PHOTO: Hugh Masekela (left) performed with Sindisiwe Nxumalo, current cast member of "The Lion King" on Broadway from the top of a double decker bus at Times Square. The performance ties into the Ubuntu: Music & Arts of South Africa festival at Carnegie Hall, Oct. 8-Nov. 5. Off camera is Vusi Mahlasela, also a headliner at the upcoming festival. (Photo by David Cogswell)
South African Tourism occupied Times Square in New York this morning with a mobile concert featuring Hugh Masekela and Vusi Mahlasela. The Grammy-nominated musicians performed two songs from the roof of a double decker bus that pulled up and parked in the pedestrian area on 43rd Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue.
Masekela and Mahlasela are headliners in the upcoming month-long festival at Carnegie Hall titled "Ubuntu: Music and Arts of South Africa," which is part of South African Tourism's ongoing promotional campaign "What's Your Big Five?"
The festival is taking place at Carnegie Hall Oct. 8-Nov. 5. Masekela and Mahlasela will kick off the festival with the first in a series of performances at Carnegie Hall starting Friday night, Oct. 10.
The music and arts festival celebrates the 20th anniversary of South African liberation of apartheid in 1994 and its first democratic elections, which elevated Nelson Mandela to the office of president of the new republic.
The "What's Your Big Five?" campaign is designed to reposition South Africa in the minds of traveler, transforming it "from a 'once-in-a-lifetime' destination to a place worth visiting now," according to Sthu Zungu, president of South African Tourism North America.
The campaign is based on the idea that South Africa has much to offer besides safaris, including five travel categories SAT calls the "tourism pillars" of South Africa: Adventure and Exploration; Culture and Heritage; Safari and Nature; Entertainment and Lifestyle; and Luxury and Romance.
The essence of the campaign was summed up by Hugh Masekela in an interview with TravelPulse:
"We're here to let you know that South Africa is not only the Big Five or the geographical sights. When people come they have to come and hang out with the people, because we have the most hospitable people in the world, and not only that, the most resilient. You know that after 350 years of a rough time they can still smile. So you gotta come and drink this in because you won't drink it anywhere else. It's a flavor of South Africa alone."
Vusi Mahlasela (left) and Hugh Masekela (right)
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