Umcimbi, a gathering

BLK Sonics Lab, with Hundred Percent café, invites you to “Umcimbi”, a gathering that sits with the question of heritage. With live music by drummer and composer Kanu Ntshoko, scholarly debates on food cultures, social histories, and memory, and a complimentary drink - umqombothi and/or ginger beer - the session asks: “What does heritage mean to you?”, considering the colonially altered histories, fragmented memory, and narrow nationalism and geographical boundaries that privilege the financialization of culture, people, and social life for the market economy.

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Date: 24th September 2026

Time – 1 PM till late, with African Pulse performance at 3 PM sharp.

Address: 287 Lower Main, Observatory, Hundred Percent Cafe

African Pulse - Kanu Ntshoko

Featuring Keegan Steenkamp on trumpet, Adam Selikowitz on upright bass, and Simbad Stanislas on saxophone.

Ntshoko on African Pulse and "umcimbi":

Within the African Pulse, “there is no theme” becomes a philosophy of surrender. It rejects the idea that music must begin with a fixed concept, a predetermined structure, or a confined narrative. Instead, it invites the musicians to arrive empty — to listen deeply, to trust instinct, and to allow the moment to reveal its own direction.

Here, the music is not led by composition, but by presence. Each sound is a response. Each silence is intentional. The pulse becomes the only constant — not as a rhythm to control, but as a living force that guides.