Zahara and Goldfish feature this week.
? What to make of Zahara, the axe-wielding Afro-soul singer-songwriter? Is she South Africa’s answer to Tracy Chapman, a small-town girl “starting from zero with nothing to lose”, who goes on to “be someone, be someone, be someone”?
Or maybe the female flipside to local Afro-acoustic-guitar maestros like Vusi Mahlasela, Neo Muyanga or Madala Kunene? Is she a black take on the back-to-basics, homespun, organic folk-pop of Josie Field, Dear Reader and Laurie Levine? Or maybe, as writer Bongani Madondo suggests, she is just the latest in a long line of Xhosa singer-songwriters like Asanda Bam, Camagwini and Siphokazi.
Whatever the case, you don’t need to catch your Zahara fix from one of those R10 pirated CDs floating around. Like the best singer-songwriters, Zahara’s simple melodies and affecting lyrics are best experienced live. Malizole Fololo performs stirring Afro-soul songs from his album Ingqaka on support.
Atmospheer, corner of Castor and Pollux streets, Lansdowne, on November 4 at 6pm. Entrance is R150. Dress code is smart casual. Tel: 021 797 3108.
? What did a pair of electro-jazzy house visionaries who believed dance music was “fluorescent, soulless, plastic, vacuous bollocks” do when they scored a residency at iconic Ibiza house club Pacha a few years back? Reinvent the DJ of course.
On their platinum-selling albums, Caught in the Loop (2006), Perceptions of Pacha (2008) and Get Busy Living (2010), Goldfish patented a frenetically funky fusion of Afropolitan tech-house grooves, sexy soul jazz and tribal synth-pop by filtering a groove box, vocoder, keyboard, samplers, flute, upright bass and saxophone into its spontaneous live remixes. It’s this alchemical clubbing cocktail that Dom and Dave showcased on the band’s recent overseas tour. The dynamic duo joined David Guetta’s F*ck Me I’m Famous residency roster at Ibiza and performed for 8?000 revellers at Brazil’s Green Valley jungle wonderland, in between supporting INXS in London, Moby in Holland and Groove Armada in Oslo.
Cape Town audiences can expect the band’s full bevy of guest vocalists, spectacular lighting, surround sound and confetti cannons at its homecoming performance this weekend. Craig De Sousa and Dino Moran support.
Trinity Superclub, 15 Bennett Street, Green Point, on November 4 at 9pm. Entrance is R80 to R150. Tel: 021 421 1367. Website: www.trinitycapetown.co.za.