Rolling Stone magazine will launch in South Africa on Wednesday 23 November. Known for its controversial and cutting  edge articles on music, liberal politics and pop culture, Rolling Stone is set to be the first magazine of its kind in South Africa.  It will be managed by Miles Keylock as editor-in-chief, Georgia Gardner as creative director and Anton Marshall as digital editor. 3i Publishing will produce it under license and it will sell for R34.95 at stores such as CNA, Pick ‘n Pay, Look ‘n Listen and Musica.

Saturday 10 December is an important day for folk music lovers as it heralds the Cape Town Folk and Acoustic Music Festival. It’s one night of amazing acoustic performances by 18 of South Africa’s top music artists, including Ard Matthews, Brian Finch, Natasha Meister, Tombstone Pete, Louise Day, and Christine Weir and Julie Blundell.

The festival is brought to your courtesy of Real Wired Music, Eastern Acoustics, CTICC, Sedgwick’s Old Brown Sherry and Marshall Music.

The acoustic guitars, folk and jazz performances are designed to recreate the ambiance of a genuine 70s folk concert. Artists will perform three sets with two 30 minute intervals. A cash bar and food stalls will cater to concert-goers food and beverage needs.

Whether you are a music connoisseur, a musician, or simply a lay listener, the fusion of compositions which reverberated through the CTICC’s grand auditorium in Cape Town on Saturday 24 September would not only have melted your music-loving mind away, but quite possibly turned you into a classical Indian music fanatic.

Local production company Inner Circle Entertainment presented the double bill concert ‘Celebration of Santoor’ to the audiences of Johannesburg and Cape Town. Santoor is a hammered dulcimer made of wood, which originated in the valley of Kashmir in the Himalayas. Originally an Indian folk instrument played as an accompaniment to a style of singing known as Sufiana Mausiqi, it is now on par with any other classical instrument owing to the skills of legendary santoor maestro Shivkumar Sharma, who has created a new style of instrumental music due to his modification, arrangement and new techniques of playing on the hundred-stringed instrument.

It’s that time of year again. No, not when we marvel that Christmas decorations are up earlier this year than last, but when we celebrate all things rock and green at Rocking the Daisies. This year, Rocking the Daisies will take place on the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th of October at the same old spot – Cloof Wine Estate in Darling.

According to Helen Herimbi (iol.co.za), you can get to the festival with around 150 cyclists who will cycle approximately 350km to enjoy the sights and sounds, or you can participate in Walking the Daisies, which goes along the west coast (you can donate R150 to raise funds for children who need school shoes), or you can fly. The Daisies Plane, courtesy of Velvet Sky Airlines, offers return flight for R999.

By Megan Diener

You better beware the touch of madness and lunacy caused by Wednesday night’s blood moon.

During Wednesday night’s darkest hours, between 20:00 and midnight, the moon was in alignment between the earth and sun, causing a lunar eclipse. The dark side of the earth overshadowed that of the full gibbous moon and turned it a deep shade of red.

To celebrate the eclipse, as well as Youth Day on Thursday 16 June, the Mother City and Joburg went wild at Balkanology.

Balkanology was dubbed ‘the biggest and only Balkan party in South Africa’ and showcased authentic Eastern European-styled gypsy camps. The camps were complete with caravans, tarot and palm readers, hay bales, goats, chickens and pigs.

By Dani

I set out on Wednesday evening with photographer Gavin Collins in tow, to catch two energetic dance-driving bands on stage at Zula Bar in Long Street, Cape Town.  It was the much anticipated launch of MacGyver Knife’s new album, Sewing Legend.

Supporting act, She Man Lion rocked up and rocked out. Two words: Superior Synth! Their 80s inspired dance beats could only be likened to a modern, male-fronted Yazoo with double the synth and double the style. Impressive hyper-speed drumming kept things upbeat and happening in a real techno-party fashion right through their set. Psycho-dancing enriched with disco lighting and solid tempo merged to form an electric hurricane on-stage.

South Africa has seen some pretty amazing acts from around the world visit its stages and now it can add another to the long list. Australia’s Pop Princess, Kylie Minogue, will be performing in Cape Town and Johannesburg in four sensational concerts. If you want to see Miss Minogue in action you better get your tickets fast.

Minogue is currently on her Aphrodite Tour. She has already wowed audiences all over the world in countries such as France, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Australia and England. If the video updates are anything to go by the months of hard work, rehearsal and planning that went into the tour are paying off.

He is currently one of South Africa’s most sought after DJ acts. Haezer has been mixing and making his own “trash electro” music for some years now but only recently began getting some proper recognition. On Tuesday 26 April (the night before Freedom Day) Griet (events and artist agency) and Haezer joined forces to give the locals a Go!Go! EP launch party they won’t quickly forget, and I was there.

Haezer has worked his way up from opening for international acts at The Assembly to headlining the gigs himself. He has definitely created a stir in the local and international electro scene as the numbers of excited fans who flocked to Cape Town’s City Hall to see him proved.

Since 2005 The Dirty Skirts has rocked local and international stages to screaming fans. The band’s blend of pop indie-rock and reputation for giving incredible live performances has propelled them from the underground into the sometimes obsessive arms and ears of thousands of devoted fans. Now, ladies and gentlemen you’ll all be happy to hear that the four-piece benchmark for Cape Town indie-rock will be releasing another studio album.

With Jeremy de Tolly on vocals and lead guitar, David Moffat on guitar, Maurice Paliaga on bass and Mark de Menezes behind the drums, The Dirty Skirts has found a perfect formula to make music that has nothing formulaic about it.

If you were in South Africa in the late 80s and early 90s you probably had Mango-fever; it was characterised by an addiction to the country’s newest music sensation: Mango Groove. The band thumbed its collective nose at South Africa’s dubious political policies by comprising black and white musical artists. In fact, one of its founders was the iconic Aaron “Big Voice” Jack Lerole. From 1988 to 1992 Mango Groove dominated the South African airwaves and then they seemed to fade away. Now they’re back to prove their staying power with a brand new live DVD, Mango Groove Live in Concert; their first live DVD concert ever.