Reviving Melville’s community
Inspired by Afrikaburn’s ethos of giving, the gathering in the ailing Joburg suburb brought together artists and
Poetry, music, visual art and a carefree carnival of people came together for Melville’s The Happening festival. Did I mention mutant cars? Mzansi is a hectic space, all bustle and velocity. A spiritual remnant, perhaps, of the gold rush. Gesture at a taxi cutting you off and you might be in trouble – ditto with an octogenarian in a rusty Nissan. Everything in Joburg is hustle.
Enter Melville, a space of relative chill. It is home to several musos and artists of various persuasions, many of whom have made the small Joburg suburb their home for decades. It has always been synonymous with creative buzz and lit bohemia.
Until Covid, Melville had always shone: there was Hell’s Kitchen and La Santa Muerte, both of which served great food and some Friday night havoc. Both, sadly, are shuttered. Xai Xai is an institution, and still has the best pizza around.
Book Dealers, a carefully curated store where you can get cheaper new releases and find obscure volumes, is still there.
I love spontaneous art and music ... This is exactly what we want people to do at our events. It is raw, unexpected and such a beautiful part of
humanity
Walking the streets
Most commercial areas took a hit from the global pandemic. Many, like Melville, are still reeling. Some are gone now. Enter The Happening. Loosely based on Afrikaburn’s ethos of noncommercialism, The Happening laid merry claim to 7th street, barring cars from entry, allowing for families to wander the streets carefree, and for a smorgasbord of arts to happen.
Main organiser Walter Böhmer had this to say: “We like the bohemian vibe that Melville has always had – it fits in with our noncommercial ethos as well as our focus on creativity and art. The street also lends itself to the idea of a street event with businesses already directly on the street.
“I myself have lived in and around Melville for more than 20 years and it has a special place in my ... heart.
“It has been really sad to see it decline so badly after Covid. Residents’ associations were already doing work towards bettering the suburb. So they approached us in September last year to do a festival, given our past success with Streetopia in 2019. The time was right to have the street festival and to galvanise the community to take ownership and make Melville beautiful again.”
Poet and playwright Marie Beytell has intimate ties with the funky hood, having lived there during her student days: “Melville’s 7th Street remains, after all these years, my home sweet home and I’m so happy about its revival through initiatives like The Happening by the fabulous troop of Afrikaburn veterans like Bev Krost, Walter Böhmer, Vasti and their extremely hardworking, dedicated crew.”
The festival included a plethora of arts – and artsy bystanders. There were spoken word sessions at Spilt Milk, which were accompanied by jazz musicians, decidedly wonky cars, visual art, outlandish costumes, bands of various genres at several venues and free-form jazz on the streets.
We asked Böhmer about his favourite moments: “In the afternoon there was a guy playing saxophone on the street. He played