The grapes are in and it is time for the annual Franschhoek Oesfees at Solms-Delta wine estate, possibly South Africa’s only harvest festival open to the public.
It is both a heartfelt “thank you” to the valley’s farm workers for their labour and a blessing for the year’s harvest. Each year amateur and professional artists from across the country, but predominantly from the Boland, flock to this outdoor stage, entertaining thousands of revellers with the sounds of Cape vernacular music such as goema, Cape jazz, langarm, vastrap and boeremusiek. Genuine local Kaapse kos is served. This year, headline acts include David Kramer, Theuns Jordaan, Chris Chameleon, Emo Adams, Hot Water, Tribal Echo and Hannes Coetzee, performing alongside the Solms-Delta Music van de Caab’s home-grown bands.
Solms-Delta, Delta Road, off the R45, Groot Drakenstein, Franschhoek Valley, on March 24. To book, call: 021 874 3937 or [email protected].
■ The Muizenberg Jazz Festival might lack the grandeur of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, but what it misses in size it more than makes up for in passion. Putting its focus squarely on home-grown sounds, this two-day jazz celebration features a carefully curated selection of new and old names that push the jazz canon without pandering to commercialism. Leading the charge is South African bass legend Spencer Mbadu best known for his epic recording with Abdullah Ibrahim and Winston Mankunku Ngozi. On the other side of the spectrum, trumpet prodigy Darren English leads a quintet of talented young guns in an exploration of old-school sounds.
They are joined by the equally young and speculative Umthwakazi Collective, mapping the missing links between Afrobeat, jazz, Xhosa choral music and opera. Eclectic rhythms continue in the hands of Khoitrans, an eight-piece dance “troop” and Benjamin Jephta’s Afro-galactic the Tribe of Benjamin. Other highlights include soul sister “Blaq” Pearl and the Gypsy jazz swingers known as the Nomadic Orchestra.
March 23 and 24, 9pm to 12pm and March 25 from 11am. The Melting Pot, 15 Church Street, and Blue Bird Garage, Muizenberg, on March 23 and 24 from 9pm to 12am. Tickets range from R110 to R130 from Computicket. Tel: 021 788 9791.
■ “Vinyl culture has been long dead in most African countries. Perhaps these diggers are doing a service by restoring historical and cultural memory,” wrote DJ and blogger Boima Tucker in “Scramble for Vinyl” posted on the website Africa Is a Country. A witty exploration of the politics of crate-digging, the blog compared “the current mad dash for rare African vinyl” to Europe’s 19th- century scramble for Africa. Tucker has a point, but he fails to consider the continent’s own great vinyl connoisseurs, such as DJ Ntone Edjabe of the Pan African Space Station and DJ Kolade Arogundade. Nor does he take into account the growing vinyl culture in Cape Town, where the regular Vinyl Digz Rooftop Party and stores such as Mabu Vinyl are fostering a new generation of record- lovers. This week, they get to salivate over an aficionado’s stash when DJ Kolade hauls out his deep crates to lead listeners on an audio journey.
Upstairs at the Kimberley Hotel, corner Roeland and Buitenkant streets, on March 23 at 9pm. R30 gets you in. Website: hubbardhospitality.co.za/kimberley.htm.