Nakhane, Okenyo & The Cocoa Butter Club & performing LIVE, plus spoken word line-up curated by Candy Bowers
Friday February 1 – Melbourne Museum | Tickets on sale now
Melbourne Museum’s much-loved late night Nocturnal event returns with aplomb next month! They’ve proudly partnered with Midsumma Festival for a special summer celebration: an exploration of queer and pan-African cultures through music, performance and talks.
Nakhane. Stunning. Challenging. Brave. Soulful. This unmissable South African performer is visiting Australia for the first time, making appearances at Sydney Festival and Mona Foma. Nakhane’s You Will Not Die LP puts his ravishingly beautiful voice on full display, exploring his queerness, past experiences, and renouncement of Christianity with love, joy, and self-acceptance. Nakhane’s sound ranges from effervescent glam, to sumptuous, electronic pop, to anthemic, choral hip-hop. A singular talent set to fill the museum with these glorious sounds.
Candy Bowers. Writer. Actor. Social-activist. Comedian. Producer. Artistic Director. A South African Australian powerhouse, Candy has curated an evening of spoken word poetry and storytelling in response to the Mandela My Life: The Official Exhibition. Seven extraordinary voices from across literature, media, music and theatre reflect, throw-down and flow using Madiba’s life and legacy as inspiration. Set to the selections of Cape Town born DJ, Colette these performances will still your heart and spark your passion for justice.
Okenyo. Evocative. Enigmatic. Empowered. The perfect sonic neo-soul complement to the splendid sounds of Nakhane. This Sydney-based vocalist and Elefant Traks alumni is fearlessly pushing the boundaries of modern pop music, addressing representation, equality and challenging stereotypes while she’s at it. Also an actor and performer, Okenyo is posed to change the world, one tune at a time.
The Cocoa Butter Club. Proud and loud. The cabaret show, centred on and celebrating People of Colour and First Peoples performers, are the creative clap-backputting POC firmly at the front! The Naarm chapter of the London-born group was launched at the Melbourne Spiegeltent in 2017, and has risen to great and fabulous heights ever since with a slew of sold out shows. Catch these incredible QTIPOC performers serve up burlesque, drag, spoken word, live music and genre-defying performance art of the highest order.
Expert museum staff will be delivering illuminating talks and presentations throughout the museum’s iconic spaces. In February, they’ll be themed around activism, identity, and equality, inspired by the Mandela My Life: The Official Exhibition. Hit attending on the Facebook event for scheduling as it drops.
In the lead-up, Candy Bowers will lead Decolonise and Moisturise: a series of workshops at Melbourne Museum. These immersive workshops will focus on decolonising art practises and self care. Bowers will guide groups through a series of tasks involving active listening techniques, reflective writing, visualisation and meditation. Plus plenty of laughter. Tickets on sale now, here.
Nocturnal February. On-sale now. Sweet Midsumma sounds for all.
NOCTURNAL x MIDSUMMA
Friday 1 February | 7pm to 11pm
Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton
Featuring: Nakhane, Okenyo & The Cocoa Butter Club performing live, plus Mandela & Me: a spoken word event specially-curated by Candy Bowers
Presented in partnership with Midsumma Festival 2019
Tickets on sale now
Members $20 / Concession $30 / Early Bird $25 / On the door $35
Discounts for concession and group tickets apply
museumsvictoria.com.au/
