The essence festival that rocked SA

For several years, Essence Festival has been hosted in New Orleans, Louisiana, US. The event which is usually hosted by Essence magazine is all about black women.

Several artists and influencers of colour are usually invited to perform and speak during the ceremony. Essence Festival has been an attraction in the US for over two decades and in 2016, they decided to bring the attraction to New Orleans’ sister city, Durban. This is what brought me to South Africa.

The big event was scheduled to begin on November 8.

Admittedly, the festival’s organisers left us wondering about a lot of things like where were the panels are taking place? Who was speaking when? What was the schedule? Every day, I would refresh the information page on the Essence Festival website but the information remained scanty.

On November 11, after contacting Bongiwe Gumede, a South African woman who founded Ubuhle Media, I found myself seated inside the Durban ICC (International Conference Centre) waiting for several speakers to talk to us about empowerment.

The theme of this festival was simple: “Passion, power and inspiration”. Everyone in that theatre had this in common - we all had passion, we all sought inspiration and we all wanted to feel empowered. The day kicked off with a true pioneer - Basetsana Kumalo.

Kumalo’s career got its jumpstart in the 90’s when she became the second black woman to be crowned Miss South Africa and consequently ran for the title of Miss World. Since then, Kumalo has travelled the world, started several different companies including a travel agency and a production company. She is also a philanthropist and a woman many South Africans consider an icon. Her testimony was only made more powerful when she shared stories of her special relationship with Nelson Mandela, the man who pushed her to be more than just a pretty face all those years ago.

While Kumalo’s speech was modest and humble, the man who followed was something else. His name is Thabo Molefe but he is known on the airwaves as Tbo Touch. Tbo told the audience about his humble beginnings in the ghettos of Durban. Tbo did not allow his environment to hold him back and in turn became one of the biggest radio disc jockeys in South Africa.

Then came Estelle’s conversation on stage. Estelle, a recording artist from England is best known for her 2008 international smash hit ‘’American Boy’’. Since the tremendous success of that record, she has been living in the US making music and creating new opportunities for herself while the world wondered whether she had any more mainstream success to look forward to.

I’ve seen Estelle don many hairstyles in her career but to see her in person, wearing Senegalese twist braids and top knot made me smile. She didn’t care to dress like a mainstream pop / R&B star. In fact, a lady in the audience asked Estelle whether her image was ever a point of tension for her management team. This question raised eyebrows for many women in the audience - what was wrong with the way Estelle looked? The critique underneath the question was that Estelle didn’t look like commercial artists i.e she was darker in complexion and not as soft as Rihanna or a Tinashe. This kind of question could only come up during a panel discussion at Essence festival.

Estelle informed us all that her confidence is something she has been honing since childhood and no one would ever make her worthless. She was more than enough.

The Keynote speaker at the festival was Steve Harvey. Mr Harvey took his time coming to the main stage but when he got there, he also took his time with his word.

Harvey began his career with standup comedy and that led to his own sitcom in the 90’s. He literally became a King of Comedy. As of 2016, Harvey is a best-selling author, TV personality, daytime talk show host, movie producer and the most famous man to ever read a card wrong on live television. That last part was a reference to the 2015 Miss Universe pageant where Harvey mistakenly called out Miss Colombia as the winner. Harvey mentioned this incredible blunder while discussing his journey and even admitted that the experience was humbling. The real story behind the incident actually makes Harvey look like a hero. He took the blame for someone else’s mistake that night because he didn’t want anyone to lose their job.

An emotional Harvey, who repeatedly pointed out how glad he was to be in the Motherland, got a standing ovation before leaving the theatre with his wife Marjorie.

Saturday November 12, the day of the Essence Hip Hop concert at Moses Mabhida stadium. This was the big attraction of the festival. The only American performing at this show was R&B superstar, Ne-yo. All the other artists were African and home grown.

It rained hard on concert day, and even though it had been raining for a week, no one was prepared for it to rain on that day. Complimentary rain coats were given to us. We were reassured that the show will go on. And hours later, the show began with traditional Zulu performers dancing with all the glee in the world. The jaw-dropping leg drop is their signature move and it was impressive.

The first performer definitely caught my eye. I was not familiar with him or his music prior to the show but he has left a lasting impression on me ever since. His name is Riky Rick. He stormed the stage dressed in all black but his clothes started to disappear through his set. For someone who clearly has a number of bangers under his belt, I wondered why they had him perform so early. He was deserving of a much better time slot. The ladies swooned over him.

The acts that followed Riky Rick varied in terms of genre but they all gave their all on stage. Even the continent’s favorite DJ, Black Coffee, graced us with his musical gifts.

Ne-yo made us all sing along to his long string of hits for an impressive set. His signature ‘‘M.J” inspired dance moves and black fedora made the young girls go wild for several minutes.

Two huge superstars represented Nigeria - Wizkid and Burna Boy. While Wizkid only stayed on stage to perform a few of his hits, Burna Boy left no stone unturned. His energy was unmatched and his passion seeped right through. His entrance was covered by his popular hook ‘‘All Eyez On Me”, a wildly successful collaboration he has with AKA.

By the time AKA sauntered up the stage to meet the South African flag that was hugging his microphone, my feet were numb. But it did not matter. The star of the show had arrived. And this star didn’t mind sharing the spotlight as he invited a now fully clothed Burna Boy back to the stage - twice!

The closer of the night was AKA’s former rap rival, Cassper Nyovest. Admittedly, I had never heard of him before this event. However, I was quickly informed that Cassper was the new IT guy in town and his Family Tree label was cultivating stars. One of those stars is Nadia Nakai, a female MC with Nicki Minaj’s sex appeal. She also happens to be someone I went to high school with in Kenya. Talk about a plot twist! The

Family Tree performed ‘’Ragga Ragga’’ for the hype crowd before Cassper urged his fans to create a dance circle so he could jump in. And just like that, the night was over. The lights went down. The speakers were off. The cleaners were on stage and the photographers were packing up their equipment. I was worn out for the next two days. But it was all worth the struggle.

There was definite room for improvement as far as planning was concerned. But make no mistake, Essence did something wonderful for the neglected city of Durban.