Pushing the limits with Afropunk

A star-studded musical line-up for your entertainment

IT’S A little over a month to go until the first ever Joburg edition of the international Afropunk festival, and the line-up keeps getting bigger and bigger.

The global festival is all about music, creativity and expressionism, and will see the likes of the eccentric Solange Knowles headline the event, alongside Anderson Paak and The Free Nationals.

Also billed to perform is Thandiswa Mazwai, under her monicker King Tha, along with indie rock band Blk Jks.

New artists added to the list include Cape Town’s Petite Noir and DOOKOOM, local Joburg band Radio 123, Ghanaian-American Blitz The Ambassador, Mozambique’s Azagaia, as well as Joburg’s Kid Fonque, DJ Kenzhero, Just Themba, DJ Doowap, Tha Cutt and Themba Lunacy.

For the last 14 years, the event has been taking place in creative hubs across the world – Paris, London, New York and Atlanta.

Laura Mvula, Black Motion, Theo Parrish, The Brother Moves On, Nakhane, Spoek Mathambo, OKZharp & Manthe Ribane, Nonku Phiri, God’s Sons and Daughters, DJ Lag, Urban Village and TCIYF finalise the two-day festival line-up.

The festival is also running a battle of the bands competition, where one indie band will get to perform and share the stage with the artists. The winning band will walk away with prizes to the value of R15 000.

The top 16 bands are competing in a series of events that will come to an end on December 3. The final round will take place on December 14. Next weekend will see the Soweto semi-finals take place at Lebo’s Backpackers and the Pretoria semi-finals take place at the Tshwane Arts, Crafts and Design Hub. The Tembisa and Tsakane semi-finals will take place next month.

People who attend the festival can also look forward to the Spinthrift Market and the Activism Row. The market will see several African brands selling their crafts, from apparel to jewellery to accessories and products.

The Aids Healthcare Foundation South Africa Activism Row – an interactive, educational, site-specific installation – will showcase the work non-profit organisations are doing to solve urgent community problems. At the festival, attendees will get to see how they can directly participate in activism.

The two-day festival will take place at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein. Tickets for Afropunk are available at http://afropunkfest.com/johannesburg/tickets/