Muziks makin' me dans

So highlights from the two festivals I was at recently.

Festival Number One: Bush Fire, Swaziland

1. Acoustic Africa feat. Vusi Mahlasela (SA), Habib Koite (Mali), Dobet Gnahore (Cote d'Ivoire), and the coolest lefty bassist I've ever seen. Truly moving music in a fantastic setting.
2. Busi Mhlongo (SA). Soulful and commanding-on-stage as they come. The whole passing on the baton to the new generation thing at the end of her show was particularly touching. Kinda bummed I've missed most of her career.
3. Some dude named Elemotho and his band from Namibia. Billed as an experimental acoustic set, it couldn't have been much further from that.
4. Jose Mucavele (Moz.). White anvil beard, crocodile skin boots and a guitar-is-optional attitude on a small stage = Portuguese blues like I've never heard before.
5. Sipho Hotstix Mabuse (SA). Only because his band plays that rad song whose name I don't know, and I didn't know his band played that song. A nice surprise to hear I'm burnin' up, all my looooove. Burnin'! Allll my loooove. Over and over for like 15 minutes.
6. Bob and Kenzhero's Michael Jackson and Brenda Fassie tributes, on both nights, after the bands had finished.

Festival Number 2: Oppikoppi 15 - "Smoorverlief"

1. Has to be Koos Kombuis. The Godfather of Oppi still rocks hard after all these years.
2. Lucky Fonz the Third. Huge surprise and probably my personal highlight. Best small stage act I've ever seen. And from de Nederlands nogal! He's playing the Bo on Sunday - I shall be there.
3. Shadowclub. I think the best rock band in SA right now, but the Oppi organisers clearly don't agree putting them on at 1pm on Sunday.
4. Acoustic Africa (again). Everyone was so amped to see them play again so it was a real pity that Habib and Dobet were late and they had to truncate their set. However, Vusi's one-man-show-crowd-pacification-while-we-waited, including a rendition, in Afrikaans, of "'N Donkie is a Wonderlike Ding" made for a true new South Africa moment. Al daai vet boere sing baie mooi, arm in arm, met die swart oke, ne.
5. Balthazar (Belgium). Kinda hipster skinny jean punk rock but tons of energy and attitude, and overall a pleasant surprise.
6. Thandiswa Mazwai. The former Bongo Maffin frontwoman is quite large these days, and I think she was high because she kept interrupting all her own songs, but still, she has a sweet voice and kicks it proper when she's concentrating.
7. aKing. Yes I know melodic rock from Belville is kak. But on stage with 5000 fans they actually moer the stuffing out of you, melodically. Awesome.
8. Fokofpolisiekar. Ok ok they aren't even a band anymore, and they also play stupid doosrok from Belville as aKing (perhaps because they share band members?), albeit much harder, but they've driven Oppi for about 3 years now and the okes still go bos for them in the biggest, most Afrikaans way imaginable.
9. The unofficial official anointment of Oppikoppi as a National Heritage Site. Kak funny but according to those in the know, perhaps not too far from becoming a reality. The whole importance of Afrikaans kultuur and its relationship with Oppi, sort of thing.
10. Foto na Dans. I was told in Swaziland to keep an open mind. I heard them last time I was at Oppi and they actually made me want to go home. This time they didn't. Apparently they don't take themselves seriously, and that makes a massive difference. As much was lost in translation last time. So if you want to hear some self aware Afrikaans opera-rock, give them a try. I won't ever bother though, unless I'm at Oppi. Time and place people, time and place. For everything.

I won't list the supakak stuff. Just a paragraph of advice: Die Antwoord will make your ears bleed. Watkin Tudor Jones is die enigste oke wat nog steets lief vir sy lewe is. But of course him and Yo'landi Visser (yo, yo, Yo'Landi!) still have a large following. Apparently they're married now too? Terrifying kids in the offing then. Pahty Pahty Pahty! (for one whole song, that's all she screeches).