The very first episode of Cape Town’s brand new klopse and Malay choir competition, Culture Shock, has finally aired and was well received by supporters.
The format of the online competition is completely new with two teams competing against each other every week.
They are required to perform a Nederlandlied and Afrikaans moppie in the Malay choir segment, where they are dressed in full competition attire including the iconic rooi koefiyahs.
For the klopse segment, they must do a Juvenile sentimental and English moppie, again dressed to the nines in satin and sequins with painted faces, just to add that minstrel feel.
Culture Shock is rich in power as producer Loukmaan Adams gathered his industry pals and family to act as judges and guest judges.
The regular judging panel consists of Cape Town icons such Loukmaan’s dad, moppie king Omar Adams aka Boeta Maan, Nederlands fundi Amien Vardien and theatre legend Terry Fortune.
For the first episode, Loukmaan also drew in his little brother Emo Adams as a guest judge, while the mense from Sheeca’s Closet judged the best dressed segment.
If this was not enough, viewers were also treated to a powerhouse performance by diva Karen Kortjie.
For me one of the standout features of the show has to be the host, radio personality Irma G, who kept things together and hosted the affair with class and professionalism.
Her interaction with the judges in between performances adds so much value to Culture Shock as an entertainment package.
The first episode was a showdown between the Monaki Tjommies and Sushiary Capexclusive and the teams took out all the stops.
As I watched Capexclusives perform, I was shocked by the fact that the Nederlandslied wasn’t done in the usual way, which is standing in a semicircle behind the lead singer.
The team moved around and performed choreographed moves where they would usually just stand still and sway side to side.
Wafeeq Simons gave a good first time performance and was well accompanied by the singpak.
Their moppie song was performed by Raeez Domingo.
The choreography and placement was so neat and looked well rehearsed, but still maintained that raw authenticity.
I enjoyed seeing this item being performed on a real theatre stage under stunning lighting, it gave me goosebumps, ek het soema lus gekry om self te sing.
Emo praised the performance and said they have set the bar really high.
This put the pressure on the Monaki Tjommies, a group of youngsters from Hanover Park who are mostly newbies to the game.
But although their singpak are all fairly new, they did not lack in talent in their lead singers and soloists.
Commenting on their Nederlandslied, judge Amien Vardien said perhaps the skondeer (when the choir responds to the lead singer) was not perfect all the time, but the lead singer is a definite star.
They also had Talitha Luiters who gave a beautiful rendition of Beyoncé’s hit, Listen.
Monaki Tjommies ended the evening with an English moppie where Gakeem Roman, who is a moppie king in his own right, gave a star-making performance.
On this item the Tjommies singpak also came to the party hard as if they had now finally settled in.
Roman’s portrayal of five different characters definitely ended the show on a high note.
The voting remains open, but remember you can only cast your vote if you purchase a ticket on Quicket.
Culture Shock gives one hope that finally the entire world will see our culture and the talent that is within the Cape minstrel fraternity.
Round two on Sunday will be between the Hats for Africa PSV and Clean Team Star Crooners.
With that said, well done to Loukmaan Adams and his Oddball team on a great production.
It was worth the wait and delivered on the hype and is definitely op ‘n ander level, and something that we can all feel very proud of.