuba), an institution which offered music tuition in Braamfontein in 1983. He took Jazz as a major subject and Classical Music as a second subject. Lethole (on piano), also started his music career at the same institution in the same year, with the same major.
The band, upon its inception in 1998, was initially known as the Bekezela Jazz Band, but learnt there was another band with the same name. The name was then changed. The band used to perform at government occassions and played at the United Nations Development Programme’s functions at hotel venues, to name a few.
Lise-Mari van Wyk, also known as Lee or Yukiko (Snow Child) is a 23-year-old blind actor, voice artist, musician, and singer-songwriter.
She has been playing the piano for nearly 14 years and has recently picked up the guitar. Despite being blind since birth, she never stood back from what she loves doing most, which is performing.
Van Wyk completed her Performing Arts studies at the Northlink College in 2021 and has won national and international awards. Aside from theatre festivals and radio dramas,she has also performed in the legendary musical Cats in 2021. She is currently preparing for her Trinity Advanced Certificate examination for piano.
She loves to sing, and experimenting with different genres of music.
Michael Sathekge
from Limpopo plays the guitar. With two other band members, they perform from home and in various towns. In 1983 an album was recorded, and he continued participating in events such as music shows. He shared the stage with well-known singers, and also performed with legendary artists like Steve Kekana.
Sathekge experienced blindness in 1968 after he was infected by measles. In 2018 he registered a company, as well as non-profit organisation (NPO) for blind people.
Sinelethu Nyanda, also known as Senny Gorgeous, was born in Knysna in the Western Cape in 2000. When she was four years old, her family and relatives realised that she can sing.
At the age of ten years Nyanda was declared blind, and had to enrol at the Pioneer School for the Visually Impaired in Worcester. By 2014 she started writing her own music.
In 2020 she collaborated with one of her friends on the American song with the title “Within the night”. In 2022 she released a single, “I won’t give up”, through this inspiring youths to work hard on their dreams and follow what they feel inspired by.
Willie Botha
was born in Klerksdorp in 1951. At the age of 11 years he fell from a high wall and completely lost his sight in his right eye, with only 3% remaining in his left eye. After an unsuccessful operation in 1978 he lost all sight in his left eye.
He matriculated at the Pioneer School for the Visually Impaired in Worcester (at that stage still known as the School for Blind) in 1970.
After he converted to Christianity, he started composing gospel songs and wrote music. His first long-player album was released in 1984.
In 1987 he obtained his diploma in Theology and accepted his first calling to a congregation in 1988. He and his wife are now involved in Oesland Bediening.
Botha has already written 152 songs in Afrikaans and English, released 18 CDs, five music DVDs, and is a motivational speaker. He has also published three books, and 11 000 copies of his biography, Om weer op te staan, has been sold. He has a music studio, and was the presenter of a TV programme.
He is a keen cycler and has already completed, amongst other, seven Cape Town Cycle Tours.
- This black tie or smart casual event commences at 19:00. Tickets cost R150 per person. A cash bar will be available.
For more information, send a WhatsApp message to 084-375-3521 or dial 082-770-0651 or 084-510-5236.
