“Celebrating our Cultural Diversity to Connect and Unite Cape Town”
The Cape Town Festival’s (CTF) multi-dimensional street festival Night Vision is back by popular demand on Saturday, 12 March 2011 from 6pm till midnight at the newly revamped Cape Town Station Forecourt, extending festivities into Adderley Street between Strand Street and the fountain. The CTF, incorporating the One City, Many Cultures (1CMC) Project, is supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).
After a three-year break, Cape Town’s nocturnal urban street festival, Night Vision, is back with a bang, only this time bigger and better than ever before! Night Vision promises to dominate the city night life with a party-thumping arts and entertainment extravaganza. The event will lead up to a climax of explosive live on-stage performances by iconic bands such as High Voltage Collective featuring EJ Von LYRIK, Theba Shumba and D.form; 340ml; The Dirty Skirts and headline act, 2010 SAMA Award Winners, Big NUZ who will take the party well into midnight.
The evening programme launches at 6pm amid a vibrant carnival atmosphere complete with street parade, roving buskers, stilt-walkers, mimes, jugglers and loads of other amusement activities. This, juxtaposed with a bustling street market laden with exquisite arts, crafts, vintage collectables and organic market, will leave the whole family spoilt for choice. Food vendors catering to a variety of culinary preferences will provide quality catering service at the food court. Bar facilities will be dotted around the venue.
Powering up the Night Vision stage is High Voltage Collective. This dynamic Cape Town ensemble comprising EJ Von LYRIK, Teba Shumba and D.form blend their individual musical styles to put on a show of electrifying proportions.
A prolific and dynamic songwriter, music producer and performer, the vivacious EJ von LYRIK hails from Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats and is known for her inspiring and uplifting lyrics fragranced with positive messages. She has been writing and performing her own material since 1997, with a distinct interest in music production. Her music is an eclectic mix of funk, rock, dancehall, hip hop and roots reggae. EJ feels “the reason for this cross-over of musical genres is to reach out to a more diverse audience because the music is message-orientated”. She has performed on various international stages as well as collaborated with some hefty names in the music industry. A former member of the legendary female hip hop group Godessa, EJ has traversed the globe with performances in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Norway, Cuba, USA, UK, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Her confident energy, thought provoking lyrics and stirring melodies backed by a solid group of musicians, will be sure to captivate the Night Vision audience.
Teba Shumba is a ragga muffin artist born and raised in Gugulethu, Cape Town, and whose love for the arts started in community theatre. His music career started with the Kwaito band Skeem who were the proud recipients of the FNB Sama Award for ‘Best Township Pop’ for their debut hit song Waar Was Jy? in 1997. Since the release of his debut soul-afro-reggae-dancehall album 20-5-2-1 Manifesto in 2004, Teba performed at the 2005 Wurzburg Afrika Festival in Germany, sharing the stage with Julian Marley. He also performed at the 2006 Rototom in Italy alongside acclaimed artists like Andrew Tosh, Third World, Alpha Blond and Burning Spear. His dedication and perseverance has allowed him to travel to countries like France, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific Islands, Solomon Islands, Finland, and closer to home - Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho. Championing the cause of the voiceless, Teba’s music deals with social justice, universal love and songs of inspiration. His performance is nothing short of exhilarating and massive.
The third party to High Voltage Collective is none other than D.form, a product of a family of eccentric entertainers raised on a strict diet of jazz, soul, funk, reggae, disco and goema. It is therefore no surprise that his passion for the arts was unleashed at the young age of 10 when he joined his first b.boy/break-dance crew and at age 15 was part of his first rap group. He entered many talent shows as a rapper and dancer and went on to join the African Hip Hop Movement in 1988. He formed one of the first graffiti crews in Cape Town known as the Bomb-Crazy Crew and found himself involved with many conscious organisations in the hip hop community involved with acting and speaking out against the crimes and injustice of the Apartheid regime. By starting one of Cape Town’s first monthly hip hop nights known as ‘geto3000’, D.form has been instrumental in bringing together rappers, deejays, b.boys and graffiti artists – the basic four elements of hip hop culture under one roof.
