Review: Mi Casa at the vNAF -the virtual edition of The National Arts Festival, South Africa- until July 31, 2020.

Mi Casa’s show is on at the Standard Bank Jazz Festival 2020, at the vNAF. As with all the shows that I have watched on this platform, the filming is superb – lighting, sound and design.  The last time that I saw the band – live – was at Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts. I think it must have been in 2018 as I did not make it to Kirstenbosch for the band’s 2020 concert which was on January 12. I remember that it was an event packed weekend and we gave the Kirstenbosch gig a miss. If I knew what was about to come, I would have got there to see this wonderful group in action – live. For now, we have the digital arts festival of the NAF. It is Mi Casa’s 10th anniversary and they talk about that in the NAF concert. They talk about the fact that they are in the studio and we are out there – tuning in. Their new song – Mamela is beautiful. It is “about a couple that going through a ridiculously hard time and they go away to escape.” We know the feeling.  Escape through the music.

They say that they know a lot of people are struggling – restaurants and musicians. They are not giving up and they thank us for “being there”- watching, listening. 

Mi Casa’s adaption of the standard, Summertime, is magic. Absolute magic. I was almost in tears, listening to this rendition of the Gershwin song composed in 1934 for the opera Porgy and Bess (1935). The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward. Whenever I hear this song, I am going to think of Mi Casa performing its lockdown version at the vNAF.

I hope that we will be able to be present at Kirstenbosch, during the Cape Town summer 2020/21 to experience Mi Casa live. That is too soon to call but for now stream this concert –available until July 31.

✅ Performers:  J’Something (vocal), Mo-T (trumpet), Dr Duda (producer & keyboard)

✅ Direct booking link: https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/show/mi-casa/

✅ Duration: 1 hour 10 minutes

✅ Tickets: R45

Image credit: Supplied.