The Festival of Living Treasures is set to take over from Womad, writes Alex Sudheim
A warm wave of sensuous sound from the four corners of the earth engulfs South Africa this month in the form of the Festival of Living Treasures. Held in KwaZulu-Natal over five days from December 15 to 19, the festival takes place in the lush, unspoiled environments of the St Lucia estuary and Shongweni Nature Reserve. Not only do these locations provide a serendipitous setting for the rich tableau of music on offer, but they also play an important role in one of the event’s most unique features.
Instead of imposing itself rudely on the environment – as major music festivals have a habit of doing – the Festival of Living Treasures integrates itself fully with its natural surrounds, leaving the area exactly as it was found. So if it rains, everyone gets wet, and if you get eaten by a crocodile or run over by a foraging hippopotamus, well, maybe one of the artists will immortalise you in a song.
Living Treasures bills itself as “Africa’s greatest music festival”, a claim which reveals itself as more than mere hype when one considers the astonishing range and high calibre of the artists and musicians from South Africa, Africa and abroad christening the seminal event which, in time, has every potential to outshine Womad. More than 80 performances make up over 60 hours of sublime sonic stimulation, while the dramatic natural backdrop imbues the proceedings with an aura of Eden-like tranquillity.
Another unprecedented aspect of the Living Treasures festival is the care the organisers have taken in providing and utilising an astonishingly diverse spectrum of music. While the overwhelming emphasis is upon world music – with top-drawer performers including Tibet’s Yungchen Lhamo; Australia’s Aboriginal sensation Warkala and the United Kingdom’s Medicine Drum – other genres such as rock, jazz, is’cathamiya, pop, folk, African opera, boeremusiek, maskanda, qawali and mbaqanga are featured in their own right, as well as in some intriguing crossover jams.
The culture-crossing collaboration between artists from radically different backgrounds which the organisers have engineered is possibly the most exciting element of the festival, and underscores the theme of global musical unity. The Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean Project is a unique concept inspired by the meeting of the oceans and the music of the slaves. Incorporating all the musical styles which span the history and geography of this project, the performance is an extraordinary fusion of the blues, West African kora music and the Island rhythms of sega, maloya and ternar.
In A Journey thru Africa, Kenya’s Simba Morri, Angola’s Adamu and Swaziland’s Joseff D create a blend of Swahili hi-life music from East Africa, socca from Central Africa and chimurenga from Zimbabwe. In another genre-defying collaboration, hardcore Durban hip-hop/rock/metal band Anarchy join forces with celebrated Pietermaritzburg qawali troupe Fawzia Banu, who are renowned for their moving and gentle spiritual music.
Guitars for Africa is an extravaganza of myriad guitar styles, and Percussion Discussion has local trance-heads THC, O’Canatal, Interritmo and Garland of Rhythm drumming up a storm with percussionists from Denmark, Peru, Swaziland, Seychelles, Comores, Mozambique and Cameroon.
Heading up the South African contingent is a kaleidoscope of acts representing this country’s multi-dimensional cultural heritage. U’Shaka is the epic African opera which combines, in live performance, classic Western orchestra with massed African choirs, while Sugardrive provide a molten concoction of guitar-driven rock and electronic sounds. Durban’s THC create a powerful fusion of tribal drumming, trance, heavy-metal and rock influences, while Vusi Mahlasela and Louis Mahlangu provide lilting soulful vocal and guitar harmonies.
Also featured is Zulu blues icon Madala Kunene; maskanda maestro Phuzekhimisi; pop star Ringo; jazzman Jimmy Dludlu; Ray Phiri and Stimela with Nico Carstens; acoustic anti-heroes Van der Want and Letcher; folksters Landscape Prayers; acclaimed dancer Vincent Mantsoe; “world pop” ingenue Wendy Oldfield; punk-rockers Synapsis; Zulu master of classic Indian karnatic singing Patrick Ngcobo; Durban “girls in pop” Famous Curtain Trick, Ichabod and Caffeine Substitute; suave mbaqanga seducers The Soul Brothers and scores more.
The jewelled musical terrain the Festival of Living Treasures opens to the intrepid music and cultural explorer is a rich and glowing one indeed. Coupled with the festival’s verdant natural setting, this is indeed a deep seam of treasure whose excavation no one even remotely interested in the music of the world can afford to miss out on.
The Festival of Living Treasures takes place in the St Lucia Wetlands Reserve on December 15 and 16, and in the Shongweni Nature Reserve from December 16 to 19