Kwesta video is best travel guide to South Africa

13 Jan 2018 - 14:40

If you are planning a trip to Africa for the first time there are a few things you need to know. First, Africa is not a country so be specific about where you’re going. Second, there are no lions and tigers at the airport. The closest you‘ll come to wild animals, if you’re not going to a game park, are the symbols on the bank notes.

Kwesta's latest video is a cinematographic masterpiece.

To understand what South Africa is about, you should use Kwesta’s ‘Spirit’ music video as a frame of reference.

When Kwesta released ‘Spirit’ featuring American artist Wale, after releasing ‘Ngud’, it became easy to deduce that he has an obsession with alcohol. While ‘Ngud’ had people bathing in alcohol, ‘Spirit’ uses tropes that represent the essence of South African society and history.

When Kwesta first appears on screen, he wears a No 11 T-shirt with the name Ngobese on it –a reference to South African football hero Scara Ngobese who died in 2010.

The symbols shown in the music video are familiar to most South Africans: a river baptism, Zion Christian Church (ZCC) members jumping so high they seem to defy gravity and children throwing buckets of water at each other to celebrate the first day of spring – ironically called ‘summer time’.

The highly acclaimed BMW 325i and its central function, spinning, is another element of South African identity depicted in the video.

The music video is celebratory in its presentation of the characteristics that make South Africa, with a particular emphasis on the township. The video perfectly juxtaposes the various social gatherings with masterful cinematography.

One scene shows ZCC members flying, which then cuts to children bouncing on a couch. The technique of contrast is executed several times without becoming insipid. In another scene a churchgoer consumes a wafer symbolising the body of Christ and then the video cuts to a nightclub where youngsters are doing shots. Eating the body of Christ is typically followed by drinking the blood of Christ. After all, Christ turned water into wine, so it’s all accurate.

The video also gives the audience a chilling scene of a man draped in the apartheid flag and a tyre around his neck. This is a bit complex as it represents both the unnerving past of racial segregation that was enforced by a white minority government and the xenophobic attacks which saw foreigners being burnt alive by way of necklacing.

‘Spirit’ is a poignant microcosmic representation of South Africa that will not disappoint the viewer. The only thing that isn’t representative of South Africa is the featured artist, Wale.