A road show spearheaded by Nelson Mandela Bay entertainer Gino Fabbri to spread happiness and portray South Africa as it really is has expanded to Cape Town.
Fabbri toured the Eastern Cape and Garden Route to perform a heritage-inspired act at selected SPAR retailers, drawing diverse audiences from the local communities.
Appearing as the Afrikaans speed-cop stage persona he has made famous over the years, he delivered drum solos inspired by kwaito, gqom, amapiano, deep house and Afro-house.
Nothing broke through cultural barriers quite like a white man dressed as the archetypal boertjie while unleashing music synonymous with kasi culture, he said.
The impact had been such that he was invited to play his music and share messages of hope and Ubuntu at SUPERSPAR Blue Downs in the Mother City.
It resonated with this audience as much as it had elsewhere.
Fabbri, who partnered with SPAR Eastern Cape in rolling out the campaign, found that his performances hit home with all the different cultures he performed to.
During the skits, the focus immediately shifted from the country’s problems to its best attributes, he said.
At one store, he saw an elderly white man dance along to his interpretation of gqom hit “Omunye”.
He also witnessed a worker strum away on a yellow “wet-floor” caution sign as if Jimi Hendrix himself were in the house.
The seed was planted about a year earlier when he posted a reel of one of his drum solos to TikTok. It blew up as black audiences, who grew up with kwaito and gqom, engaged with it.
More posts followed and so did the views, soon topping a million.
The success inspired Fabbri to approach the family retailer with his idea for a heritage-themed tour to its Sunshine Coast, Karoo and Garden Route regions.
At Blue Downs, staff, customers and passers-by congregated around him, dancing away to the beat of the drums.
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Fabbri also posed for countless photographs alongside the Capetonians, many of whom had seen him on social media.
“I spent the whole day at the launch and the guys loved it. It’s a different vibe here in Cape Town.
“More Afrikaans than in the Eastern Cape and on the Garden Route but no less inspiring,” he said.
“We really have good people in this country.”
Fabbri’s son, Celso, a successful house-music producer and DJ in his own right, lives in the city and helped his dad compile a list of 20 of the best kasi bangers for his drum solo.
The country needed unity and happiness and he was happy to contribute in a small way, Fabbri said.
Even if it felt like a cliché to talk about the “Nelson Mandela effect”, he said embracing this spirit worked for South Africans.
The build-up to and hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, where little things came together to create a powerful force, is a great example.
“As a white guy, I have never heard a black guy talk to me about the Rainbow Nation, but now I’m getting that all the time,” Fabbri said.
“That’s a saying that got tainted over the years, but it’s true. Bishop Tutu knew what he was talking about.”
He added that social media always favoured “one side or the other”, so he tried to overcome that divisiveness.
“I say don’t go online. Come to real people. People-to-people is the only way to fix our country.”
