Gqeberha entertainer Gino Fabbri has expanded his popular supermarket road show to Cape Town, using high-energy drum solos and kasi beats to bridge cultural divides and spread joy across South African communities.
A road show spearheaded by hilarious, zany and super-energetic Eastern Cape entertainer Gino Fabbri to spread unity and happiness and portray SA as it really is has expanded to Cape Town.
Fabbri has recently toured the Eastern Cape and Garden Route with his heritage-inspired act, performing at selected SPAR retailers, entertaining diverse audiences from the local communities.
Appearing as the Afrikaans speed-cop stage persona he has made famous over the years, he delivers drum solos inspired by kwaito, gqom, amapiano, deep house and Afro-house, much to the amusement of shoppers.
Fabbri said nothing broke through cultural barriers quite like a white man dressed as the archetypal boertjie, while unleashing music synonymous with kasi culture.
The impact had been such that he was invited to bring his act and share his messages of hope and ubuntu to SUPERSPAR Blue Downs in the Mother City.
Fabbri, who partnered with SPAR Eastern Cape in rolling out the month-long campaign, said his performances had struck a chord with people from all cultural backgrounds.
He said the skits prompted audiences to look beyond the country's problems and focus on its best attributes and what made it special.
At one store, an elderly white man danced along to his interpretation of gqom hit Omunye.
He also witnessed a worker strum away on a yellow “wet-floor” caution sign as if Jimi Hendrix himself were in the house.
The seed for his road show was planted about a year ago when he posted a reel of one of his drum solos on TikTok.
It blew up as black audiences, who grew up with kwaito and gqom, engaged with it.
More posts followed and so did the views, soon topping more than one million.
The success inspired Fabbri to approach the family retailer with his idea for a heritage-themed tour to its Sunshine Coast, Karoo and Garden Route regions.
At Blue Downs, staff, customers and passers-by congregated around him, dancing away to the beat of the drums.
Fabbri also posed for countless photographs alongside the Capetonians, many of whom had seen him on social media.
“I spent the whole day at the launch and the guys loved it. It’s a different vibe here in Cape Town.
“More Afrikaans than in the Eastern Cape and on the Garden Route but no less inspiring,” he said.
“We really have good people in this country.”
Fabbri’s son, Celso, a successful house-music producer and DJ in his own right, lives in the city and helped his father compile a list of 20 of the best kasi bangers for his drum solo.
The country needed unity and happiness and he was happy to contribute in a small way, Fabbri said.
Even if it felt like a cliché to talk about the “Nelson Mandela effect”, he said embracing this spirit worked for South Africans.
The build-up to and hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, where little things came together to create a powerful force, was a great example.
“As a white guy, I had never heard a black guy talk to me about the Rainbow Nation, but now I’m getting that all the time,” Fabbri said.
“That’s a saying that got tainted over the years, but it’s true. Archbishop [Desmond] Tutu knew what he was talking about.”
He said social media always favoured “one side or the other”, so he tried to overcome that divisiveness.
“I say don’t go online. Come to real people. People-to-people is the only way to fix our country.”
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