The highly anticipated Golden Hour Luncheon was yet another success this year, as guests were treated to true Cape Malay Tradition during Heritage Month 2019.  The Belgravia High School Hall in Athlone was abuzz on Saturday, as the over 900 guests came dressed to the nines for an afternoon of great music, conversation and food.

Celebrating a decade of crowd-pleasing events, the annual occasion paid tribute to the mostly elderly guests by taking them for “a trip down memory lane” through a presentation which played throughout performances.

The guests had been treated to a 5-course meal by Baron’s Caterers – all cooked the traditional “Cape Malay way”. Snacks included pies, samosas and koesisters, while the main meals consisted of ‘denningvleis’ and barbeque chicken with yellow and spiced rice, accompanied by roasted veggies and for dessert, sago pudding, bread pudding and ice cream.

The fond attendees giggled and clapped their way through the MC Yusuf Fisher and Ayesha Laatoe’s commentary. The guests were also excited to meet and engage with other staff, whose voices or names have become commonplace in their homes.

For the second year, the Allie brothers and the youthful Seven Steps Cultural Group kept the audience smiling and upbeat with their sweet melodies and some of the well-known “liedtjies”.

Six of the usual 10 members of the Seven Steps Cultural Group were on stage. The group are between the ages of 20-30 and hail from various areas in Cape Town. The group, who plays for the Bo Kaap Goema theatre, is comprised of Junaid Isaacs, Kader Mullet, Shameer Isaacs, Ziyaad Mohamed, Isghak Khan and Mansoor Abrahams.

“The reason why we’ve formed this group is to showcase our heritage and culture. Its quite thrilling to show not just our people but other people as well, and this year we’ve seen how influential it can be to others. Even if we look at other people’s cultures, we appreciate it. You don’t find such a young, vibrant group doing what we’re doing,” said group member and lead singer, Mansoor Abrahams.

“It’s a great milestone because it feels like it’s been a long year. We’ve been to a few places but there’s no limits. We’re only looking to go further- because we have a young group we want to travel,” said Abrahams excitedly.

Abrahams said he enjoyed playing for the crowd.

“There’s a big significance in (performing for the elderly). We must always respect them. Personally, I love performing for elderly people because its fun! They’re interactive, they respond to everything you do and small things they find hilarious, as a performer that’s what you want and I love that.”

Pensioners and now authors Auntie Flori and Auntie Koelsoem spoke about their latest cookbooks. The audience was also pleasantly surprised by social media sensations Whadia “Mo” Samuels and Ikraam “Ikie”  who had the crowd in stitches as “Mo” did her conventional angry-wife act at her subordinate husband.

Overall the event was another success that had guests promising to come back again next year. These were some of the comments:

“The local artists are fantastic, we come here to enjoy and relax.”

“I loved the food. We were so anxious to come here, but it’s a beautiful set-up, Masha Allah. We are really enjoying it, the music and everything. What I enjoyed most was going down memory lane, the (stuff) they’re showing on the screen. Just to see where I lived when I was younger!”

“It’s the first time I’m here but I’m actually really enjoying myself. The music, the company, I’m enjoying it very much.”

“I enjoyed every minute since we came here, everything is on top of the ball. It’s fantastic.”

“Julle wiet mos, daar waar Voice of The Cape is, is os. En die kos is soe lekker en die musiek en die Distrik Ses se fotos wat hulle soe wys – down memory lane! My susters en my niggies, julle moet hier gewees it.” (“You know where Voice of The Cape is, we are. And the food and music and District Six pictures that they’re showing – down memory lane! Ladies, you should have been here.”)

“My favourite was the history about the District Six, how we were as children, how we respected the elderly. Today, there’s no respect. It’s the beautiful part of it, how do they say – dit vat my terug na my kinne dae.”

“Its very nice, beautiful. It’s the third time I’m attended and every time its awesome, beautiful, no complaints!”

See the pictures below: