The Spirit of Ginga
by
Coolg Lingani
9 February 2024
From the ancient art form invented to be used as self defence against the large group of foreign captors to the creativity of moving the body and legs into the field of play with exhilaration. From the field of play to the first brush strokes of South African contemporary art. The passion and the energy is still getting thicker and stronger as decades passed by. Ginga still evolving and transforming but the priority and intention are still the same, it is to defend, protect, defeat and conquer any sort of enslavers. Ginga is a spiritual resurrector and its very helpful to the broken-hearted, it mostly saves those who are crushed in spirit.
The Passion of Ginga is still beautiful and it has changed many lives. Lets go back and playback the time.
What is Ginga? It is a martial art that could be categorized as dance, a way to maintain spirituality and culture. It’s origins date back from Angola as Capoeiora, that was before the people of the soil were enslave to South America. This martial art is an ancient technique that originated in Angola but years later these Africans were brought to South America as slaves by the Portuguese. Capoeira includes skills such as kicking, head-butting, deception and evasion. The moves are usually aligned to drum beats.
The foreign captors invaded the motherland and took them to the foreign land. The runaway slaves called upon Capoeiora “the Ginga” as a tool of self-defence against their enslavers that claimed to be their masters. Capoeiora was strong and successfully freed the sons of the soil. Finally, in the year of 1888 slavery was abolished, that’s when it was illegal to practice the Ginga but the Capoeiorians saw football as a perfect form of art, to practice the Ginga without being arrested. It was transformed and loved by many nations across the globe, especially in the field of football. The Ginga, it literally means ‘Sway’, representing the moves of the player. The exhibition of running very fast with the ball while dribbling with the opponents. The feet move ever so slightly and when a ball is added to the equation, the result is the equivalent of dribbling. Now, it is more widespread and is also performed as a sparring game or dance. The martial art has spread and is practised all over the world. Any individual needs to depict the expression of courage, strength, exhilaration, love, celebration and freedom to be able to perform Ginga successfully. Its very delightful to practice Ginga especially when you’re given freedom to perform it.
How did Coolg meet with Ginga? He saw it as a perfect technique to perform his contemporary art. His intention was to fix his broken soul. He had to defend his dreams and talent by continuing to practise this art form. Why does he call it Ginga? He uses a technique called “Vamos jogars com tudo” a mixture of splash painting technique that contains primary colours and secondary colours. He applies that with a combination of monochrome, colour, realism, patterns and abstraction. It literally means ‘lets throw with everything we got’ and if it's necessary then bend all the art rules but the outcomes should be beautiful. The priority is to play, enjoy, heal, celebrate the God given gift without any restrictions. This helped him to fight poverty, aligned his deep thoughts during the heart of pandemic. It freed Yanga from the social illnesses and emotional prison that tried to conquer his dreams. Ginga has been the main source of income for him, and it has freed him from any social incidents that tried to taunt his soul. He has used Ginga as his weapon to defeat fears and doubts.
The Moral of this story is to find your best and use it! What are you good at? Why is it so vital to ask your self this question? We astonish and amaze the rest as long as we continue to seek and use our strengths to do what we love the most. But when that doesn’t happen then you must have your own engine, something that’s going to maintain your spiritual welfare. Something that won’t leave or can be taken from you easily. Something that will carry all your baggage and wipe the dust off your ways and align your deep thoughts so you may be fully focused. What brings your uniqueness? What do you want to achieve with the course of your life? When you combine all those answers collectively then you can use them to create something unique and special. The spirit of Ginga has been very strong in Yanga, it made him believe in himself when he was at his lowest. It made him stand firm when he was challenged. It was such a boost and an engine to carry his loads when he was facing hardships of this life. He had to maintain faith and courage.
Yanga’s full name is Yanga David Cyprian Magentshu Lingani but many people know him as Coolg. He was born in 1991 in the small town of Tsolo in the Eastern Cape.
He’s an independent visual artist based in Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, but he was born and bred in Tsolo near Mthatha in South Africa. He is a full time fine artist, Graphic Designer, Visual Arts facilitator, Public Speaker & Motivational Speaker. He studied Art and Design at the College of Cape Town (city campus) completing his studies in 2013. He fell in love with drawing, sketching and sculpture way back from the age of 5, and since then he never wavered or looked back.
This Eastern Cape born fine artist studied painting, drawing, ceramics, graphic design,
photography and print making at Cape College from the year of 2009-2013. Yanga is the only visual artist in his family and his family always wanted him to become a lawyer or social worker. But his heart was already embroidered into visual arts as he began with his first formal training in 2009 at the age of 18. But from his early childhood he has been doing drawings for his schoolmates and peers in exchange for small amounts of cash and he sold his first acrylic painting in 2012, in the year after he started his small studio inside his home in Khayelitsha. Since then he has been turning any house he’s living in into a fine arts studio. This gives him the ability to paint during the day and even throughout the night. He has sold his paintings to collectors in countries such as the United States of America, England, France, Philippines & Japan.
His work is mostly inspired by life events, patterns, nature and stories of young people that do amazing things in their own fields. Yanga’s work depicts more of expressionism and emotions as he puts it all together in the Ginga, a collective of ‘Vamos Jogars com tudo.’ A combination of monochrome, bright colours, abstract, play, emotions and patterns.
RECONCILE & REBUILD was his fist solo exhibition and THE SPIRIT OF GINGA is his
second one. He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions including at Funky Frames art gallery, Castle of Good Hope Gallery, Pan African Gallery, African Market, Young Blood Gallery, 6 Spin Street Gallery, Zeitz MOCAA, CTICC, ArtB Gallery and Arts Cape.
“If it doesn’t touch their Souls then it’s weak,
If it doesn’t reach into their thinking ability then it’s not Ginga”
-Coolg
PLEASE NOTE THAT BUYERS IN PRETORIA WILL ALSO NEED TO PAY A COURIER FEE AS Coolg IS IN CAPE TOWN
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