A new festival is always exciting, especially when it’s something different. Enter The Cape Town World Music festival, a weekend inner-city gathering of local and international artists playing a mix of music styles.
Friday night saw 2 stages open – the main stage outside in the Harrington Street parking lot and inside the Assembly. I started off at the former, arriving to DJ Click Band, billed as being from France but seemingly from a wide array of countries and musical backgrounds. They were really cool.
Up next was Spoek Mathambo, who hadn’t played a Cape Town show in a while. He was joined by a more rustic backing band than the last times I’d seen him, perhaps in honour of the event, as well as 2 special guests. Swedish singer (and Mrs Spoek Mathambo) Gnucci Banana was the first suprise and the second was a duet with Lindiwe Suttle. I was sorry to have missed Lindiwe Suttle at Rocking the Daisies, especially once she started singing – I really, really enjoyed the song she performed with Spoek.
Even though I found Father Creeper a bit disappointing, Spoek Mathambo & co put on a very entertaininig show.
I caught some of the ever-enjoyable Bateleur over in the Assembly and noted that they had a new drummer (though they might’ve had him for a while, I couldn’t really see the band at Rocking the Daisies).
Unfortunately I couldn’t spend the whole weekend at the festival*, so this meant I left after Bateleur and arrived after 5 on Saturday. The place looked lovely in the afternoon light, and another stage was up and running (for free) till 6pm. Manouche were playing as I walked in.
Inside, at the Main stage, Bholoja (Swaziland) was giving a lovely performance – really pretty stuff and the most ‘world’ music I’d heard that weekend so far.
Dirty Bounce was a Rocking the Daisies highlight for me, so I was looking forward to seeing them again. They didn’t have the best turnout, which was a shame, but they were awesome. Gertjie Besselsen (Mr. Cat & the Jackal) was particularly manic, (especially while covering Nick Cave) which was super entertaining.
Up next, and well suited to their twilight timeslot, were the artsy The Brother Moves On. I still haven’t made my mind up about them but they’re definitely something… Compelling to watch and very theatrical. Apparently items of theirs for sale at the merch stand ranged from EPs to facepaint and leggings, which makes total sense.
I took a breather to check out what was happening at the Assembly. It was a very different scene in there – a hushed crowd sat and watched the experimental stylings of Babu. The stage would change again later to a more ‘Assembly’ vibe of dance acts, but I didn’t go back to see it.
I missed Zaki Ibrahim at RTD so was looking forward to her CTWMF performance. She didn’t disappoint – with a visual setup that felt very Santogold, the solid backing of Mr. Sakitumi and some cool songs, I really enjoyed her set.
Based mostly off my hatred for their monster hit Doo be doo (though some of their other stuff isn’t bad) I’ve never really had any desire to see Freshlyground, so Saturday was the first time I saw them perform.
In terms of owning the stage, they do that well; Zolani Mahola’s super charismatic and has one of the most infectious smiles around. While I still think they’re a bit too wholesome-sounding for my taste it’s clear they deserve the big name they’ve created for themselves – they do what they do very well.
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Overall, I thought this exciting new festival was well organised and had a great vibe (very relaxed, nice mix of all ages ranging from under 12s to over 60s) and I’m sure that if it continues to be an annual event it’ll just grow bigger and better.
*I missed Friday’s main stage headliner Oliver ‘Tuku’ Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe) and Saturday’s day programme as well as headliner Boom Pam (Israel)
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Cape Town World Music Festival – Facebook | Website
Freshlyground | Spoek Mathambo | DJ Click Band | Bholoja | Zaki Ibrahim | Mr Cat & The Jackal +
The Bone Collectors + The Nomadic Orchestra | The Brother Moves On | Bateleur | Manouche
