Award-winning Film Director tells Castel Milk Stout Last Stories of Culture

CASTLE MILK STOUT AND DIRECTOR LEBOGANG RASETHABA PARTNER TO TELL THE LAST STORIES OF CULTURE Castle Milk Stout has partnered with award-winning film director, Lebogang Rasethaba to produce a short film titled Last Stories of Culture. The short film follows the stories of matriarchs umama Madosini, an acclaimed and award-winning musical legend and ouma Katrina Esau, the last person in the world  who can fluently speak the endangered N|uu language.   With several African practices and traditions slowly facing extinction due to the lack of preservation, Castle Milk Stout through its Heritage Month campaign, tipped the highly sought-after director to document the journeys and rich heritages of two of South Africa’s last cultural doyens of Koi-San and amaXhosa linguistic and musical institutions. The short film will be available to the public on various Facebook pages, Instagram, YouTube and on www.castlemilkstout.co.za, illuminating the role that some South Africans are playing at an indigenous level to help safeguard our endangered customs and traditions. “As a custodian of African heritage, we were inspired by our consumers’ efforts to constantly bring to the table conversations about heritage that need to take place in mainstream South Africa. The issue of endangered cultural practices was high on the agenda of our consumers’ concerns, and we responded accordingly by creating a platform to encourage the conservation of our diverse cultures as Africans, through telling the stories of these two powerhouse matriarchs.” Said Khensani Mkhombo, Castle Milk Stout Brand Manager.     Over the last few months, Lebogang Rasethaba spent time with the two matriarchs to learn and unpack ouma Katrina’s wish to save her language from being lost to humanity forever and gogo Madosini’s efforts to pass on her gift of playing Umrhube and Uhadi to the coming generation. He then documented his journey in a heartwarming and thought-provoking manner that aims to motivate the younger generation to lean into the last stories of culture as they are in danger of being no more if enough is not done to preserve them.    “The last few months have been a rewarding experience for me as a film director. I got an opportunity to partner with an iconic brand that is telling stories that really matter and are at the risk of disappearing if they are not brought to the attention of the public. It definitely is a huge responsibility to ensure we tell people’s stories authentically and give these two cultural sages their flowers while they are still here and celebrate them for their role in ensuring that our young people are aware of these important stories passed on through generations.” Added Lebogang Rasethaba In addition to the short film, Castle Milk Stout also partnered with South Africa’s leading denim brand, Tshepo Jeans to create a bespoke collection that also carries the message from the small screen to the streets through fashion. The bespoke collection will available for purchase online by visiting www.castlemilkstout.co.za or following @CastleMilkStout on social media and tagging #LastStoriesOfCulture. Castle Milk Stout will match the money raised by purchasing these clothing items and donate the proceeds towards the preservation projects led by Gogo Madosini and Queen Katrina.   Last Stories of Culture Synopsis For centuries, our African stories and our history has not been documented. We have had to rely on the knowledge and wisdom of the elderly to orally relay this history to us. However in 2021, Castle Milk Stout wanted to change this. As a brand that aims to promote and preserve African culture, we partnered with director, Lebogang Rasethaba to travel South Africa in search of our Last Stories of Culture – African stories that are on the verge of extinction. We found two stories, led by two matriarchs; ouma Katrina Esau and umama Madosini Mpahleni. Ouma Katrina is the last person left in the world who can fluently speak the N|uu language, a language that is over 25 000 years old. uMama Madosini is the greatest living Umrhube and Uhadi player, an instrument that carries so much of our African history. It goes without saying how urgent it is for us to preserve these kinds of stories because they carry so much of our history, if we lose them, we are indeed losing our heritage.