LUH’RA & OPERATION KHATAZA: Armed with Compassion
Article and Photography by [We, The Hive]
Stepping into House Union Block on a rainy Friday, you would expect Capetonians to be chilling at home. Instead, the HEAT festival ensured we were greeted with a homely warmth that Luh'ra and Operation Khataza carried throughout the night, complete with a welcoming glass courtesy of Spier Arts Trust.
An unexpected lineup curated by Quiet Life gave rise to a feeling of togetherness and compassion. Luh'ra's ambient set inspired a reflective understanding of our presence, while Khataza's rallying call moved the crowd into one body. Two sonically contrasting textures presented a cross section of the Cape Town underground scene, with compassion at the heart of its project.
Luh'ra, a well-known voice in the Cape Town indie-soul space, performed with a quiet presence that slowly turned into a cry of introspection — one that asked you to surrender to yourself. Her stripped-down set showed another side of the singer-songwriter, who usually weaves her sound alongside a band of other local musicians.
The ambient set was performed with Mishaq, a frequent collaborator and longtime friend, who provided sporadic harmonic anchors on keys for her free-form vocals. Most of her songs were composed with guitar loops that rose and encircled her. She stood still in the centre of it all. The loops orbited Mishaq's playing, the silent force that drove the set forward. The fluid legato phrasing of the flute floated above with a weightlessness that contrasted beautifully with the rich tones of the lower register of her voice. The choice to forgo percussion amplified the pensive atmosphere and gently prompted a different kind of attentiveness, perhaps one which helps us to listen again.
With Luh'ra leaving the stage with the same grace she entered with, Operation Khataza immediately turned the room into theirs. The Operation's sound is hard to pin down, but you know it when you hear it.
Their unboxed sound carries a part of each of its members: the witty interplay in the rhythm section, with Jarryd 'Chuckie' Alexander on bass, Benji Anstey on lead guitar, and Timothy Fortes on drums, with Vuyo Nkasawe on keys adding a contemporary inflection. The message is delivered in three-part harmony: Sanele Blaai/uFarrah Khataza as the lead vocalist as well as a guitarist, reinforced by Mariana del Carmen/MANA and Lois Flandorp as vocalists, a key element of the band's sound, reminiscent of the strong close-harmony vocals of the Mahotella Queens or Dark City Sisters. Finally, the spoken word of Fabian Arries Selote underscores the intention of their campaign.
The Operation acts as a sonic lens, refracting the sounds of Southern Africa's current musical landscape such as Afro Post-punk, drawing on a rich and varied history of popular music born in urban centres— with the still standing ultimate goal of community-driven sonic liberation.
Described by some as the outliers of the HEAT lineup, the Operation drew an eclectic mix of people. Old and new fans alike joined in to form the now-signature chorus of voices accompanying the Operation as they returned to the stage as loud as they were received. Their explosive energy and fugitive sound were a challenge to capture on camera. Each shot traces the entire band across the frame.
They opened their set, however, with mellow imphepho vibes. A humble offering that primed the space for their performance. This soft approach to the later half of the evening showed the versatility of the group in being able to bring serenity to the surface and then dissolve that energy into a call to action.
By the third song, the crowd couldn't resist jumping to their feet (even before the first verse). The maskandi-inspired guitar riffs were infectious. The stomping shakes the wooden floorboards, momentum building until Sanele calls out "bonke bayam 'cinezela!" Mana and Lois respond, prompting the audience to do so too: "Mkhululeni uAzania" (free Azania).
Every time it is repeated, it grows in unison, bouncing around the room, between audience and performer. The value of this kind of participatory music only serves to amplify the message: we are the future of Azania. Looking around the room and on stage, Azania is not a neat return to a past before the Colonial Man. Operation Khataza disrupts. They do not wish to rest easy with the promise of a future — whether the future violently imposed on us, or the 'Rainbow Nation' with which we are yet to reckon. This echoes their enigmatic identity which they have carved out of the soil of Azania. The makeup of the band, the musical multiplicity, the diverse audience reflects how we must come together to ensure that this promise is fulfilled.
The message of the Operation is made clear with their assertive lyrics, whilst the refrain is bright and catchy, a tonality of hope. But with a mic in his hand, Fabian steps forward to deliver his characteristic prose. "I like what I hear, I hear what I like." His words resonate with the mood of the room as a collective nodding sweeps across the room.
While the Operation has had a relatively muted presence throughout the year, as opposed to previous years, they have been operating hard behind the scenes. HEAT festival was the group's first live show after dropping their debut single Mantra. And with their performance of this track, they prepared everyone for the release of their album, titled Vuka, later this year. Mantra feels like a slow but militant unfolding that marches forward from Jaryd's determined heavy bass drone. It might seem like tone painting, given Fabian’s section that feels like an indignant release of pain and anger that's been boiling to a point: "Point and killlll! Put a mic and a guitar in Khataza's sight and he's… ready to shoot.” With the same intensity, Benji goes in for the solo, guns blazing, the timing of which is quite jarring against the previous section. Yet, the song spans the spectrum of emotions that being a child of Azania encompasses. Indeed, the opening verse launches a strong prophecy, declaring freedom and success for mntana ka ma (child of the soil). The chorus shifts into a sing-along interplay of vocals echoing the guitar, celebrating the music that fuels peace and joy.
“HEY WENA! Wake up! We operating All day, Erryday."
The Operation's newest live track is anything but banal. It hits you between the eyes with a constant attack of bass and with gritty guitar lines that function more as hooks. It's an electric collision of when hip-hop meets metal. Tim's drums sliced the hits with precision, triggering a wave of almost involuntary head-bopping action. The pulsating feeling lifted for a second, yielding to a fast-paced finger-picking Arabian guitar lick by Benji. Mana's breathy pulse added to the urgency. Stepping away from the mic, Sanele jumped in with the front row of the audience, bodies heaving with the weight of the cry. The interjection becomes an injunction. Echoes of "hey wena" still reverberate after the final cymbal is left ringing.
"Sorry for making the place deurmekaar," Sanele jokingly signed off.
Both Luh'ra and Operation Khataza have exciting times ahead of them. Keep your eyes and ears open, and the body and soul moving, as we still have many more moments of togetherness and compassion to foster. Let us arm ourselves sonically and spiritually.