‘Singayisusa nanini na joy experience’ was the call for the closing of Power Talks Cape Town. It was an insistence that there is power in joy. That power resides in the sharing of meals, in the way liquor loosens tongues, in the invitation that a blank canvas holds to transform it in any way you like. Once again the generator served as a noisy soundtrack to the afternoon. In between the noise people sat on the multiple exercise balls found in the studio, curled up on couches, and made makeshift tables.
Tankiso Mambolo, Nomakrestu Xakatugaga, Sky Dladla and the band filled the space with music. Power was in the call and response that particular songs necessitate, in how sound compelled people to stand, to clap, to join others in dance. The last session was an articulation of power that resided in collective agency.
