Mohalenyane Phakela
With its ongoing mission to promote French language and culture in Lesotho, Alliance Française is set to host a Jazz and Beat-Boxing show on May 27 at Ouh la la Café as well as a Four Hands dinner event the following day at Lesotho Sun hotel in Maseru.
According to Alliance Française, the events lined-up in May are more unique and different from those held in years past.
“We have everything for everybody and this includes, for the first time, beat box (the art of vocal percussion) for the young people and the more open to different forms of art audiences,” Alliance Française stated in a press release.
“The beat box will be combined with the Ethiopian Jazz band Akalé Wubé and Ethiopian cuisine.
“For the first time we also have the Four Hands dinner with a French chef as part of the French week of taste (La Semaine du Goût), featuring RFI music award winner Smarty.”
The Tuesday event will feature French beat-boxers, Underkontrol, consisting of MicFlow, Mr Lips, Tiko and Fayabraz; the Beatbox Team World Champions of 2009.
Underkontrol’s performance does not feature any machines and does not have special effects. With the voice and the microphone as the only instruments, the band creates an ethereal hip-hop with tenacious rhythms.
Alliance Française rates the group highly, stating that the four artistes “overlap samples, make them collide, and add their vocal scratches to achieve a precise and powerful mix, tuned to perfection”.
Akalé Wubé, which will also perform on May 27, is a Parisian band devoted to Ethiopian grooves of the 1960s and 70s since its inception in 2009.
“They offer their personal and powerful version of a fantastic Ethiopia, working on the sound of their own, thus, creating their unique genre,” according to Alliance Française.
The Week of Taste, which will be celebrated by a Four Hands dinner, takes place in eight South African cities as well as in Lesotho. French chef, Thibaud Renard, will work alongside local international award-winning chef, Ska Moteane on the Four Hands dinner. The Week of Taste, which normally runs from May 19 to 31, will only be held from May 25 to 31 in Lesotho.
The Week of Taste is about sharing food, knowledge and experience including competitions, tips as well as personal recipes from top chefs.
The event will also have The Taste Lessons organised at Alliance Française and Thetsane High School created for students to rediscover tastes and learn making easy balanced dishes in collaboration with French and local chefs.
Radio France International (RFI) award-winning six men band, Smarty, is also expected to perform at the Four Hands dinner event. The band, with five members from Burkina Faso and one from France, mixes the modern rhythms with traditional instruments.
