The Kaapse Klopse.






















This documents Cape Town's annual "Coon Carnival", held on January 2 throughout the streets of Cape Town. My friends and I parked in Bo Kaap to watch the minstrels parade by. This carnival lasts for twelve hours, as the clubs parade through the streets of the CBD three separate times while on-lookers snap photos, smile, wave, laugh, and dance along to the amazingly loud sounds coming from each band. All brass instruments welcome!

I'm glad we took the day to go to town, have a lovely lunch (thanks to sweet Elizabeth), and see the klopse. I still remember my first year in cape town, i so badly wanted to be colored like all my friends in capricorn, and i was introduced over the christmas holiday to the klopse. I stood on the sidelines of Lavender Hill watching the clubs rehearse. All i could make out was a deafening sound of instruments, a blinding array of shiny clothes, and a joy welling up in my heart. To me, the annual parade embodies so much that i love about cape colored culture. it's this amazing mix of sights and sounds. Hardened teenagers, drunk fathers, little children, and proud mothers all come together, dress in the ugliest, craziest clothes you can find, grab an instrument or a banner or a baby, and just start walking. They take such pride in this festival, and they act like the most insanely happy-go-lucky people you've ever met. It's so refreshing. For one day, we put aside the intensity of our life's problems and the pain we carry, and we just enjoy life.

Long live the Tweede Nuwe Jaar!!!

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