Short description
Each year, the coloured working class of Cape Town celebrates itself in a spectacularly exuberant Carnival. Historian, photographer and musician John Edwin Mason spent three Carnival seasons with one troupe, the Pennsylvanians Crooning Minstrels, becoming
Long description
Each year, the coloured working class of Cape Town celebrates itself in a spectacularly exuberant Carnival. Historian, photographer and musician John Edwin Mason spent three Carnival seasons with one troupe, the Pennsylvanians Crooning Minstrels, becoming an 'honorary member' and marching in full troupe gear, camera in hand. He came to know several others, too, among them the Fabulous Woodstock Starlites. Mason's unique position – as an outsider with an insider's point of view – allowed him a singular documentary perspective on this inimitable cultural tradition and the people who keep it alive. He explores the Cape Town Carnival's history and documents its public and private sides from within the troupe, rather than from the sidelines. As a result, One Love, Ghoema Beat reveals aspects that outsiders rarely see – band and choir rehearsals, life in the klopskamers (clubhouses) and the making of costumes and drums. With several short essays and superb photographs, this title offers a comprehensive look at the minstrel troupes that are the exuberant face of Cape Town's Carnival.