SIYABONGA SITHOLE
Fresh off her performance in Birmingham, UK, last week, celebrated South African singer Msaki says she is looking forward to her performance at Wits University’s Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg tomorrow (Friday, August 12).
Msaki is one of the leading voices – along with Thandi Ntuli, Sipho Hotstix Mabuse, Pops Mohamed and Neill Solomons – to have been earmarked to perform at the Concert for Refugees organised by the Turquoise Harmonic Institute.
The aim of this star-studded show is to highlight the plight of asylum-seekers and refugees.
Other performances expected to add to the voice of some of the world’s most disenfranchised people in the world, who are forced to flee their homes, are poet Lebo Mashile and iconic singer PJ Powers.
Celebrated for her soothing and healing voice on songs such as “Mtakababa” and “Nangomso”, Msaki is delighted to share the stage with musicians who will be lending their voices to the fight for change in the lives of millions of refugees from around the world.
“I look forward to performing at Linder Auditorium this week for a concert that seeks to highlight the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers,” she said.
Event organiser, Ayhan Cetin says that this concert seeks to re-frame the refugee experience
“Our aim is to shift the debate away from statistics and refocus on the attitudes of those who may not be sure who refugees even are, creating connections through common experiences and increased understanding," Cetin says.
Cetin says the 2022 concert, which comes after the success of the 2019 edition of the same theme, seeks to connect South Africa to a new era of humanity with the current Russia/Ukraine War being a prime example of the devastation of life that affects refugees across the globe and on the continent.
“The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has given the world a glimpse of devastation that can be brought to families and their homes by powers beyond their control.
“Ukraine is not alone in a refugee crisis as many have experienced the horrors of conflict even here in Africa, which has been the face of conflicts in countries such as Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, Zambia and even South Africa," Cetin says.