Old meets New School – Arts Alive Poetry
Kwani‘s back after whipping up a storm in Europe… Go and celebrate their oodles of talent at an unplugged session with the legendary Pops Mohammed as part of the Arts Alive festival – the Poetry line-up. Don’t miss it. There’s so much going on, this is just one event of many fabulous events/concerts/parties/jols… here’s a taster: The band Kwani Experience have just come back from another successful European tour of the Netherlands, Belgium and Bosnia-Herzegovina and are hitting the stage again with bags under their eyes. The band Kwani Experience have just come back from another successful European tour of Netherlands, Belgium and Bosnia-Herzegovina and are hitting the stage again with bags under their eyes. The band’s touring success is making them one of South Africa’s greatest exports following in the footsteps of many jazz, rock and alternative bands and groups who have had the privilege of performing outside Africa. One of those artists is Pops Mohammed, a living legend, and Kwani is sharing the stage & a repertoire with him. Pops Mohammed and Kwani Experience Unplugged Kwani Experience will this Saturday the 13th of September share the stage with the veteran Pops Mohammed for the Arts Alive Speak The Mind sessions, the poetry soiree of the annual Arts Alive festival. The term ‘unplugged’ will mean that Kwani Experience will only perform with 4 of its 6 core members, which will make this collaboration a totally different Kwani ‘Experience’. Pops and Kwani will perform exclusive material, sharing the stage with acts from South Africa, Zimbabwe, U.S.A, Trinidad, Angola and Kenya for one night only so be sure to check it out. No First Timers But this will be the 5th time the two local-international brands perform together. The first four times were in 2006 and 2007 for a project called Ashes to Machines that Kwani and Bra Pops are involved in, together with French producers, DJ Oil and Jeff Sharel. An album from this collaboration is due to be released early next year once a distribution deal for South Africa has been finalized. For more on the festival and Artists: www.artsalive.co.za...
Call for Entries: Rockers get on this RADAR
New and emerging bands here is your chance to Advance and Release with a bit of Development and Assistant thanks to Red Bull and SpeakerBox… Represent supports as many initiatives that promote and assist South African music that we can, by telling you all about it. So muso’s, don’t miss all the opportunities we fill you in on! Rock on! You’ve only got three weeks to get amongst this Western Cape Festival: Rocking the Daisies presents Red Bull RADAR*(*Research, Assist, Develop, Advance & Release) What is Red Bull RADAR? South Africa’s sonic terrain is extensive and it is often easy for the many musical soldiers to get lost in the haze of murky bars, dimly-lit nightclubs and out-of-reach garages. Red Bull RADAR seeks to scan SA’s landscape in search of this undiscovered musical talent and once identified offer a platform above the mist of obscurity so that all those bands, musicians and artists have a chance of making their mark on the local music scene. It’s difficult enough for bands and artists to get the right gigs to expose their musical might, let alone actually recording a demo to open the doors of prospective venues, record-labels and fan-bases. Those bands and artists that are selected will get to record and produce a demo in the Red Bull Studio in Cape Town, RADAR’s musical equipment laden head-quarters. The Search Begins: Taking place from 3-5 October, Rocking the Daisies is fast becoming one of the highlights on SA‘s live music calendar. Rocking the Daisies and Red Bull RADAR, in partnership with Speakerbox, are offering four talented emerging bands the opportunity to play on the main-stage at Rocking the Daisies 2008, simply by submitting a basic recording demo! The best of these four bands will win five days in the Red Bull Studio in Cape Town to record themselves a 4-track demo while living it up like rock stars! So here’s a step by step recap of how it works: 1. Send us your band profile, a pic and a demo recording (MP3) to Radar@speakerbox.co.za to upload to the Rocking the Daisies / Red Bull RADAR page on Speakerbox. 2. Create a band profile for your band on the Speakerbox / Blueworld Bands section and include the profile link in your email to Radar@speakerbox.co.za. 3. Beg, bribe or blackmail your friends, family or random people on the street to vote for your track on the Red Bull RADAR page on Speakerbox. 4. The top four bands, as voted for by the community, will compete in a battle of the bands on the main-stage at Rocking the Daisies on Friday, 3 October. 5....
Sipho Gumede stage @ Oppikoppi
It’s never to late to join in the fun, if you still don’t have plans this weekend, get in your cars and drive to the beautiful North West Province to the Oppikoppi festival and get down at the SIPHO GUMEDE stage this year. They have a jam-packed line up just waiting for you to forget all our your city ills, including of course our favourite DJ Kenzhero and the Party People interlude. Represent! Way back in 1997, when most of us OppiKoppi buffs were still laaities, the Allan brothers were cordially invited to play broken beats and Elvis tunes from the roof of the Gito Baloi stage; The following year, the boys invited even more wayward DJ friends and musicians and annexed an old ossewa to serve as a stage, on a hill far away from the madding crowd and rock-fuelled masses. Fast forward to the present and said stage, affectionately known as the 206 stage, has morphed into the “Sipho Gumede Mein Stage”, which has become a force of note(s) at the festival, and certainly a harbinger of breaking (!) and exciting acts every year. With each passing year, the stage and the lineup has grown and diversified, and so too the crowd, allowing us the headspace for oodles of experimentation and trialing. As has become expected of our motley crew, we have added some new dimensions to the stage we like to call home for one weekend a year: VJ Little Nicky joins us this year, as we have finally added a big screen to the area. The visual imagery is sure to add to the patina of this all ready swinging stage. A permanent bar next to the stage helps when you are dancing and don’t have the energy or inclination to negotiate the obstacle course up the hill and to the bar. Kwani Experience bring us their home-cooking skills once again with an all-weekend pap & vleis Cook-off. Remember to eat. hris will be serving vegetarian food alongside the kasi’s. Comedians Ntosh Madlingozi, Zee the Protégé and Trevor Gumbi join us in “The Dysfunctional Revolution” on Saturday afternoon. Tosh Madlingozi then goes on to Host the Party People lineup on Saturday night. Add to this the amalgamation of bands, dj’s, turntablists, sound and lighting crew, mc’s and tequila drinkers doing their best to include both musical genres known to man, 24 hours a day, and you undoubtedly find yourself with a recipe for 48 hours of total abandon and revelry. On Friday night the 8th, as is the custom, Blunted Stuntman hosts “Yo-Yo” with cutting edge breaks acts alongside live acts such as Tasha Baxter,...
