CALENDAR
worth travelling for this month
The top events this month
Hit that perfect beat
Musicians are busy bees in summer, gigging from J-Bay to Struisbaai, Salt Rock to Plett (see our listing online). Mossel Bay is hosting its second ‘Jazz on the Rocks’ festival,
MosJazz, on De Bakke beach, with a line-up of local and international stars – here’s your chance to jive to kwassa-kwassa by Afro-Fiesta (DRC/ Angola) and Trinidadian reggae and soca beats by Choko, among others. Weekend pass R460 or R175 per day. 17–19 January. Find it on Facebook. Over in Port Elizabeth, at the stadium, get a grip on the hottest homegrown music at the
Ebubeleni Festival – on Friday it’s hip-hop vs gqom, Sunday is more mainstream, while Saturday is comedy night (at the Boardwalk Casino). Tickets from R200.
28–30 December. computicket.com
Shooting the breeze
It’s windy, very windy, in the Cape at this time of year – and Langebaan gets more than its fair share (it regularly blows more than
30 knots). Locals harness this force at the annual
KiteWindsurf Cup, which sees kite- and windsurfers from around the world competing together in five days of shortand middle-distance slalomracing courses. The action takes place mostly at Langebaan’s main beach, although there’s a day in Saldanha (across the lagoon). Party central in the evenings is likely to be at Friday Island or Mykonos.
7–13 January. kitewindsurfcup.co.za (Unfortunately, the Downwind Dash across the lagoon to Saldanha Bay will not be happening this year.)
The great outdoors
Open-air theatre comes around but once a year, and now is that time. The Fresha Festival returns to Durban’s North Beach, showcasing short, delightful, surprising shows every half hour – for free. This year includes a mask-and-puppet crew, a Dutch street clown, a Swiss dancer and a conceptual artist who’s sure to make you think. 18–20 January. freshafestival.co.za
The Maynardville Open-Air Festival, at Cape Town’s beloved theatre-in-a-park (64 years and counting), kicks off with Bardinspired light-classical concerts and the 1930s ballet, Swingtime in the Park, on 17–19 and 23–27 January respectively. Next month, Shakespeare’s Richard the Third takes the stage, along with Jesters in the Park comedy. maynardville.co.za
It’s a new year – laugh!
If he’s funny enough for the Pope, he’s funny enough for the rest of us. US stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan performed for a crowd of a million when Pope Francis visited Philadelphia in 2014. He’s also one of a handful of comics to sell out Madison Square Garden. His comedy specials are favourites on Netflix, and his Obsessed special was the mostwatched on Comedy Central in 2014. Now on his ‘Fixer Upper’ world tour, Gaffigan is stopping in SA to (judging by the dates, enjoy a New Year’s safari holiday and) share his dry, deadpan, intelligent wit about his favourite subjects – food, American eating habits, laziness and fatherhood (he should know – he has five kids). He’ll be in Joburg on 28 December and Cape Town on 5 January. Tickets from R325. computicket.co.za