What Burger King and the Internet a have in common

“There is a lot of talk about what Johannesburg is, what it was and what it is becoming. It is a city in, perhaps eternal, transition. This is a privilege for us, the people who call it ours. We can make Johannesburg whatever we want it to be. The city is here, asking us to shape it. While some look to European cities and envy their long established routines, venues and structures in the arts, there are those of us who see the blank canvas and embrace it. We see what we want our city to be, we see its place in the world, and we see the importance of our contributions. We have a dream and we want to make it reality.”

Look how pretty my home is!

On my recent trip to Thailand I decided to stick to traditional Thai food, starting off with a little restaurant in central Bangkok called Burger King, well known for their perseverance in upholding Thai culture…I ordered a Whopper…when it came I thought they had made a mistake as the meal on the tray could have fed an average sized family at home. The burger was the size of my face and the coke was taller than the elderly Thai woman begging for change outside the door.

After I had lugged the huge weight of the tray over to a table which buckled under the sheer weight of the burger I settled down to eat, halfway through my meal I was full but dissatisfied, filled with a meal that really didn’t have any substance to it. The Internet is much like Burger King, you can get anything you want, but you hardly ever leave feeling satisfied, and yet you keep going back over and over again only to be filled to bursting with useless information, sometimes the internet should just be ‘switched off’ as a friend of mine said the other day.

Having said that sometimes you find some real gems…for instance my fantastic blog! But seriously I stumbled across the most fantastic mixtape called the Sound of Johannesburg on http://www.domusweb.it/en/mixtapes/

The mixtape was compiled by the BLK JKS and Athi-Patra Ruga. The mixtape includes a really cool narrative that weaves a powerful and challenging narrative that jumpstarts from the streets and shines light on the unlit corners from houses to basements, warehouses to skyscraper.

Here is a snippet of part of the narrative: “…it’s not that they needed my purse” said the Shangaan queen as she scraped herself of the pavement. In this neckothawoods woods…Pritchard Street, this is a common sound at this time…Pikitup…the chariot that makes sure our streets are clean…for just a few secs… makes sure that …clean from whom…what?”     ̶ thought evoking to say the least!

So it seems it all depends on how long you are willing to stand at the counter carefully picking out what you wish to ‘eat’ that makes your experience worthwhile.

The Sound of Johannesburg -Listen NOW!

Tracklist
1. LETTA MBULU — NOMALIZO / Athi-Patra Ruga #1
2. SPIKIRI — MONEY TALKS
3. Athi-Patra Ruga #2
4. DIRTY PARAFFIN — EXHIBIT A
5. SKELETON CREW — INVISIBLE CITIES (the burning piano David KRUT eBOOK podcast interview)
6. GIVAN LOTZ — EASY NOW
7. FELIX LaBAND — JESUS AT THE TABLE
8. CHLLNGR ft BLK JKS, MO LAUDI of the very best and SPOEK MATHAMBO — ASK FOR (remix)
9. US KIDS KNOW — PROBLEMS
10. HUGH MASEKELA — NIGHTS IN TUNISIA /Athi-Patra Ruga #3
11. PROFESSOR — IJIMAPI LEWEIGHT
12. Athi-Patra Ruga #4
13. TSHE TSHA BOYS — UYAKWINI NA ROSE (where are you going?)
14. POLYPHONIC&SERENGETI — LATELY (remixed by JOAO ORECCHIA)
15. Athi-Patra Ruga #5
16. BLK JKS and THANDISWA MAZWAI for the ZAR ORKESTRE — UKUTHULA (cover)

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