Vuka Sizwe concert pays tribute to Saartjie Baartman

The event, which is strategically aligned to one of the SABC's values - restoration of human dignity - will be hosted at the Constitutional Hill, The Round House, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, and will be broadcast live on Sunday 9 November on SABC2 at 8pm, with a repeat broadcast on 2 January 2009.

The concert is intended to be a moving tribute to the spirit, soul and song of South Africa and will create a launch platform to the SABC's 16 Days of Activism Against Women and Children Campaign, held each year from 25 November (International Day of No Violence Against Women and Children) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day).

Tthe 16 Days of Activism is an international campaign to raise awareness around the violence against women and children, which the public broadcaster “endorses dearly”.

Raises pertinent issues

Baartman's story raises several issues pertinent to a country still recovering from the ravages of apartheid and, indeed, colonial domination, a shocking account of abduction, enslavement and the dehumanization of being seen as the other - to be poked and prodded in the name of ‘exoticism' and (dubious) ‘scientific' exploration.

Not an isolated case, the Khoi and San people faced an onslaught from successive colonial forces with genocidal tendencies. Almost 200 years after she suffered indignity and hardship in Europe, a box containing Baartman's remains, draped in a South African flag and flanked by six Khoisan children, was wheeled into Cape Town airport in May 2002. Her burial ceremony was on Women's Day, 9 August 2002.

The lineup of South African musicians performing at the SABC Vuka Sizwe Concert include Pops Mohammed, Madala Kunene, Lira, Tu Nokwe, Rae, Camagwini, Khululiwe Sithole, KB, Ayanda, Aya, Suthukazi, Zonke, Bucie, Zamajobe.

In accompaniment will be critically acclaimed female poets, Lebo Mashile, Ntsiki Mazwai and Diana Ferrus to a backdrop stage depicting Khoisan landscape and tapestry between an authentic Khoisan hut-like setting filled with wildly unpredictable designs, special effects, inventive choreography and alluring costumes.

Tickets are available at Computicket (www.computicket.co.za) at R120.