‘BACK TO THE CITY’ Street Festival
Freedom day is on Sunday – we hope everyone is celebrating this special day, remembering our past, celebrating our vibrant present but also looking to the very promising future of South Africa. The second annual Street Festival is taking place in Newtown, so get amongst! On the morning of the 27th of April, a wave of urban youth will stream into downtown Newtown for the popular, annual Back to the City festival. Disciples and converts of the hip-hop movement will celebrate the art and urban culture through a day of live performances, street art, extreme sports and exhibitions. The one-day event was launched with critical acclaim from the hip-hop media and masses last year, winning accolades such as Hype magazine’s event of the year. The second edition promises more historic performances, boasting a Fiery line up of 22 mc’s, 10 dj’s, 8 graffiti crews and thousands of young people celebrating the birth of South Africa’s democracy. Cutting edge performers from various parts of the country will deliver hot commentary and entertainment in diverse indigenous languages while artists will be expressing their freedom in colours. This event will take place outside RITUAL STORES at corner Bree and Henry Nxumalo streets in Newtown. Aside from being entertained, audiences will get to attend an educational summit, which will be held at City Varsity. Hosted by the British Council, the workshops offer an exchange of knowledge. Individuals working in the mass media industry will cover topics such as publishing, distribution, recording, music videos, and independent vs. mainstream, entrepreneurship and advertising. Performances by: Zuluboy, Mo Molemi, Driemanskap, Prokid, Ben Sharpa, Fifi, Cuba, Hymphatic Thabs, Substance, The Scavengers, Koldproduk, Reason, Mawetu, The Anvilz, Damola, Bianca Williams, Abantu, The Federation, Zeus, DJ’s Kenzhero, KGB, Blaq T, Raiko, Soosh, Medicine, Graffiti Crews: PCP – MSE – SEC – FUK – IAP – TK – DS – UN ENTRANCE: FREE DATE: 27 April 2008, Freedom Day TIME: 10:00 – 23:00 PLACE: Ritual Stores Cnr Bree & Henry Nxumalo Street...
CT Jazz festival looking HOT HOT HOT
We’re just reminding you: 28 Jan 08. Looks like this year’s Cape Town International Jazz Festival is taking Jazz to a whole ‘nother level with international superstar Sergio Mendes joining the bash! Some other notables to catch are Belgian based Tutu Puoane and her band, Japanese Jazz pianist funky chicca Hiromi London’s MUST SEE The Bays and US group the Ananda Project … not to mention the good old Manhattans! mhmm ladies… you read right! Cape Town International Jazz Festival organisers could not wait to announce the performance of the award-winning Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes at next year’s festival scheduled for Friday 28 – Saturday 29 March 2008 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Having announced the initial 20-artists in November, the plan was to release the next batch of names at the end of January 2008. “With a musician like Sérgio Mendes we couldn’t wait until January to announce his name. Given Mendes’s calibre, we know that people that were doubtful about their attendance next year will now think twice. It’s a coup for the festival and we thought it fair to make the announcement now”, says festival director Rashid Lombard. More than any other Brazilian musician, Mendes has taken samba and bossa nova to the rest of the world. Tunes like “Berimbau” and “Bananeira” are now part of the world’s musical pantheon because Mendes made them popular. “Mas Que Nada”, a tune that Mendes released with his Brasil’66 group was the first song sung in Portuguese to reach the top of Billboard charts. Since then, renowned artists such Oscar Petersen, Hugh Masekela and Al Jarreau have done their own renditions of Mendes’s signature tune. “I’ve always tried to promote the music of Brazil all over the world. There is something very special about Brazilian music – the melodies, the rhythms, the sensuality and the joy”, explained Mendes in a recent interview with Lexus Magazine Interactive. In the four decades that Mendes has been a professional artist, he has influenced different generations of musicians. Starting his career in Niterói in Brazil, the 66-year old composer, arranger and pianist grew up listening to jazz pianists such as Art Tatum, Bud Powell and Horace Silver. This is before Mendes linked up with the greatest Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim arranged most of Mendes’ earlier music. When he moved to the United States (US) in 1964, Mendes began his collaboration with musicians such as Herbie Mann, Stan Getz, Cannonball Adderley, Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder. Explaining his urge to explore Brazilian music, jazz pianist Kenny Barron who is also on the line-up for the 2008 Cape Town International Jazz...
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