Goldfish on stage on Friday night. Madelene Cronjé, M&G
The orange sun gleams as it sets in the sky over the Malkerns landscape. Middle-aged punters sit on their camping chairs, sipping wine and expensive whisky, while kids chase one another around, flitting in and out between the legs of the dancing audience members.
On the lawn in front of the Bushfire Festival’s main stage, Shangaan electro-dance act the Tshe-Tsha Boys are breaking it down while the crowd roars with approval. Their bright orange overalls and rather scary clown masks, coupled with their high-octane dance moves, make them a bizarre attraction for the festival-goers.
A few minutes later the crowd is invaded by enormous dancing puppets – and the scene begins to take on a carnival Âatmosphere. Chaos reigns as the masters from the Giant Match puppet troupe try not to stomp on Âunsuspecting children while other, drunker revellers join the throng, determined to get in on the act.
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This year’s Bush Fire festival in Swaziland drew a crowd of over 15 000 people and included acts from around Africa and abroad. See the photos.
The crowd is filling out, getting ready for one of the highlights of the day – a set by Zimbabwean legend Oliver Mtukudzi. He doesn’t disappoint; from his second song he has the crowd singing along to every word.
It’s getting darker and colder but we just huddle closer together, warmed by our choice of poison and the songs of this great African musician.
It is moments like these that make me get into my car every year around May and drive the five hours it takes to get to Malkerns in Swaziland.
Bushfire has developed a reputation for bringing top-class African music to its audience, but it is also one of the friendliest festivals around. There is no aggression to be seen and everybody has made the trip from Mozambique, South Africa or wherever they set off from to enjoy three days of music and forget about their worries. The fact that the festival caters for everyone from toddlers to pensioners means that you have a truly awesome experience — even if it is a little pricey.
In my review last year I bemoaned the fact that the line-up was dominated by commercial pop-rock acts, such as the Parlotones, FreshlyGround and Lira, and that it did not include many great artists from the rest of Africa. But this year I found many festival-goers who said they had thought long and hard about coming back this year because these bands were not in the line-up.
Luckily, the Bushfire team got the balance right this year. Although South African electro acts Goldfish and Gazelle entertained the more commercially minded festival-goers, the line-up still produced storming sets from Mtukudzi, Mali’s Habib Koite and South ÂAfrican reggae band Tidal Waves.
The more classically minded could enjoy the Yale Concert Band, the kids had Pedro the Music Man and those who were interested in what’s going down in Swaziland’s music scene had a 100% Swazi stage to keep them entertained.
If Bushfire maintains that balance between catering to the African music fan and the commercial rock, pop and dance enthusiasts, it will enjoy many more successful years of revelry.
