Cape Town is promising an unrivalled Minstrel parade. Organisers say the Tweede Nuwe Jaar parade or the Klopse will exceed all expectations.
Fine tuning preparations are underway for the annual extravaganza now renamed the Cape Town Street Parade.
The iconic event is steeped in the history of the Cape.
The ghoemas, trumpets and tamborines are a reminder of the one day that slaves were allowed to stay off work.
Muneeb Gambeno of the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association says, “In the past it’s been called the Tweede NuweJaar road march and we as an organisation and fraternity discussed this and we thought that the time is opportune to create a single identifier.”
Disunity has haunted the minstrel fraternity for years.
Last December a number of troupes aligned to a rival association pulled out.
The same association recently lost a court bid against the City over an event permit.
Muneeb Gambeno of the Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association elaborates, “Indications are that all troupes will participate this year, we are looking at about 60 troupes give or take and we expecting anything from between 60 000 to a 100 000 people in the city, which is absolutely marvelous is it not.”
The Baruch Entertainers are the new kids on the block.
Many are from Elsies River, a community beset with social ills like gangsterism and drugs.
Claude Jonas, Director of the Baruch entertainers says, “As soon as we started the project everybody just started pouring in, a lot of kids coming off the streets on a weekly basis and on Sunday we have the practice run, we’ve gone out on the Voorsmakie and we were about 600 plus on the day.”
Hitting the right notes, takes months of practice, Carlton Adams band director shares of the amount of work they have to put in.
“It’s a huge amount of work that goes into this annually. We teach the kids on a daily basis so for them they are excited for this, there’s something to look forward to besides coming to band and to practice.”
Quintessentially for Cape Town particularly the picturesque and historic Bo-Kaap, the parade is a highlight on the year-end calendar.
