Hear me out. I know my blog is overdue but I have a good excuse. I could easily have regaled you with tales of what it’s like to sit behind my desk, stuff my face with Nikki’s homemade coconut macaroons, answer emails and plan our June issue (which is going to rock ‘n roll your world, by the way), but I thought you’d better appreciate ramblings from MTV Africa’s 5th birthday celebration and Ramfest.
I love music. I don’t understand people who say they don’t. And I definitely don’t understand people who don’t like local music. Calling it “local” feels like an insult in fact, almost as if it’s a disclaimer, warning you not to expect international quality and asking you to give it a chance because, shame, they’re trying.
The beats coming from the belly of the African beast are in reality so flipping brilliant that I sometimes can’t contain myself and have to break into song and dance (neither of which are award-worthy). Artists who do deserve awards, though, rocked up at Urban Tree in Sandton this past Friday, a day after the 16th SAMA nominations were announced.
Nominees like Teargas, Jozi and The Parlotones joined Flash Republic and ProKid in celebrating MTV Africa’s 5th birthday at the spacious gallery-like venue with rooftop garden. The class act of the night however was JR of Make the Circle Bigger fame. Hard to pick out of the crowd (mostly because he looks nothing like his publicity pics and forewent the hip hop uniform of shades, bling and high-tops), JR hit the stage sans entourage and blew everyone away with just two tracks of ammo and a charming little stand-up intro of his tunes. That’s why we love him. That’s why we make the circle beega…
We CLEO poppets paced ourselves on the free drinks (my, how we’ve grown) knowing that we had TO be fresh for Ramfest the next day. The Western Cape music festival migrated to Emmarentia Park in Jo’burg for one day of scorching beats and sunrays. We made it through the gates just in time to catch Wrestlerish, a Pretoria band whose sound can only be described as magic sprinkles. Lead singer Werner Olcker is like a gentle giant whose shape-shifting vocals reach into your heart and make it beat faster (to feel it for yourself get down to their CD launches this Thursday, March 11, at Tings and Times in Pretoria, and Friday, March 12, at Back2Basix in Westdene).Also hailing from PTA is alternative indie band Isochranous, who were incredible as always, all soaring keyboards, vocals and emotions (find key tunes The Tempest and Beauty Queen on their Facebook page). That first act would’ve been enough for most, but the reason fans braved the beer queues, porter loos and sunstroke were legends Boo! and Lark, both whom reunited to remind us how amazing they are, for very different reasons of course. Like a monki punk superhero Miss Chris Chameleon sported a black thong over hot pink leggings and dazzled with his animal sounds and glittering biceps. Very sexy, in a Frankenfurter kind of way…
The extraordinarily beautiful, horrifically talented and slightly scary Inge Beckmann, then took to the stage with Lark for a dark symphony of electronic opera (what else can I say?) By the time they’d wrapped up all the favourites like Moonlight and Half Eaten, I could barely hold myself upright. Not even the spellbinding light show from Aussie/Brit drum and bass group Pendulum could get me to stay, and we dragged ourselves back to the car in search of food. (God bless you Andiccio and your 24-hour pizza pie goodness.)
Tune in next week for a report back on Shaolin Monks: Wheel of Life at Montecasino and EFC Africa (extreme fighting champion peeps) and Kelly Clarkson at the Northgate Dome. ‘Cause that’s how I roll.
Nat
xOxO
