ISIHLAHLA SOBUNTU MUSICAL THEATRE

TU NOKWE

LIVING LEGEND TU NOKWE LAUNCHES HER MISSION TO HEAL THE COUNTRY THROUGH HER TRAVELLING MUSICAL, “ISIHLAHLA SOBUNTU” 23 MARCH 2017 – Johannesburg, South Africa – Legendary musician, actress, director, and performer Tu Nokwe is back bigger than ever at the helm of her musical Isihlala Sobuntu, “The Tree of Life.” Over ten years in the making, the musical, promoting the importance of traditional values, features two dozen artists performing Nokwe’s original compositions as well as contributions from South African and international artists, accompanied mostly on traditional instruments, will tour the country throughout April. In addition to public performances of the musical, the tour will include outreach programmes to underdeveloped communities. This outreach is designed to bring urban and rural communities together, to mine their parallel skills and wisdom and harvest their talents, to uplift disempowered and unemployed youth by helping them to know, understand, and appreciate their traditional cultural heritage and in doing so stimulate job creation, self-pride, recovery from substance abuse, and triumph over gang violence, along with many other benefits. “Young people in our country have so much potential to make amazing things happen,” Nokwe says. “But so many of them especially in the city, in the townships, feel like they don’t have a culture to draw on. Our musical shows people that their roots are strong and waiting for them to reach out and connect.” The show has been developed for more than a decade. Initial research was supported by American cultural funding. The current project is financed by Lotto funding and has been reshaped with the assistance of South African theatre luminaries such as KZN-based director Jerry Pooe as well as international contributors including American choreographer Nyama McCarthy-Brown and New York based associate director Thuli Dumakudi. Tu Nokwe and her team will launch the show with a media event at the Johannesburg Theatre on Thursday 23 March at 7 for 7:30 PM. The shows and outreach themselves will kick off in Durban at the Wushwini Arts Culture and Heritage Centre at Inanda Dam KwaNgcolosi on the weekend of April 8th, 7pm and 9th followed by consecutive weekends in Cape Town, Limpopo, and Johannesburg. For more information please contact Carol Templeton: 083 269 5444 also please check out the project’s web presence at www.facebook.com/tu.nokwe.  Promotion of a holistic balanced lifestyle