Africa Is a Country

Why Is No One Else Talking About These Musicians?

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Why Is No One Else Talking About These Musicians?

By
Ts'eliso Monaheng

I got the chance to be part of the Redbull Basscamp in Johannesburg during October 2013. For six days, a unique cross-section of hand picked South African musicians holed up in central Johannesburg for lectures from music industry heavyweights in the morning (Hugh Masekela stopped by), followed in the afternoon by studio sessions which would, at times, stretch into the night. It’s the same concept as the Redbull Music Academy, a music grad school of sorts through whose doors the likes of Black Coffee and Flying Lotus have emerged.

As an observer, I was granted first-hand access into the collective composition geniuses of all the participants – the jaw-droppingly talented Nonku Phiri jammed with Rob Brink, drummer for Beatenberg and electronic music producer of note; Okmalumkoolkat spat the grittiest lines in a  mini-rap cypher with Bra Sol from the group Big FKN Gun; and South Africa’s rap phenomenon Cassper Nyovest sat at a computer workstation laying the foundations to a beat which was to feature Cape Town’s very own Youngsta and Johannesburg-based Durbanite Moonchild Sanelly, among others.

Hlasko, Illite MC, Satori, and Card on Spokes (real name Shane Cooper. He won a South African Music Award for his album Oscillations recently) were other names among the participants. Basically, Basscamp was a musical madhouse; a four-floor gateway to intimate musical moments with artists at the bleeding edge of South Africa’s creative culture; an opportunity for great people to exchange ideas and make incredible music.

When all was done and dusted, I reviewed the footage I’d managed to capture and, using interviews conducted with Hlasko (that’s him above with Nonko), Ox++ (Brink), Bra Sol, and Fever Trails (Nick van Reenen of the band Bateleur), compiled this ten-minute perspective on South Africa’s under-appreciated left field music scene. It’s called Breaking Boundaries; let your imagination take control.

Quotable:

I’m very bad at genre categorization, it’s always been something I’ve been quite anti I think; I feel like it’s constricting. So calling yourself something separates you from whatever else is happening…it’s not about playing music to just your friends, it’s about playing music to whoever might enjoy it.

**There’s a gallery here.

Further Reading

Repoliticizing a generation

Thirty-eight years after Thomas Sankara’s assassination, the struggle for justice and self-determination endures—from stalled archives and unfulfilled verdicts to new calls for pan-African renewal and a 21st-century anti-imperialist front.

Drip is temporary

The apparel brand Drip was meant to prove that South Africa’s townships could inspire global style. Instead, it revealed how easily black success stories are consumed and undone by the contradictions of neoliberal aspiration.

Energy for whom?

Behind the fanfare of the Africa Climate Summit, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline shows how neocolonial extraction still drives Africa’s energy future.

The sound of revolt

On his third album, Afro-Portuguese artist Scúru Fitchádu fuses ancestral wisdom with urban revolt, turning memory and militancy into a soundtrack for resistance.

O som da revolta

No seu terceiro álbum, o artista afro-português Scúru Fitchádu funde a sabedoria ancestral com a revolta urbana, transformando memória e militância em uma trilha sonora para a resistência.