Does South African music need a special week to be taken seriously? Is it not good enough to maintain public interest every day? This is what critics ask every year of South African Music Week, which roars on to stages around the country from August 24 to 31.
It “captures the beat of our nation’s soul”, says Rosie Katz of the Music Industry Development Initiative (Midi) Trust. The Proudly South African initiative is also involved this year, and the goal of Music Week for 2002 is “to put a face to South African music talent by specifically drawing the nation’s attention to live music and performance”. Maybe Music Week has finally moved on from a cry for attention and promotion to become an august showcase of the music talent in this country.
And with about 650 live events across the country on the menu — including the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival in Johannesburg, the Music in Public Places initiative in Gauteng, the Martell Tribute to South African Heroes concert in Mamelodi (with Hugh Masekela, Judith Sephuma and many others) and, for the first time, the Oppikoppi music festival, which presents its new Premix programme from August 30 to September 5 — it’s a formidable effort indeed, enough to impress even the most cynical critics. The music spans all genres: classical, kwaito, rock, jazz and much more — even club DJs are getting involved more than in previous years. The Mail & Guardian online‘s gig guides contains details of these events.
There are also workshops (including the Harame Hip-Hop series of activities in Gauteng), choral festivals and jam sessions on the line-up.
Worth taking note of is Oppikoppi’s Premix, a fringe festival leading up to the main event, titled Plunge, which takes place at Fountains Valley in Pretoria from September 5 to 8 — later than last year to avoid the cold. It features music on two stages: one on Hatfield Square and one on the lawns of the Pretoria art museum. It’s split into themed days, with the spotlight on jazz, kwaito, punk, deep house, reggae, rock and more.
Also included are live shows at 21 venues. This is said to be forerunner for a future massive music festival, Grahamstown-style, that will be held yearly in Gauteng.
The main Oppikoppi festival will be bigger than ever, with international guests artists, including Belgium’s An Pierlé, Dutch hip-hop act Relax, Norwegian DJ Peer, Shawn Phillips from the United States and French DJ collective the Troublemakers, as well as a myriad local acts, from Kobus!, Koos Kombuis, Battery 9, Felix Laband and Jimmy 12″ to Golliwog, Zola, Tony Cox, the Politburo crew and Not My Dog. Also watch out for the Sanscapes Project, in which electronica meets traditional San sounds, and the national finals of the RP Studios Emerging Sounds competition.
Find South African Music Week on the web at www.samw.co.za and Oppikoppi on www.oppikoppi.co.za