The Spaza Life

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

SOUTH AFRICA | Friday, 11 January 2013 | Views [6981] | View Larger Image

Waqa (far right) and two friends hang out at a local rapper’s house and pass the time smoking dakka out of a broken glass bottle top. While Spaza music is his passion, there are few opportunities to express it and many days end up just like this.

Meet Waqa. Waqa lives in Gugulethu township outside Cape Town, South Africa. After serving time in his late teens for assault, Waqa’s life now revolves around friends, smoking dope, and a passion for hip-hop music known as Spaza, a form of Xhosa township hip-hop he helped to create. Here, he rolls a dakka (marijuana) joint in his backyard shack, his love of Spaza plastered to the walls behind him.

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Dakka and Spaza are often found together in the township. Waqa’s friend Lucky (center) runs an outreach group that teaches both locals and tourists about traditional African music—but he also sells marijuana on the side. A shaft of light splits the smoky room. Half revealed and half hidden, part small-time crook and part community musician: like many, Lucky lives on the edge of the law, trying to make a living and still follow his dreams.

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The Spaza Life

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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