The programme then makes way for the hip hop, African and fusion outfit 340ml, a name taken from the ubiquitous measurement on beverage cans. The Mozambican dub-jazz foursome comprising of Pedro da Silva Pinto on vocals, Paulo Chibanga on drums, Rui Soeiro on bass and Tiago Paulo on guitar, displays an organic musical influence that is unquestionably Latin music subtly laced with traditional Mozambican folk music (Marrabenta), synonymous with the sounds of marimba and the acoustic guitar. Their unique musical style incorporates Dub, Jazz, Ska, Afro-jazz and Reggae. Their debut album Moving was released in 2004 to rave reviews and what follows was nothing short of mass airplay on national radio and television across South Africa. Four years later they released their second album Sorry for the Delay. Apart from South Africa and Mozambique, 340ml has performed in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Reunion Island, England and France. Their music has been described by leading South African journalists as “an elaborate musical cocktail”, and certainly one that will go down especially well at this sizzling-hot show.
The fiendishly independent alt-indie-rock band The Dirty Skirts is based in Cape Town and is made up of Jess de Tolly on lead vocals and guitar, David Moffatt on guitar, Passion Paliaga on bass and Markie de Menezes on drums. Their sound has segued from rock electro to alt pop, and is steeped in an alternative rock tradition stretching back some forty odd years - think David Bowie, John Lennon, Talking Heads and The Cure. The band has toured the USA, UK, and the United Emirates. In South Africa they have shared festival stages with Oasis, Snow Patrol, Panic at the Disco, and Evanescence. They have independently recorded and released their eponymous debut mini-album in 2005. Singles such as Feeling the Pressure and Set Me Alight scorched up the local and student charts. The album Daddy Don’t Disco was released in June 2008 and enjoyed four radio play-listed singles. Daddy Don't Disco was nominated in the ‘Best Rock Album’ category at the SAMA’s. Winners of the inaugural Red Bull Soundclash, this quirky group will be sure to live up to their reputation of captivating live audiences.
Night Vision will draw to a monumental close with the headline act, 2010 SAMA Award-winning kwaito group, Big NUZ featuring Jojo aka Mampintsha, Mzi aka Danger and Sbu aka R Mashesha. Big because they are doing big things in the music world and NUZ being the vehicle registration prefix for the township of Umlazi next to Durban, from where the trio hails. The group was formed in 2002 when they moved from Durban to Jo’burg to hustle for a record deal. But years of perseverance ultimately paid off. In 2006 they released their debut album Zozo under Gallo Records working with the late Kid Mokoena from Why Not Entertainment. The rest is history. The trio, riding on the strength of its smash hit album, Umlilo, swept three awards – ‘Best Album of the Year’, ‘Best Kwaito Album’ and the prestigious ‘MTN Record of the Year’ - an accolade for which they were congratulated by President Jacob Zuma. The group also shared the stage with international acts including Rick Ross, T Pain and 2Face at the 2010 MTV African Music Awards and came home with ‘Best Performance Award’. They were also nominated in the category ‘Best Anglophone’. They have performed at a host of prestigious events including Mandela Day and the opening ceremony of the 2010 Soccer World Cup televised to millions of people the world over.
Night Vision is Cape Town’s premier free-to-the-public street festival, originally held on Long Street in the CBD and known for attracting over 30 000 reveling party-goers consisting of both locals and tourists. “With the jam-packed line-up on this year’s entertainment bill, we expect to host our largest audience yet,” said Cape Town Festival Founder and Executive Chairperson, Ryland Fisher, “we are happy to have secured the Cape Town Station Forecourt as the new home of the annual Night Vision in a bid to maximise the infrastructure legacies left behind by the 2010 Soccer World Cup,” he added.
Parking, public transport, road closures, etc. are among those logistical considerations that will be confirmed within the next week.
Night Vision forms part of the CTF’s year-long programme of events which also includes a 1CMC Discussion; Community Youth Workshop Programmes; Senior Citizens Day; Leadership Forum; Multimedia Exhibition; and Community Festivals. These interventions are strategically designed to engage publics at social, educational, business and creative level in the broader Cape Town society to showcase “a united city celebrated for its diversity and liveability.”
The 12th annual CTF kicks off on Friday, 18 March 2011 and culminates in the Human Rights Day celebrations on Monday, 21 March at the Company’s Garden in the CBD between 12pm and 8pm daily.
For more information, visit www.capetownfestival.co.za or email info@capetownfestival.co.za
ENDS
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