Best weekend in Swaziland. I was afraid that might sound like a bit of an exageration, but I decided to go for it. It has taken me the entire week to recover from the weekend. I have also now decided that I cannot leave before Bush Fire 2010. Bush Fire is a three day international arts festival that is put on by our favorite local venue, House on Fire. It is in support of a group called Young Hereos that help support double orphans in Swaziland. It draws musicians from all over Africa. People flock in from South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique and I am sure a few other countries. Every extra bed in an ex-pats house was full this last weekend. Rain tried to dampen the celebration on Sunday, but it cleared and the event was able to go on. This post is going to be mainly pictures with a few short stories and a couple videos. Since I realized I could get videos on here, I have been trying to take some. I have obviously not mastered the filmtaking yet. For one you will see, that I turned the camera thinking that it would record what I was seeing, but it did not. I liked the video too much not to add it though so for that part just turn your computer on it's side. Here goes.
Friday night was held in side and started the festival off with a few local performances. 
It was also the introduction of our new doctors to House on Fire. 
It was also the introduction of our new doctors to House on Fire. As well as the relaunch of "Sibebe" beer, a local Swazi brew that was supposed to be launced last November. We drank it a good amount of the weekend, but really is not a good beer. It is reminiscent of the "beast". 
Saturday was an all day/all night event held outside. There were food vendors, craft vendors, and a children's play area. I got to introduce Sofia to cotton candy (known here as candy floss). There was lots of dancing.
A couple of my favorite performances that night included: Busi Mhlongo a performer of "modern" zulu music. In this picture she is with her daughter who she had invited up on stage for a duet. Little did we know at the time, but we would encounter her daughter the next morning in a much different situation. More on that later.
The headliner for the concern was Johnny Clegg. He was described as a singer, songwriter, anthropologist, activist, dancer and academic. It sounds like he was fairly outspoken against apartheid. I missed the announcement that we were not supposed to take pictures so I have a couple. If you notice, when he started there was a fire-twirler on the roof of the stage.
It started to rain that night so we missed part of "Hip Hop Pantsula" when we moved inside. I really enjoy his name so had to give him a plug even though I did not see much of his performance.
Saturday was an all day/all night event held outside. There were food vendors, craft vendors, and a children's play area. I got to introduce Sofia to cotton candy (known here as candy floss). There was lots of dancing.A couple of my favorite performances that night included: Busi Mhlongo a performer of "modern" zulu music. In this picture she is with her daughter who she had invited up on stage for a duet. Little did we know at the time, but we would encounter her daughter the next morning in a much different situation. More on that later.The headliner for the concern was Johnny Clegg. He was described as a singer, songwriter, anthropologist, activist, dancer and academic. It sounds like he was fairly outspoken against apartheid. I missed the announcement that we were not supposed to take pictures so I have a couple. If you notice, when he started there was a fire-twirler on the roof of the stage. It started to rain that night so we missed part of "Hip Hop Pantsula" when we moved inside. I really enjoy his name so had to give him a plug even though I did not see much of his performance. The next day started with an unexpected adventure in Pine Valley before heading down to the concert. We got a call from Nick, while having brunch with some of our visitors, that the road to his house had "washed" out in the rain so they were not able to get out. They have been fixing the tar road so they had constructed a dirt detour over this small creek. Here is what we found when we arrived.
The only other way out of this area is also a dirt road that one of their neighbors had attempted in a four X four and had trouble. You can see all the cars parked along the side of the road. People were literally have to park and shuttle things across. There was one brave/stupid soul who did not feel he could wait for the road to be repaired. Tao convinced him if he was going to try to drive across to at least let his kids out to walk across. This is when Simphiwe, the daughter of Busi Mhlongo, gets out of the car. Below is the video I took. If you watch the road at the end you can see a good amount break off into the hole. Neal had a video from the other side that showed this better, but unfortunately in his excitement showing everybody he deleted.
The only other way out of this area is also a dirt road that one of their neighbors had attempted in a four X four and had trouble. You can see all the cars parked along the side of the road. People were literally have to park and shuttle things across. There was one brave/stupid soul who did not feel he could wait for the road to be repaired. Tao convinced him if he was going to try to drive across to at least let his kids out to walk across. This is when Simphiwe, the daughter of Busi Mhlongo, gets out of the car. Below is the video I took. If you watch the road at the end you can see a good amount break off into the hole. Neal had a video from the other side that showed this better, but unfortunately in his excitement showing everybody he deleted.After that excitement, we headed down for the last day of bushfire. Luckily for us it was a bit delayed. Because of the rain everything was moved inside then when it cleared back out again. Given the circumstances, everything went very smoothly. It was still a little chilly though so mulled wine was the drink of the day. Whoever had that bright idea made a killing that day!
Unfortunately, the delay meant that friends we were hosting from south africa and mozambique were not able to see some of the best performances. (I insisted on taking these self pictures all weekend. God knows why because they are never flattering of me) 
The hands down best performance of the weekend came sunday evening from "Acoustic Africa". This was a band consisting of three big stars in their own right: Habib Koite from Mali, Vusi Muhlasela from South Africa and Dobet Gnahore from the Ivory Coast. They had so much talent and energy they drew the whole audience in. I am going to add a couple videos to give you a taste, but the sound and picture quality on the uploaded videos is not good. This is also where my amateur video talents become obvious. The song they are singing is called, "Say Africa". The chorus is "I may be walking in the streets of a city called Amsterdam, but the dust on my boots and the rhythm in my feet and my heartbeat say Africa." The dancing video is where you will have to turn your head sideways halfway through. Sorry can't figure out how to fix that. 
The night and the weekend ended appropriately with our all-time favorite local Swazi, Bholoja.
Unfortunately, the delay meant that friends we were hosting from south africa and mozambique were not able to see some of the best performances. (I insisted on taking these self pictures all weekend. God knows why because they are never flattering of me) The hands down best performance of the weekend came sunday evening from "Acoustic Africa". This was a band consisting of three big stars in their own right: Habib Koite from Mali, Vusi Muhlasela from South Africa and Dobet Gnahore from the Ivory Coast. They had so much talent and energy they drew the whole audience in. I am going to add a couple videos to give you a taste, but the sound and picture quality on the uploaded videos is not good. This is also where my amateur video talents become obvious. The song they are singing is called, "Say Africa". The chorus is "I may be walking in the streets of a city called Amsterdam, but the dust on my boots and the rhythm in my feet and my heartbeat say Africa." The dancing video is where you will have to turn your head sideways halfway through. Sorry can't figure out how to fix that. The night and the weekend ended appropriately with our all-time favorite local Swazi, Bholoja.
Three days of great music, good friends, yummy food and cotton floss. What more could a girl ask for?
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