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The show must go on

Kelly Khumalo entertaining festival goers at African Attire On Fleek festival at Royal Aria PIC: THALEFANG CHARLES
Kelly Khumalo entertaining festival goers at African Attire On Fleek festival at Royal Aria PIC: THALEFANG CHARLES

After two years of the pandemic, arts fanatic THALEFANG CHARLES returns to his first music festival since March 2020, and reports on how good old days are back

“The show must go on” is the mantra of show business. But 2020 was a showstopper, literally. And so, when the show business finally returned, some of us were slow to pick up where we left off. It was March 2020 at Bojanala Waterfront in Gaborone, where I attended my last festival before the pandemic engulfed the world and brought it to a crashing stop. The 2020 African Attire On Fleek festival became my last pre-COVID-19 music festival. It was headlined by South African songstress, Amanda Black and as usual the memories from that festival come from the patrons.

Festivals have long evolved from the debauchery of dirty combat clothing like those old hippie years of Glastonbury or Monate Sukuri Jam Festival. Nowadays, festivals are a fashion parade, where the festival-goers dress to impress and show-off in their Instagram accounts. Festivals now include some mean fashion police that could send one into a depression with their crude cyber bullying if they do not understand someone’s unique fashion sense.

Editor's Comment
Depression is real; let's take care of our mental health

It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...

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