What Makes Us South African?

Wow, I'm posting a lot these days.
I wanted to link to this article by Mark Gevisser, not just because I generally enjoy reading what he has to say, but also because I recently saw a David Goldblatt exhibit at the Jewish Museum here in New York, and while I really enjoyed it, my thoughts were similar to Mark's on the topic of South Africanness and these images. They felt really familiar, and yet also really distant to me. Not really what I would use to represent the South Africa I know to someone who doesn't know it. And similarly the World Cup (which I'm thinking about a whole lot again because I'm speaking about it in Los Angeles in a couple of weeks) made me feel very ambivalent about the way we generally represent our country to ourselves and others.

Karen's Video Blog

Karen just released her first video blog. It's just a plug for the new album, but I hope it means there will be more in future.

Do What You Do

Anne Hirsch of comedy group The Cracks has a blog, and posted on their appearance in Karen Zoid's video "Do What You Do".

Lots happening with Karen Zoid

Litnet have an interview with her about Susanna van Biljon and her new album (Thank you, Sean Jacobs at Africa is a Country for sending this to me). They also have a review of the film.
Radio Sonder Grense also reviewed the film (I'll post a translation if anyone really wants it), and also did an interview with Karen that can be downloaded as an mp3 or podcast here. She and the interviewer agree that the story bares comparison to the Susan Boyle story, and also suggest that the character Karen plays is not unlike Min Shaw, a South African singer who is most well-known for the song "Jy's My Liefling", which was the theme song for a Franz Marx film in 1968. The comparison may seem obvious, but I think it's also pretty spurious. But you'll have to wait for my dissertation to read why! (Some hints in my upcoming Yearbook of Traditional Music article on Karen. forgive the shameless plug.)
Pasella also did a segment on the film, and have a write-up, and some behind the scenes pictures here.
What I'm most excited about, though, is the upcoming release of her new album on the 1st of November. It's called Terms and Conditions, and while I know I'll have to wait for my copy (it's being released in SA only for now) her two new music videos are a little taste of what's to come.
The intro to this first one reminds me so much of the intro to "Homo sapien" from her third album, Media

So far I like "Bly By My" better than "Do What You Do", but it may still grow on me.

Finally, it looks like there is a new website on the way. Karen's old one has been mostly out of date for a while, so it will be interesting to see what the new one is like.