On Sunday November 23, with the weather prophets muttering about afternoon storms, we arrived at Emmarentia Dam for the Joburg edition of Kiss Kiss — a new roaming republic of food, music and theatrical audacity.
It had triumphed the previous weekend at the Castle of Good Hope, and Cape Town handed it over like a tipsy uncle, sozzled in the juice of entertainment anarchy.
Nobody seemed able to explain why there was a tower of tomatoes, a boatload of cabbages and a heroic pyramid of potatoes, or why a rubber duck had been enthroned on a yellow scaffold like some fowl oracle.
But under a sky so blue it seemed freshly laundered and beneath the flapping Kiss Kiss pennants, none of us cared. We were there to eat, drink, dance, love and laugh.
One of my favourite Cape Town restaurants, Blondie (the organisers of the festival), arrived bearing its signature swagger, joined by Pablo House, King Arabic Sandwich and a cavalcade of others. There were palomas on tap, margaritas in irresponsible abundance and festivalgoers who had clearly committed to the day with their whole digestive systems.
The music unfurled steadily — Beatenberg’s honeyed pop, Roi Turbo’s synthy swagger, Balkanology’s Balkanisms, Black Cat Bones, Slow Poison, Femi Koya. But it was Bombshelter Beast who detonated the afternoon. After finishing their set, they invaded the park in a joyous parade straight out of Fellini: horns blaring, tubas wobbling, fans ecstatic.
Behind them marched a procession of food floats — a vast fish, a heroic aubergine borne aloft, a cabbage-headed mascot and four dove-headed priestesses guarding a cage of actual white doves. Released into the sky, the birds hurtled over our heads in a murmuration so tight it cast a shimmering shadow over the park before dissolving into the horizon.
And then, as the sun performed its golden-hour miracle, the Gipsy Kings took the stage. Bamboléo, Volare — the whole park roaring along, cabbages and tomatoes held like talismans. At 6pm, we drifted into the evening carrying our complimentary produce like pilgrims.
I can’t wait for the next one.
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