With less than a week to go before the annual Tweede Nuwe Jaar Minstrel parade, about 60 groups are putting the final touches to fabulous costumes and scintillating sounds.
The 60 troupes with up to a thousand members each will participate in the event that has been renamed the Cape Town Street Parade.
Owner of the well-known Fabulous Seawind Entertainers, Shahied Fisher has a troupe of over 800 members. He says being part of the event takes months to organise.
With the final touches to their performances being added, Fisher says being a minstrel comes with great pride.
His Seawinds’ will celebrate their thirtieth year at the coming parade. Fisher says being part of the parade is an emotional task.
“A club owner when his troupe goes out, the tears are rolling down his cheeks, because he’s like proud to see the hard work, his executives, his captains all them is working together running functions during the year, four o’clock till two, three at night, we’re practicing.”
Fisher’s sister, Nabouwya Madell, single handedly sewed 700 of the colourful costumes. She says some years she swears it’s the last time, but every year she finds herself behind her machine, sewing just as she did the previous years.
The celebrations are set to start at 12 noon on the second of January, where the Cape Minstrels will take over the streets of the Mother City once more.
