SEND ME, SEND YOU
The pick of the Igoda music festival circuit is coming to town, at just the right time.
It’s getting cold and that’s a sign that the Igoda music festival circuit is upon us. However, you don’t have to pack a tent and trek off to Swaziland for Bush Fire or Mozambique or Durban or Reunion Island if that’s not your cup of tea. You can catch many of the headliners right here in Johannesburg at Constitution Hill when the Bassline Fest, the 14th incarnation of what used to be the Bassline Africa Day concert, takes place. This year’s festival celebrates the legacy of Nelson Mandela in his centenary year and boasts a line-up that reflects an eclectic range of sounds from across the continent and the globe. You’ll also get to do all that festival stuff like eat and drink and purchase things from the stands set up by Soweto’s Locrate Market.
Of course it’s about the music and there’s plenty of it — including a special collaboration between five-time Grammy winners Ladysmith Black Mambazo, afrobeat queen Yemi Alade and world music legend Salif Keïta. Alade is a social-media savvy Nigerian pop star whose use of music videos has catapulted her onto the international stage – the video for her rump-shaking single Johnny is the most watched by an African artist, currently heading for 90 million views.
We’re looking forward to seeing Nakhane, whose career is taking off in Europe on the back of his new album You Will Not Die; the infectious brassy dub of French Algerian Dub Inc; the driving afrobeat of Femi Koya, and of course the musical godfather and creator of arguably South Africa’s first and best-loved crossover track, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse. You try not dance to Burn Out — I’m telling you it can’t be done.
For as long as we’ve had democracy in South Africa, we’ve had the Bassline, and this year’s line-up is a reminder not only of what the brand has brought to us musically but also of its mission to bring us all together through the one thing we can all trust in wherever we’re from, whenever we were born and whatever we’re going through: music.
The fact that this aural celebration is happening at one of our most historic and important landmarks — well, that’s the kind of thing that might make a more sentimental person tear up in fond recollection of the days when we thought we could all just get along.
Who knows, with any luck and in the company of good friends, good music, wine and food, we still might be able to, for at least a day. In the words of the late, great and missed Hugh Masekela, written in a mural on the walls of Constitution Hill, who doesn’t “wanna be there when the people start to turn it around”. This seems as good a place as any to start the process.
Bassline Fest 2018 takes place at Constitution Hill on May 26. Doors open 2pm. Tickets and further info: bassline.co.za
WIN To win one of two sets of double tickets to the festival, name two artists performing at this year’s event. E-mail your answers with the subject line ’Bassline’ to lifestyle@sundaytimes.co.za.