Patience Bambalele

Patience Bambalele

The annual Mangaung African Cultural Festival, which ended yesterday in Bloemfontein, rocked.

Unlike last year, when the event was a flop, the organisers made sure that this year was a success. Featuring arts, music, dance, theatre and sport, the festival started on October 3.

But the main attraction was at the Loch Logan Rose Garden, Bloemfontein, on Saturday.

Music lovers descended on the beautiful city for an exciting line-up that featured local and international artists, among them Jonathan Butler, Kirk Whalum, Oleta Adams, Kunle, Tshepo Tshola, Peter Nthwane, Thandiswa, Malaika and Jonas Gwangwa.

Revellers danced to the beautiful sounds of Afro-pop and jazz music. Bikers kicked it off with a parade of their beautiful machines, which brought the town to a standstill.

Mzwakhe Mbuli, Kunle, Mara and Maru were among the artists who started off the day.

When singer Lira took to the stage the crowd went wild. After her performance the Jaziel Brothers were next, but the group slowed things down until Jonas Gwangwa rescued the crowd.

As usual the trombonist gave a good performance, preparing the crowd for the Adams, Butler and Whalum's performance that followed.

Alternating on the stage the trio gave a splendid performance. Butler showed his mastery with a sizzling performance.

l The festival closed on a high note yesterday with three soccer matches.

Sundowns lost 3-1 on penalties to Free State Stars in the Macufe Cup, while Bloemfontein Celtic beat Matlana United of Lesotho 3-0 in the other match.

Celtic were scheduled to play Stars in the final later yesterday afternoon.