Digital designs on local music
Ahead of the Fak’ugesi festival, Dominique Soma talks about the EP that emerged from last year’s fest
THE annual Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival is a technology and cutting edge event that centres on gaming, and music, which has been one of the best elements of the festival since its in inception.
This year, the festival takes place at the Tshimologong Precinct in Johannesburg until September 29. But the music can be enjoyed countrywide. Like last year, the festival will culminate in a Fak’ugesi Beats Bloc Party, presented by electronic music mavericks Weheartbeat.
Artists such as Cape Town’s Bonj Mpanza and Soweto’s Hlasko will perform alongside Morena Leraba from Lesotho, Zikomo from America and S Fidelity from Switzerland.
They will all be a part of this year’s Beats Lab – a week-long exercise in collaboration and innovation in creating new sounds .
Last year’s Beats Lab included the likes of Zaki Ibrahim, Mndsgn, Evil Needle, Ramz and Melodiesinfonie as well as images and documentation by DJ Hannah Faith.
Dominique Soma of Weheartbeat says: “When we got into partnership with Fak’ugesi, we were trying to figure out what else we could do aside from the Bloc Party. We needed to find something that would work with what Fak’ugesi is about: creativity within technology and digital innovation. We came up with the idea to do a music residency.”
The result was seven songs that range from moody electronic styles to chilled lounge to dance. The EP will be released by Weheartbeat.
“Last year, we didn’t really know what the outcomes would be,” admits Soma. “We just had the idea of bringing all these artists together and Hannah Faith – a DJ and a photographer – would be document it.”
This year’s Beats Lab is likely to produce another EP, probably centred on Fak’ugesi’s 2018 theme: “Tap Your Afro Source Code”.
Soma says: “There will be a different artistic approach because there is so much power in putting people from completely different backgrounds together to collaborate.
“Music unites us and helps us work through our differences.
“At this year’s Beats Lab, we’ll be showcasing a live performance of what came out of the Beats Lab at the Bloc Party. We will also have an exhibition of last year and this year’s Beats Lab that the public can interact with. We’ll put out some of the music for people to listen to there, and there will be lots of photography, so it’s really exciting.”
■ The Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival takes place at the Tshimologong Precinct in Johannesburg from September 24 to 29. Look out for the EP on Weheartbeat’s social media.