Fabric. The foundation of everything we wear and something that has often been seen as holding our identity. This makes sense after all because what you wear says a lot about you. And if that's true then the 8th edition of the SS Fabrik Party was a moving display of storytellers. Not simply an event for fashion but the fabric of Zimbabwean arts as a whole.
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| "The Batman" at the SS Fabrik Party Image: Vigorous Aesthetics |
The Skeyi & Strobo Fabrik Party was a convention of creatives. A wellspring for souls who desire expression and those who would dare to witness it. And I was a lucky witness. Only catching onto the phenomenon of this event a little late, the 8th edition saw me pop my Fabrik Party cherry, and well... I wasn't disappointed.
Titled the "Fabrikans Convention", the 8th edition of the SS Fabrik Party was for the first time a 3-day event. Extended from the usual one-day show to give the different art forms their due spotlight. Friday was a day for workshops, with only the lone set from DJ Rori to just wet the whistle. A set that those in attendance said didn't disappoint.
Saturday I was greeted by the Castrol Ignite & Flow Set, starring a gifted quartet of poets. The Ammartian, Banshee, Yadis and Millz Million put on a captivating act of lexical mastery. It was a dance of language, filled with pirouettes and cavorts that left everyone slightly in awe. With probably a different meaning to the words left in each soul.
Pia & King Billius on stage at the SS Fabrik Party
King Billius "The Majestic" was the MC for the weekend and his craft was a testament to his self-given title. He ebbed and flowed with the mood of the crowd, and adapted to every moment. All the while being a walking statement of fashion. A born live performer, who sustained the Fabrik through the sheer will of his stage presence.
Some of the attendants at the SS Fabrik Party
Initially set to be a rap battle, the segment was replaced by a rap cypher from the Uchiha Clan. A group unknown to me at the time but their anonymity is far from being the slightest representation of the quality of their art. The widely known Uchiha Clan is one of the strongest clans in the entire Naruto Series (anime series) and on the same wavelength the group of rappers might have the strongest 16s around.
The cypher was crisp, dexterous and inventive. They even had VI The Law's (soon to be Best Album nominee at the Zimhiphop Awards) jaw on the floor.
Throughout the day the SS Fabrik Party hosted intermittent open stages, that were graced by some amazing talent. Josh "JTG" Palmer was memorable, equally was Mutsa who serenaded us with unreleased music, and Griffin Makwiramiti left more than a mark with his unique marketing and wordplay. It felt like witnessing all those great talents, who would've otherwise fallen through the cracks if it wasn't for such platforms.
When it comes to the Open Stage, however, Israel and Absoll stole the show. Israel offered up the best of Bulawayo rap, while Absol delivered an inspired Amapiano performance.
The evening was a tale of the bands, with Acid Tears giving me my first introduction to Zimbabwean heavy metal rock. I'm generally not a rock music fan but the Heavy Metal renditions of Chiwoniso Maraire's "Iwai Nesu" and Holy Ten's "Delilah", made me a convert.
I was witnessing rockstars in my own backyard, and it wasn't only me but half the crowd was lost in the euphoria of a mosh pit. Acid Tears sang "Numb" almost well enough to make Linkin Park proud, and I could only wonder how I had never heard of them.
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| Some of the attendants at the Fabrik Party Image: Lennox The Photographer |
Chikwata263 took to the stage next, with their own unique fusion of sound. Mbira Punk Rock! It didn't sound experimental, neither didn't sound like a fusion but rather it felt like a genre that just belonged. Unexpected, yet it had me completely engaged and entertained.
That's how we left Saturday night. However, a lot of mention was made of how Bam Bam Madame with a helping hand from Black or White rocked everyone who stayed behind.
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| Gemma Griffiths at the SS Fabrik Party Image: Lennox The Photographer |
Behind every great event, I believe, is at least one of these moments:
1. The “How Is This Zimbabwe?” moment. Aka the HITZ. Usually literally asked out loud by a first timer, when said event exceeds expectations.
2. The Blues moment: That is, “I had no idea Bulawayo housed so much creative talent”. May initiate an intense desire to learn Ndebele ASAP
3. The Dissolution Point: The point when you stop being self-conscious and lose yourself to the art
On Sunday 28 October, the 2023 SS Fabrik Party's 8th Edition was delivered on all 3.
The HITZ - I: Ender's Game
Ray Ender's solo runway was a conceptual showcase of conceptual fashion, presented as a succession of rooms within the designer's mind. See for example the "Witches of Intuition" room, with 3 models swaying together, arms interlocked, faces peaceful. Enders' work has an unmistakable intention to it, with a flair for big-stage performance.
