Masidlale Play Festival: Where Gaming & Local Heritage Meet
Growing up, the term “digital” represented foreign content that was designed, manufactured, and curated by people who don’t speak how we do; in lands that we’ll probably never set foot. That informed a great deal of the complex we held when viewing and consuming local digital content, in contrast to international content. Masidlale Play Festival is one of the social events assuming its role in the responsibility of shifting this culture.
On arrival at the Masidlale Play Fest, you’re greeted by joyous smiles, laughter, and little black faces interacting with, both, indigenous and digital games; designed, manufactured and curated by faces that resemble theirs; by people who articulate themselves the way they do, in the most beautiful, care-free, spirit. Parents engaging in “children’s” games and showing the kids they still had it. A community being united to “celebrate local and hood gaming which has died and needs to be revived,” according to Lindelani “Mahoota” Nedoboni, founder of Masidlale Gaming Zone.
“I have been inspired by growing up as a kid playing the games we were celebrating heavily and escaping the hood realities through play. The corner stores that used to cater the 50cent arcade boxes with the Sega/Capcom collections inspired me to try to recreate and relive, through a new narrative, that nostalgia…” he added.
Collaboration, Local, Creativity – a fusion of these concepts was one of the driving factors paramount to the experience, according to the Masidlale Founder. In essence, Masidlale Play Festival, a collaboration of concepts and talents. All arcade games were created by local youth talent, while other forms of entertainment were rendered by local artists and DJs. The DJs held their fort and entertained the crowd quite well, while there seemed to be a few difficulties with the performances.
SuperSkoon, a sneaker cleaning company providing mobile services, was also a part of the experience. They held a raffle competition to win sneakers, which was fun and interactive as well. I mean, who doesn’t want to have their sneakers looking fresh even after some playful fun in the streets?
Four performances were scheduled to take place, as promoted, but only two came to fruition, which was very disappointing. The blend of gaming and music had a lot of room and posed positive entertainment potential as far as the experienced is concerned, but there was a disconnect. For this, the organizers took to the mic to apologize for the mishaps of the event. We hope they get it right at the next festival.
From an experience perspective, the way the festival turned out still seemed to have satisfied those in attendance, and was not a complete waste of time. The guests in attendance were mainly under-18 kids from the local community. Perhaps that experience was all the more necessary for them, which is an indicator that Masidlale Play Festival was a success, regardless of the snags, and can only improve and elevate from hereon.
Events with the sole intention of community building through celebrating creativity, entertainment, local heritage, and talent? We love to see it.