--- title: "A call becomes a chorus as inner-city festival takes flight" description: "The Hillbrow Carnival, supported by various community groups, reclaimed public spaces for joy on a recent Saturday." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "JOZI JOY" author: "Bridget Hilton-Barber" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bridget-hilton-barber/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-15-a-call-becomes-a-chorus-as-inner-city-festival-takes-flight/" published: "2026-08-15T06:00:00" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 546 --- # A call becomes a chorus as inner-city festival takes flight > The Hillbrow Carnival, supported by various community groups, reclaimed public spaces for joy on a recent Saturday. By Bridget Hilton-Barber · Published 15 August 2026, 08:00 SAST ## Key points - Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! converted the suburb’s streets into a soaring, bird-themed carnival—hundreds of children in handmade costumes sang, danced and “took flight” under curator Tamzyn Botha’s theme of migration, freedom and collective movement. - The day began at Windybrow Arts Centre with a playful bird-spotting show (complete with hadeda and go-away-bird calls), then a vibrant procession led by a double-decker bus and stilt walkers wound through high-rises as residents cheered from balconies. - More than theatre, the carnival reclaimed public space and celebrated a collective voice—rooted in the late Lesley Perkes’s vision—and was backed by inner-city groups including Dlala Nje, Shade Brixton, Mould, Empower, Serve, Fight with Insight and Innovation of Excellence. - This year’s procession also honoured the defiant spirit of the 1956 women who marched against pass laws, turning alarm into art and reclaiming freedom of movement in Hillbrow. ## Content “Arise, take to the skies. Just as birds migrate across lands and share messages from afar, we are taking up the airspace.” So said Tamzyn Botha, curator of this year’s annual Hillbrow Carnival – or Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala!, which took place on 8 August 2026. Hundreds of children and young people from Hillbrow and beyond gathered handmade bird costumes, did bird dances, sang bird songs and collectively took flight on the streets of the city’s gritty high-density hood. The theme “looked to the seasonal journeys of birds as a provocation for freedom, communication and collective movement”, said Botha. “These birds are border-crossers, message carriers, mischief-makers and freedom dreamers. They migrate across walls, neighbours, languages, histories and streets.” ![P35 Hillbrow Carnival BHB](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/yh1Ma3HBm896pDr72KsBpddwiTQ=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/2996/351000487816_568802.jpg) *Children enjoy watching a play at the Windybrow Arts Centre in. Hillbrow, Johannesburg, on 8 August 2026. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)* The carnival kicked off at the Windybrow Arts Centre with a delightful play about bird spotting – complete with the harsh shrieks of Jozi’s most iconic bird, the hadeda, and the distinctive call of the grey loerie, or go-away bird. “The go-away bird’s sharp call warns the bushveld when danger is near,” said Gerard Bester, head of the Windybrow Arts Centre, “and so it inspired the procession, transforming alarm into art, warning into wonder and rebellion into play. “Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! honours the power of the collective voice: the cry that alerts, gathers, protects and transforms. In Hillbrow, the call becomes a chorus. The street becomes a sky. The children become birds of warning, beauty, defiance and joy.” ### Joyous on the streets After the play, the kids and parents joined a procession through Hillbrow’s streets, led by a double-decker bus and two stilt walkers. Kids dressed as birds perched on balconies and rooftops, delighting people with their presence. People watched out of their windows from the surrounding high-rises; they walked alongside the procession; they clapped and cheered. The procession climbed up the steep hill of Nugget Street and wound its way through the heart of Hillbrow before making its way back to the Windybrow for an afternoon of brass bands and festivity. ![P35 Hillbrow Carnival BHB](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/0jgCk8s3ifDSCThF71POxTSdwuk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/2996/1000487809_158369.jpg) *Teddy Bear and Owl were a bit hit at the carnival on 8 August 2026. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)* Originally inspired by the vision of the late public art advocate Lesley Perkes, the carnival serves to reclaim public spaces through joy, creativity and community performance. It is supported by a variety of inner-city community groups, including Shade Brixton, a community art project; Dlala Nje (meaning “Just Play” in isiZulu), a social enterprise and tour agency based at the foot of the Ponte City building that provides after-school programmes for vulnerable youth living in Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville; Mould, Empower, Serve, which fights homelessness in the city; Fight with Insight, a pioneering non-profit organisation that uses boxing as a form of therapy and development for inner-city youth in Johannesburg; and Innovation of Excellence, an after-school programme in neighbouring Berea. This year’s procession of birdlike freedom also paid tribute to the unbeatable spirit of the women of 1956, who marched on 9 August against pass laws to reclaim their freedom of movement. **DM** *Bridget Hilton-Barber is a freelance writer who writes for Jozi My Jozi.* *This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.* ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/tVVUy89tEiXMcrPAFicypE-wZew=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/2996/DM-140826_950258.jpg)