‘At Stake’ is a protest song about femicide, the history of violence against women, and violence against the marginalised queer people. ‘At Stake’ is also a love song. Msaki has been exploring the idea of the protest song, as a love song with her project Platinumb Heart. Road-testing these songs on stage over the last two years in order to reach creative and emotional conclusions about the questions that come with living in an #RIPwxmen nation.
Every year wxmen have to ask themselves the same unbearably surreal questions asked in different ways: ‘Sifelani’?’, ‘Am I Next?’. In the absence of answers, these songs are Msaki’s attempt to keep a supple heart through heavy and callousing times, and the painful hashtags that are becoming part of our story as a country.
The concert is much like the song, it’s an offering, a musical creation for when the trending is over when the designated days of outrage that leave us more triggered have ended. Like the song, it is a place of uncomfortable questions (some being historic), a safe space to face or deposit the unprocessed, a way to reach for a layer of joy during mess and maybe even a moment of healing together as we all wonder how we got here as a nation. Nothing is normal here, so this is not a normal concert.