His entry for the Pacific Designer Marathon saw him sprinkling petals, flower girl style, onto a model splayed on the ground, while FKA Twigs Mary Magdalene played. The result was striking, a feature that seems to be part of all his work.
Some of the attendants at the SS Fabrik Party
Image: Lennox The Photographer
The pairing of cigarettes and the Fabrik Party is an interesting one and by interesting I mean it makes perfect sense while also making no sense. Yes, smoking was a cool kid thing but wasn't that way before the average birth year of attendees? Who still smokes? And looks cool enough doing it to warrant the pairing?
Whatever the reason though the designers pulled off incredible designs, in Rori's case (second place) coming up with iconic monochrome silhouettes and in Nobunanga's case (first place) "modular fashion" that had a model transforming a jacket into a handbag and a pair of trousers into a pair of shorts. The model's name? Blue Smoke.
Some of the attendants at the SS Fabrik Party
The Blues - I: Cow-bells and Voshos
While waiting for DJ TAPIWA's set to start I decided to thrift, and almost immediately realized the massive judgement error. Asante Mo was playing and even mid my amateur haggling I could feel their energy. Asante Mo seems to be made up of three dancers, with one dancing and DJ- ing while the other two dance and play "instruments".
Instruments here mean objects struck to produce music because while they did have a cymbal they also had what definitely looked like a cowbell that they struck with a…metal stick? The music set alone was dance-possessed but it tangoed with the two dancers to deliver a performance best described as energy.
The Asante Mo performance could be a synecdoche for the whole show because it's three guys doing what they love as best as they can with the creative reuse of tools and spaces.
Some of the attendants at the SS Fabrik Party
The Blues - II: A Gathering of Talent.
Muzi, a visibly young kid (from Blues) is part of the duo behind the brand Aliens Do Exist. The youngster was wearing a Dickies dungaree that he received from the company after sending them the design. His story was emblematic of the atmosphere around the space; right before that, I had bumped into Beth from Tote: M, Usher from Samora Central and Rutendo, a phenomenal cosplayer.
The concentration of talent per square metre at the Fabrik is honestly second to none and the margin is kind of not even close.
Not only that but the diversity of talent; where other events might shine in one field such as artists the Fabrik will have a glorious mixture. And herein lies Fabrik's magic: the ongoing dialogue between different genres, and media; see for example Mutsa the page poet and rapper modelling in a boxer-type-kimono for Blind Tiger, or Bone Java, skater and dancer, modelling for Ray Ender's. The result, the intersection of the Venn Diagrams of all these fields, is the Fabrik Party.
Some of the attendants at the Fabrik Party
The HITZ - II: That blue-lit DJ set that you've surely seen a clip of by now if you're on Twitter
Rumour has it DJ TAPIWA's first words were “Oontz oontz”. This is probably true considering the young deck master’s unwavering belief in the saving grace of dance music, in a climate filled with DJs who either play the same amapiano songs or win win win no matter what.
Somewhen after his Ellie Goulding rework that elicited outright screams from those who knew the original, he played a frenetic-paced track featuring Mutsa (poet/rapper/model for boxer-type kimonos) that elicited an outright scream from yours truly. As Tapiwa summons him onstage and both magicians are framed by a fertility goddess figurine and kaleidoscope-type lighting, I dissolve into the Crowd Geist.
Some of the attendants at the SS Fabrik Party
Dissolution Point
The dissolution point, the silencing of The Inner Voice as you take in art, comes as quickly as it goes. And so while I briefly levitated to TAPIWA spewing magic into the night air I quickly returned, realizing it was time to leave for home, like the mature adult I am. Mid goodbyes DJ Rori gets on deck, the beat drops and if you've been in the presence of a Rori set you'll find the following sequence familiar. You find yourself mid-air, jumping with the suspiciously-still-energetic-at-this-time kids, shouting, Raving. Euphoric.
It lasts about two minutes because you also discover you've lost your key-holder-less key and so have to spend the next 15 minutes torching feet and fondling grass and unfortunately The Inner Voice returns. But for that brief blissful reprieve, you weren't on the grass, you weren't even at Alliance Francaise, 328 Herbert Chitepo, Harare. You were in a liminal space of art and freedom that comes once, maybe twice a year. You were at the Fabrik Party.
Greedysouth rating: 7.5/10
For more visuals from the SS Fabrik Party 8th edition you can them in the Google Drives below:
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