Entertain South Africa

The words to describe this trio don’t come easily. Conventional, definitely not. Blues influenced, very. Incredible, most definitely.

When a band releases a debut album of such emotion and consistency on every track, you can be assured that you have something special on your hands, as is the case with Machineri.

Formed in 2008 by lead singer Sannie Fox and guitarist Andre Geldenhuys, the band has been slowly biding their time to become one of the top new acts of the last year. It has grown to include drummer Daniel Huxham. Initially the band struggled to find a drummer that perfectly suited their style. In an interview with Just Music Fox said that they went through six drummers before they found Daniel.

And so our society has come to this: The world’s top tech house producer and DJ wears a mouse head. Or rather, a Mau5head. It’s amazing the Mau5isms you can come up with if you try. “Mau5ed up” (amped), “Mau5ed out” (tired after 10 hours of jamming to tech house), “I’ll meet you at your Mau5” (see you at your place). Etcetera.

It’s testament to this tech house phenomenon then, that his stage persona and the hype around it can enter popular culture so easily. Especially when you meet the man behind the Mau5. Which we had the privilege of doing at his pre-gig press conference in Camps Bay.

South African comedian and all round funny guy Trevor Noah appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in Los Angeles on Friday night (it will be aired in South Africa tonight, 10 January, on CNBC Africa). The comedian received a standing ovation from the audience who were in stitches, especially when they played a short clip in which Noah teased some African-Americans who turn whole sentences into single words with, as he puts it, “no regard for punctuation”.

Directly after the show Noah tweeted:”Just did the Tonight Show set and it was amazing. I got a standing ovation! Words cannot describe how happy I am.”

Happy New Year to everyone! South Africa has plenty to offer in 2012 and the annual Darling Music experience is a great way to get into this year’s festivities. The Music Experience will take place between 3 and 12 February, 2012 and the concerts will be spread between Darling’s lovely old Presbyterian church, the Buttery Museum, Maritz Studio Gallery, Groote Post, and the modern Vereenigende Reformeerde Kerk, a picturesque wine estate and a factory turned music hall.

The idea behind this unique music festival is to “freshen the image of classical music”, as well as increase its accessibility to every ethnicity in the Western Cape region and beyond. The Darling Music Experience (DME) was founded in 2006 by conductor David Tidboald, composer Hendrik Hofmeyr, and music enthusiast Alfred Langer. The festival was launched by organising small concerts in a rural setting in order to bring together music artists and music lovers.

Up the Creek is one of South Africa’s biggest and most eagerly anticipated music festivals. Forget pencilling these dates in; circle your calendar with a great big black permanent marker. From 3 – 5 February 2012, we’ll expect to see you slathered in sun screen, partying up a storm on the banks of the Breede River near Swellendam.

This is your chance to shake off the shock of going back to work after an indulgent holiday and revive your system with good music, good company and good fun.

The organisers have outdone themselves (again) by putting together a phenomenal line up that includes Karen Zoid, Taxi Violence, aKing, Kongos, Black Cat Bones, Fox Comet, Blues Broers, Hot Water, City Bowl Mizers, Great Apes, Wrestlerish, Peachy Keen and Holiday Murray.

THIS YEAR’S Cape Town Bike Festival (CTBF) has been cancelled due to lack of sponsorship and ticket support for the top level event.

What was to have been a major event on Cape Town’s calendar and Africa’s first and largest bike and lifestyle festival, the CTBF was to feature international artists, riders, expos and celebrities at the Cape Town Stadium from 16-18 December.

“Two weeks ago the company was still hopeful we would be able sell enough tickets to make the event happen on advice that an event like the CTBF is a walk-in event and that significant ticket sales would only start happening closer to the event,” says CTBF CEO De Wet Du Plessis.

‘From space, the planet is blue.

From space the planet is the territory not of humans but of the whale…’

So starts ‘Whale Nation’, Heathcote Williams’ great elegy to one of our planet’s most revered and remarkable animals; the whale.

From the 9th to the 31st December this beautiful piece of writing will be brought vibrantly to life by acclaimed performer David Muller (Imagining Einstein and Tommy) at The Amphitheatre in Hout Bay’s Mainstream Centre.

Muller performs ‘Whale Nation’ with a deep empathy for the whale. He celebrates with us the joy, the challenges and the pain that whales encounter as they cruise the oceans of the planet. He reveals to us their secret lives and in doing so reminds us to question our place in the great chain of existence. It is not our planet, we realise, but theirs.

The concerts in red do not form part of the Old Mutual Sumer Sunset Concerts series

Media Release:

“…at its best the city offers a relaxed blend of African ethnicity and culture – and nowhere does that harmony look, or sound, better than at the summer concerts at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden”. – Time Magazine, 19 November 2007

There’s a spring in our step and summer is truly on its way as we relish the thought of long hot days enjoying the special experiences that make Cape Town so unique.

For Capetonians and visitors the internationally renowned Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is the place to visit, not only for its beauty but for the hugely popular Old Mutual Summer Sunset Concerts that draw audiences from far and wide.