A eclectic line-up of South African and international artists is set to make Durban’s Blue Lagoon rock this weekend with the three-day Zakifo international music festival taking place in the city for the second time this weekend.
South Africa’s Tandiswa Mazwai, Jamaican-American Damian Jr Gong Marley, son of reggae legend Bob Marley and Niger’s Bombino are among the artists to headline this year’s festival, which starts on Friday night and ends with Marley’s performance on Sunday evening.
Other performers set to take to the stage over the weekend include Durban singer and songwriter Lu Dlamini and South African legend Ray Phiri, who are up on Friday night along with Bombino, an internationally acclaimed Tuareg singer songwriter and guitarist.
Saturday’s line-up includes French DJ crew Birdy Nam Nam and UK rapper Tiggs Da Author, who will be followed by South African rock act Gangs of Ballet and two time South African Music Award nominee Bongeziwe Mabandla. The Saturday concert also features UK urban punk duo Nova Twins and South African a capella group The Soil.
Marley closes proceedings on Sunday, which also feature singer songwriter Petite Noir from Belgium, Kommando Obs from Lesotho and Sax Machine from the US.
The festival, started by Jerome Galabert, owner of the Reunion-based Sakifo Muzik Festival, Sipho Sithole of music house Native Rhythms, and Zig-Zag Magazine’s Andy Davis, last year. A great success musically but less so in terms of pulling in the punters, the festival is back as part of the Igoda music festival circuit that includes the Sakifo, Azgo and Bushfire festivals and the Bassline Africa Day concert. The festivals take place over a three week period and form a Southern African festival circuit which is growing in strength yearly.
A full event breakdown is available on www.zakifo.com