(Bafo Bafo: Syd Kitchen & Madala Kunene)The Durban World Music Festival (aka Rock Da Beach) is an innovative concept that celebrates different genres of music in spectacular fashion with a myriad of top local and international artists converging at New Beach on Durban’s Golden Mile on March 27 and April 2 and 3. The festival is further inspired by the fact that Durban is currently the only major city in South Africa without an annual music festival and follows on to the great success of the FIFA Fan Park at New Beach.
The Durban World Music Festival provides indigenous, African, hip hop, dub step, rock, house, jazz, isicathamiya, maskanda and World Music artists a platform to perform alongside each other and expose the audience to new genres of music. This artistic combination of genres aims to attract a new multi-cultural audience of all ages and a new type of festival-goer. Thus the artistic content caters for a diverse audience with each of the three events being themed.
March 27: The Legends Concert features the long-awaited official reunion of musical icons of yesteryear, The Flames, who will share the stage with Johnny Clegg, Jazzanova (Germany), the Drummers of Burundi (Burundi), Bafo Bafo (Syd Kitchen & Madala Kunene), Shabalala Rhythm, The Kholwa Brothers, Maisha, Brian Finch, John Ellis, Tim Wells and Rene Tshiakanyi (DRC). Syd Kitchen is ill and needs all support - log onto www.sydkitchen.com for more information.
April 2 - beach fever will definitely set in on weekend two with the “Rock da Beach Party” presented by Mr Price and headlined by Edward Maya and his band; the man behind chart-topping Billboard hit Stereo Love. This internationally-renowned Romanian producer, songwriter, performer and DJ will perform for the first time on African soil. The day’s events begin at 10h00 with 30 DJ’s over three stages and will feature the likes of BBC 1’s Danny Rampling (UK), Liquideep, Fresh, Euphonik, Roger Goode, Pixie Bennett and Lady Lea, Cndo, Sox and Deon Govender to name a few.
April 3 - the festival closes with a Jazz on da Beach concert which showcases Hugh Masekela, Ronny Jordan with Quiet Storm (UK/SA), Judith Sephuma, the UKZN Jazz Ensemble conducted Dr Mageshen Naidoo, Just Friends featuring Khaya Dlamini, Heels over Head, Beat-Route feat Gerald Sloane and Dan Sheldon, the Zulu-Indian Collaboration feat Vusi Mkhize, Shanjeet Teeluck & Vishen Kemraj, The Car Boot Vendors, John Manuel, Zoko Dimande with Zoe Masuku & Sue Barry and Natalie Rungan. A really special addition is a unique festival collaboration of African guitar masters entitled GuitAfrika with Steve Newman (SA) and Alhousseini (Niger) together with Eric Triton’s Kreole Tabla Blues (Mauritius).
The community development component of the Festival will be held on April 1 at Ohlange Institute in Inanda, where talent will be shared by accomplished international musicians with emerging artists in this unique outreach programme.
The Festival also proudly plays host to the prestigious Indian Ocean Music Network Conference and AGM – which brings together high profile Festival Directors from the Indian Ocean countries, Africa, Europe, Australia and India. One of the aims of this meeting will be to expose the delegates to our own local talent with the job creation and skills transfer objective being to place them in the various festivals represented within the IOMN network.
Gates open at 11h00 and music begins at noon. R110 booked at Computicket for R150 from the Fountain Park kiosk next to the paddling pools at New Beach. For more information visit www.rockdabeach.com
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