Virtual tours all the buzz at international art festival
FOR the first time the International Public Arts Festival (IPAF), in Salt River in the Cape, will be offering art fanatics virtual tours to those who cannot make it to the five-day event.
The internationally acclaimed festival boasts local and international talent, and began yesterday. It will run until Sunday, February 14. It is being hosted by Baz-art, in partnership with the City of Cape Town, a street-art platform that uses painted murals to create conversations and dialogues.
Baz-art co-founder Alexandre Tilmans said: “For this special fifth edition of the IPAF, our motto is: walk, run or cycle it. We have designed six tours of various lengths – from 3km for our walking families, and up to 30km for our sportsmen and women.
“The tour routes are exploring prominent neighbourhoods in Cape Town, such as Salt River, Woodstock, East City District, City Bowl, Waterfront precinct and Sea Point. Visitors can anticipate immersive guided or self-guided walking and cycling tours, with stringent Covid-19 protocols in place.”
Festival organiser Lauren Fletcher said: “The IPAF showcases our homegrown talent such as Bazil Baxter, Elizabeth
Kruger and Njabulo Hlophe, and other exceptional street artists from overseas. Our focus is on family-friendly walking and cycling tours this year. These are a safe, exciting ways to explore the city, in a time when many are seeking new ways to get out and about. Tours vary in length, and include new and existing murals that paint a fascinating picture of Cape Town and Africa,” said Fletcher.
Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said:“after a challenging year for all of us, we really need initiatives that will bring us together and further instil a sense of community.”
BLACK Coffee recently released his long-awaited album Subconsciously, a project he holds close to his heart.
It’s his first album since The Djoon Experience, which released in 2013.
However, with this release, he has shifted to focus to beyond “only house music”.
“This album is a music project that’s very close to my heart. I’m a music fan first. I listen to and love different styles of music.
“This album is the first time that I’ve ventured fully outside of ‘house music’ on an album.
“At the same time it’s been extremely important for me to stay true to my roots and my rhythms and have the people I want to work with on the album,” Black Coffee shared.
“It’s the modern-day Black
Coffee, and it represents what I’ve been doing musically, how the melody is written, how the song is produced,” he said. The 12-track album features a collaborations with fellow global stars like Pharrell Williams, David Guetta, Tellaman, Cassie, and Usher.
“I’d first done the song
Missed Calls with Jozzy.
“I’d been trying to do a song with Pharrell for a while now. But it was only after I’d created 10 Missed Calls that he wanted to get on it,” said Black Coffee. About featuring Sabrina Claudio on the title track, he said they met in LA two years earlier and he loved “her texture, her musicality” and how the song SBCNCSLY became what it is.
“It’s a very special song on the album and it truly represents the quintessential Black Coffee sound,” he said.
Subconsciously has been a work in progress since the release of Drive with David Guetta ft Delilah 10
Montagu, which was in November 2018, however as Black Coffee was gearing up to release this album in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
“As a music artist and producer, my number one priority is and will always be to honour the music and the process.
“And we’d actually been gearing up to release the album in early 2020, but the pandemic took hold across the globe and we decided to push the release to early 2021.
“In hindsight it was a blessing in disguise as it allowed me the time and space to refocus fully on my music and spend time working on making the album even better,” he said.
“Black Coffee added: “I’m thrilled with how the album has been received, and truly humbled and grateful for the ongoing and continued support across the world.
“And a special thank-you to all my fans in South Africa and
Africa, who are who have been my most ardent, unflinching and loyal supporters throughout my career.”
What can fans look forward to next?
“I’m now in a space where I want to explore as much music as I can without being stuck in one genre.
“I want to do everything that I love. I’m a music fan first. Even the music I listen to varies, I listen to many different styles of music.
“That’s what I want to do as a producer as well. I want to produce different styles of music.
“I’m at a place where I have outgrown being a one genre kind of producer. I have a range that I haven’t really utilised.
“Previously, I would try to bring all these elements into house music, which is something I still love, but I feel like there is so much more I can say with different tempos and collaborations and artists,” explained Black Coffee.