The Cape Town Street Parade (CTSP) on Tweede Nuwe Jaar lived up to the hype.
I arrived in town just after 12pm and by that time the clouds had cleared and the atmosphere and energy in the CBD was nothing less than gevaarlik.
One could feel the excitement of the people who were all sitting and standing ready to cheer for their favourite minstrel troupes.
Now besides going there to cover the event, I also went to perform for the people. This was new to me as it was the first time that I had the opportunity to perform for the klopse audience oppie Parade, all thanks to the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Assosiasie who gave many other local performers an opportunity to showcase their talent on the day.
The first troupe, the original D6 Fabulous Woodstock Starlites made their way down just after Loukmaan Adams sang the theme song of the CTSP, the crowd went bos and the minstrel show was then well on its way with klops after klops making their way down to entertain the massive crowd oppie Parade stretching all the way to Bo-Kaap.
The streets were filled with colour and the minstrels were dressed to kill as 50 percent of the best dressed were also being judged on the day.
People were jolling like crazy and shouting to their children, friends and family who were having themselves a tyd with the klops.
The sounds of Despacito and Havana filled the air, you could sense that these bands had been practising all year for this moment and as they arrived at the City Hall, klopse teams haaled uit their best and at time funniest dances moves and singing goetjies that only Cape Town could come up with, like “Baruch in jou oeg” and “hop as jy die Juvies sien” and more.
When you see the people going mal on the Parade, you can’t help but feel that Cape Town is niks without the Kaapse Klopse.
In the VIP area, the local celebs and media
lekker chirping making all of us feel quite at home.
What I loved about being behind the scenes at this road march was watching the top manne like Muneeb Gambeno and Melvyn Matthews handling some tough situations with complete sophistication.
Not at any moment did they lose their cool and when dealing with people, they did so in a respectable manner, ons almal is tog maar net mens.
There was one moment where I played the role of the MC in order to relieve the host, Mr. Personality, and at that moment a guy collapsed at one of the entrances.
STAAN IN: Waseef Piekaan in action as the MC
The paramedics were summoned on the mic but struggled to make their way past a packed Parade and klopse jolling in the street.
I called for Baruch Entertainers who had just arrived in front of the City Hall to take a step back and allow the paramedics to make their way through.
DISCIPLINE: Baruch Entertainers reacted well to an incident where someone fainted
The klops showed true discipline, pulling themselves and their band out of the way, making space for the paramedics, and I was told by security that the guy was taken care of.
So whoever said minstrels are not disciplined, kom lees vir jouself.
With regards to time, things did not run exactly as planned, but it helped that people were being entertained while waiting, so nobody complained.
I watched the parade and at times certain teams decided to stroll down, taking their time and moving down at a nice pace, so it took a bit long for them to get to the City Hall, and who knows by when they got to Bo-Kaap.
This is not the organisers’ fault, though; this is something the troupes have to sort out themselves because they are hurting the production of the street parade.
Klopse base should bear in mind that the people are there to see all the klopse and not only one specific troupe; so be fair, move along swiftly, it’s a street parade not a traffic jam.
However, due to this slow movement, I could see that the vision of the KKKA to implement the floats will work perfectly in the near future.
If the klopse decide to take their time, the floats and other acts can make their way down, in this way there will be no delays and this should impact the public positively.
The dead spaces created between klopse can be filled by something amazing as the nature of klopse seems to be they don’t want to walk too close behind each other, so that their team and supporters can listen and jol to their song only.
A float separating them will be the perfect thing and, in my opinion, that will catapult us to the level of the Rio Carnival.
So, well done to the KKKA on an awesome, well-run event.
It was also a lot of pressure with some teams only deciding to confirm their participation in the road march at the last moment.
This was the transition year. Did I expect everything to be perfect? No, I expected it to be exactly what it was: the spectacle that gives us all plak to take on the new year.
Dankie to our much-loved minstrels. Nou wiet ons dit is ’n nuwe jaar.