âArise, take to the skies. Just as birds migrate across lands and share messages from afar, we are taking up the airspace.â

So said Tamzyn Botha, curator of this yearâs annual Hillbrow Carnival â or Hey Hillbrow! Letâs 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 cityâs gritty high-density hood.

The theme âlooked to the seasonal journeys of birds as a provocation for freedom, communication and collective movementâ, said Botha. âThese birds are border-crossers, message carriers, mischief-makers and freedom dreamers. They migrate across walls, neighbours, languages, histories and streets.â

The carnival kicked off at the Windybrow Arts Centre with a delightful play about bird spotting â complete with the harsh shrieks of Joziâs most iconic bird, the hadeda, and the distinctive call of the grey loerie, or go-away bird. âThe go-away birdâs sharp call warns the bushveld when danger is near,â said Gerard Bester, head of the Windybrow Arts Centre, âand so it inspired the procession, transforming alarm into art, warning into wonder and rebellion into play.

âHey Hillbrow! Letâs 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.â

Joyous on the streets

After the play, the kids and parents joined a procession through Hillbrowâs 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.

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 âJust Playâ 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 yearâs 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.