John Edwin Mason: Documentary, Motorsports, Photo History

"One Love, Ghoema Beat: Inside the Cape Town Carnival"

I've created a website for my book, One Love, Ghoema Beat:  Inside the Cape Town Carnival.  It's published, in South Africa, by Random House Struik and, elsewhere, by the University of Virginia Press.  An audio/video preview of the book is the star attraction on the site.  You can read a review in the South African magazine Amandla, here.

Duckrabbit Likes Ghoema!

Well, I've finally arrived.  From now on, it's the big time for me.  The esteemed, venerable, and beloved (and, occasionally, noticed, read, and paid attention to) duckrabbit blog likes my new book, One Love, Ghoema Beat:  Inside the Cape Town Carnival.

You can click directly on the image to see a larger version of this screen shot.  Better yet, click here and go directly to ducky's blog to see what he has to say.

Update, 12 May 2010:  "One Love, Ghoema Beat:  Inside the Cape Town Carnival"is now available from Random House Struik, at any South African bookstore.  The North American edition, published by the University of Virginia Press, is on its way.

Preview: "One Love, Ghoema Beat: Inside the Cape Town Carnival"

Update, 12 May 2010:  "One Love, Ghoema Beat:  Inside the Cape Town Carnival" is now available from any South African bookstore.  The North American edition is on its way.

My new book, One Love, Ghoema Beat:  Inside the Cape Town Carnival, will be in bookstores in South Africa and the United States within just a few days.  It's published, in South Africa, by Random House Struik and, in the US, by the University of Virginia Press.

Here's a preview -- the sights and sounds of the Carnival.  The photos are mine; the music is provided by the band of Cape Town's Pennsylvanians Crooning Minstrels, the Carnival troupe with which I spent the most time.  Under the leadership of Richard Stemmet, the Pennsylvanians have won championship after championship for well over a decade.
 

To see a larger version of this audio slideshow, click on this link -- One Love, Ghoema Beat: Inside the Cape Town Carnival -- or on the Vimeo logo above.  Make sure that you have your speakers turned up to 11!

The slideshow is divided into three parts.  It opens with the Carnival troupes' massive parade through central Cape Town, an event that happens every January 2nd and which marks the official beginning of Carnival.  Over 60 troupes, with roughly 30,000 members over all, take part.  Tens of thousands of spectators line the streets.  I then take you backstage to choir and band rehearsals, tailors' shops, and drum makers' workshops -- rarely seen aspects of Carnival.  The slideshow ends with the fierce inter-troupe competitions that extend into February.  I made the photos -- many more are in the book -- during the four years that I marched with the troupes.

You may be wondering about the word ghoema that appears in the book's title.  It's a drum (you'll see it in the slideshow); it's a rhythm (you'll hear it in the slideshow); and it's a sensibility -- the spirit of Carnival in Cape Town.

* * *

I'll close with a couple of early comments about One Love, Ghoema Beat.  After having worked so hard on this project, they were gratifying to read:

"The photographs are stunning. The prose is lean and suggestive, almost conversational, its economy wonderfully contrasts with the sumptuousness of photographs flooded with flamingo pink, shimmering satin, rainbow-hued glitter, and spangles." 

--Diana Wylie, Boston University, author of Art and Revolution: The Life and Death of Thami Mnyele, South African Artist

"John Edwin Mason treats the work and play of Cape Town's carnival as a prism into the everyday struggles that are the legacy of apartheid.  He was touched by the people he came to know, intrigued by the history of their carnival, surprised by the deep commitments he encountered, and thrilled by ghoema aesthetics. These qualities animate the work.  One Love, Ghoema Beat presents sound history and stimulating explanation with an eye for a very good party.  It is a pleasure to read and view."

--Louise Meintjes, Duke University, author of Sound of Africa:  Making Music Zulu in a South African Studio

"One Love, Ghoema Beat: Inside the Cape Town Carnival": Almost Here

It's starting to feel real.  My new book, that is, One Love, Ghoema Beat:  Inside the Cape Town Carnival.

Random House Struik, my South African publisher, already has copies on hand.  Both my North American publisher, the University of Virginia Press, and I are trying to be patient -- our copies are in the hands of the shippers.  (The official publication date is May.)

Front cover.  (Photograph copyright John Edwin Mason, 2007.)

The book is an exploration -- in words and photos -- of the Cape Town Carnival (variously known as the New Year's Carnival or the Minstrel Carnival).  I was especially interested aspects of the Carnival that are generally hidden from the view of outsiders -- the Carnival troupes' year-round rehearsals and practices, the work of tailors and drum makers, the intense, exhausting inter-troupe competitions that last for weeks after the New Year.

My membership in one of the troupes and my friendship with several others gave me unusual access to the people and places of Carnival.

You can see a selection of the photos that appear in the book in this gallery.  (You can also get to the gallery by clicking on the link at the top of the page.)

My Cape Town Carnival FAQ has much more information about the Carnival, in the past and in the present.

Update, April 5th:  Finally, it's here -- the actual, physical book.  It's the only copy, for the time being, in the United States, and it looks terrific.  The colors pop of the page.  It will be in bookstores and available from Random House Struik (in South Africa) and the University of Virginia Press (in the US) beginning in May.

Cape Town Carnival 2010, Part 4: This Time in Glorious Color

I've shown these photos before.  I'd converted them to black and white, and I don't think it worked very well.  The men and boys in these photos are members of the Pennsylvanians Crooning Minstrels, one of the over sixty troupes that take part in the Cape Town New Year's Carnival.  The colors of their uniforms -- which usually change every year -- are an important part of the show.

All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2010.  Click directly on any of the images to see larger versions.

I made the photos on New Year's Day, just a few weeks ago.  We -- I was a member of the Pennsylvanians for about three years, while I was working on my bookOne Love, Ghoema Beat:  Inside the Cape Town Carnival -- were hanging out in the klopskamer [clubhouse], getting ready for an inter-troupe competition later that day.  We were also having a heck of a good time.

It's too late for any of these photographs to appear in the book, so after posting them on this blog a few weeks ago, I filed them away.  I figured I'd get around to printing them, sooner or later.

Sooner or later turned out to be today.  It's snowing hard in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the city is pretty much shut down.  (The forecasts call for a total of 18 to 24 inches, before the storm subsides.)  The University of Virginia, my employer, called off classes.  I've spent the day alternating between reading graduate students' papers and printing.

As you can see, the Pennsylvanians are very much a part of their community, the working class suburb of Hanover park.  When they're preparing for a parade or competition, the whole neighborhood turns out to watch.

Yep, that reflection is me.

I can't say that printing these photos has kept me warm.  But it hasn't hurt.  January is high summer in South Africa.

You can read more of my thoughts on Carnival, here, and can see a gallery of my Carnival photos from previous years, here.