Love / Magic

-Lourens Loki Corleone

It’s been too long, faithful readers! Winter has come and- well, it’s still here, so I’m not quite sure where I was going with that. Oh yes! Time.

I’m sure many of you are still grieving over the Eiffel Tower, but make no mistake, the kinship and spirit of adventure that we all held dear is still very much alive. The Summer Season is heading towards us at a rapid pace. You ain’t seen nothing yet!

So, yes… There are many activities (so many activities) planned but while we’ve all been in a hibernation things have started to thaw, and what better way to shake of the chill than a fantastic night at Madame Zingara’s! This year it was time for the Love Magic Tour. I booked two tickets about a month ago for myself and Adele Babyzef Corleone as it was a big date for us. When the day finally came we couldn’t have been more excited.

Our friend and pseudo-sibling Roxy had confessed to us how thoroughly she had enjoyed it and so, naturally, we took her word for it. (I hope she doesn’t mind me stealing a few of her photos, to mix in with a few of ours!)

We arrived at Victoria around 6PM on the night of the show – Victoria being one of the last remaining mirror tents in the world, of course… and what a sight to behold! Built around Victoria was a makeshift shanty-town, complete with a shebeen where we promptly grabbed a drink. It was cold, but the shelter and heating was plentiful. Colourful characters were crawling out of the woodwork, but we didn’t know quite what we were in for until the doors of the tent were parted at 7PM.

Within lay an entirely different world…

Upon walking inside we were greeted by Dame Devina Brown, a woman with a slight testosterone problem and an Adam’s Apple. We were lucky enough to be seated at number 69 (giggidy) right next to the stage. Our table number was announced loudly and with much enthusiasm.

I’m not too sure how to describe the next few hours; what I can say is that I had an incredible night, not just because of the amazing show or the amazing food, but because of the beautiful company I was keeping! I was looking swanky if I do say so myself, so all was good in the world.

Food-wise, everything was fantastic. All five courses (I know right?) were meticulously planned and thought out; most of them I can’t even pronounce. That aside, let’s get to the actual performance aspects of the night.

Half the talent were Proudly South African, while some of the more extravagant performances were a couple of roller-skaters from Moscow (most likely the most amazing performance of the night), muscle-bound acrobats from the Ukraine, three asian contortionists and a hoola-hoop girl with pink hair from Las Vegas. The local acts included a magician and his “drunken” little-person sidekick (who was hilarious), two Cape Town-based acrobats (my favourite performance), and three big African Mamas with gigantic voices, and gigantic personalities.

Madam Zingara’s is a something best experienced first-hand, but hopefully some of the pictures’ll give you a bit of an idea… the word indescribable comes swiftly to mind. The show had ended, but the fun wasn’t nearly over. The stage was opened and people took this as an invite to begin dancing the night away.

Did we dance? Hell yeah, we did.

Unfortunately I’ve come to the end of my brief summary of our Madame Zingara experience and I can’t wait for the next one. If you get the opportunity to go you’d be a fool to turn it down.
Also a big thank you to Ikamva Labantu, a Cape Town-based NPO, as a percentage of the proceeds go to them to build a centre for the under-privileged.

Oh, one more thing, completely unrelated: Our good friend Tecla Ciolfi’s blog “Texx & The City” has been nominated for the “Best South African Music Blog” award, so pop by OVER HERE and add your vote.

Until next time… stay classy, Cape Town.