Publications
Partners
Constitution Hill’s Old Fort hosted the media launch for the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival, an annual event celebrating the creative arts.
The music arm of this event, Basha Uhuru Sounds of Freedom, takes place on June 29 at the same venue.
On arrival, I found the historical prison to be quiet, almost as if nothing was happening. But then, it is quite a large space. I spotted one of the country’s leading custodians of hip-hop culture, Osmic Menoe, standing in the basement by his swaggy vintage ride. This suggested that we were close to the party venue.
We soon found our way inside an eatery and bar space, where members of the media were warmly welcomed with heaters and lights hanging from chicken wire on the ceiling, which looked cool. It was all so black hippie, this lounge-like feel with home-grown cuisine such as mielies.
DJ Durban Gogo played some chilled House music before the always-lovely Rorisang Thandekiso carefully curated the night’s itinerary, which involved announcing the line-up of artist appearing at Basha Uhuru, as well as mediating a panel discussion about the economy of art.
Coincidentally, most people at the event wore dark colours and almost everyone was stylishly dressed – street-centric but suave. A winter fashion tip: buy a beanie and fold it up like US singer Anderson .Paak or the deep-sea fisherman he got that from.
DJ P-Kuttah from Kool Out was there. So was singer Msaki, dressed more casually than at the SA Music Awards last weekend, where she rocked one of the best looks.
Msaki will perform at the festival, which should be a treat as Black Coffee’s Wish You Were Here, which she appears on, is still one of the best House songs out.
Also on the music line-up are Khuli Chana, Thebe, The Brother Moves On and various deejays, including Dimples and Kent.
Now in its seventh year, Basha Uhura will present an art and design exhibition, a film festival, a poetry festival and a platform to pitch one’s ideas in the hopes of getting business and investment. The first Basha Uhuru gave rise to new talent such as Moonchild Sanelly, who has since become a household name. Watch this space.
 |
| ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
