MUSIC NEWS

Tailor – Dark Horse
Dark Horse is what happens when you pair a strong singer with powerful melodies.
The Pretoria-born singer-songwriter has been performing since the age of 12 and started the band Mel-funktion at age 15. She was then Melanie Le Roux. In 2007 Melanie moved to Cape Town and became Tailor.
Dark Horse is her debut album. It’s astounding to hear that half the songs for this album were written in a day. Tailor, who currently has one of the most powerful voices in South Africa, really shows off her range of vocals, going from a whisper to a scream effortlessly. The opening track perfectly introduces us to the album. She plays with genres like county, blues, folk and jazz, zigzagging between them like she owns them. The songs are dark, eerie and beautiful – take your time and listen to the lyrics, they show us her more dramatic side. A must for anyone who appreciates soulful female artists like Alanis Morissette, Patti Smith, and Tori Amos.
Favourite track: “Why Don’t You Love Me”
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@Thisistailor
www.thisistailor.com read more

This year, economic difficulties in parts of Europe and the United States caused major orchestras, opera companies and festivals to close down and music sales to drop substantially. Although Cape Town audience attendance did not always live up to expectations, the steady stream of world-class musical performances in local venues did not diminish.  read more

A mass of braids crowns her head like a coiled Cape cobra. She’s as curvaceous as De Waal Drive and looks as if she’s just stepped off a plane from Bamako. She’s wearing Afro-regal cloth that sings with all that sweet-groove maskanda. This is the face and energy of the fresh youth street sub-culture brewing in Cape Town, and it’s hip-hop conscious and way more than a dollop of old-skool Afro cool, writes Suzy Bell.
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Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens is world famous for the breathtaking views, and diverse Cape flora it displays. Nestled against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, it is home to a variety of birds – including the brilliant green and red sugarbirds, owls, franklins and guinea fowl. read more

Nomfusi was born in Port Elizabeth and was raised by her mother while her father was in prison serving a 21-year sentence. At the age of 12, Nomfusi lost her mother to AIDS and was taken in by her aunt who died three years later of the same disease. After matriculating she left her hometown to live in Cape Town. She was offered a scholarship to Vivacious Voice, a singing and song-writing academy in Cape Town, after being discovered singing in her church in Khayelitsha. Her lecturer, Philip de Villiers, recognised her talent and is now her manager. A true rags-to-riches story.  read more

Alexander Gilman (violin), Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Perry So read more

Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes MBE
2CDs, 24 tracks, total time 114:37 minutes, DUX Recording Producers
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DEREK GRIPPER: There is something extremely soothing about traditional music, and Mali’s music in particular. Is it that these sounds and rhythms, which have infiltrated the lives and dreams of toddlers and adults, of nomads covering the greatest desert on earth, and settlers braving sand, heat and locust swarms, for centuries or more, dish up a notion of eternity, of unwavering Homo sapiens? Perhaps that’s only my romantic idea, but I feel strangely at home in the world of the Gravi-koras.

Cape Town has not often had the chance to listen live to the sounds of one of Africa’s most exciting musical provinces. I remember a night at Manenberg Jazz Club in the V&A Waterfront a few years back, when no other than the semi-god himself, Ali Farka Touré descended read more

If you’re a Cape Town local, you’ve probably been to at least one of her infamous
weekend-long psytrance parties held throughout summer. People from across the country
head this way to experience a subculture that has grown enormously in the last few years.
But what happens in winter? Does this tight-knit community still exist? In an attempt to
find out, we tracked down a psytrance party local, Hailey Jade Koch, to talk about the
scene, and the beats. read more

Bernard Franz chats with Emelson Sebastião Gonçalves, a student from Angola, about the young Angolan scene in Cape Town.

Emelson, how big is the Angolan community in Cape Town?
There is not too many of us really, it’s hard to say. Maybe a few hundred. Many of us are students, either at UCT, Cape Peninsula University of Technology or in English language schools, so there is a lot of fluctuation.  read more

Bernard Franz chats with DJ Fred Spider about the swing scene in Cape Town, and how nightlife here compares with the rest of the world.
There is a revival of swing these days. What’s fuelling it?
I wouldn’t really call it a revival but rather a refresh. The old swing music from the 20s and 30s is fascinating, but the quality of sound was crap because of the recordings. Nowadays musicians and DJs are sampling old tracks, adding some beats and creating an electronic contemporary swing called electro swing, which keeps all that’s good about the old swing: it’s fun, classy, friendly, crazy … but it’s also much more accessible to a new crowd. read more

If you’re a jazz fan in this part of the world, you’re spoilt for choice. From solo artists to 18-piece big bands, from bebop to funky smooth jazz, Cape Town’s got it all. Here’s a selection of favourite spots for each day of the week, compiled for 021 by Mike Laatz, Cape Town-based saxophonist, radio presenter and jazz blogger.

On Sundays read more

Sibulele Sikuni selects her favourite choice of party shebeens and township braais.
1/ Mzoli’s Butchery – the popular one
Mzoli’s has been around for almost a decade and is popularly known for their braai meat and friendly vibe. Steak, chicken, sausages and even chicken feet are served in large enamel bowls, with portions starting from R10. Dance to house tunes with resident DJ Mastercash every Saturday afternoon. The neighbours provide safe parking at a negotiable fee as space is an issue, especially when it gets really crowded in the late afternoon. Here is a place you can easily make friends, be it a “raffiki” from DRC, a “buddy” from the US, a “peto” from Port Elizabeth, or by catching up on local gossip from a “tshomi” from Gugulethu! read more

It’s Friday night; Noot vir Noot has just ended and your favourite contestant won the boerpot prize. You’ve read your Huisgenoot and checked your Vuisboek, you’ve braaied your meat and finished your opwarmings knertsie. You want nothing more than to celebrate the weekend, get down to Baby Tjoklits with your bokkie, kuier with your pêlle and have a vrek lekker time. Kurt Darren, Gerhard Steyn, Ray Dylan and the sexy boys from Eden will get you dancing in no time! So what are you waiting for?
Here is a kwaai list of all the best local sokkie jols to get the party started. Compiled by Kristi de Freitas and Ronél van Lingen.
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” Driving along the Constantia Neck road in winter feels like the opening scene of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Will some sweet transvestite open the door to us at the end of this intestinal route? I wonder. But the moment I arrive in Hout Bay, it is lights, sand, music, and some serious beer drinking. I guess if you’re bottlenecked by Chapman’s Peak on one side and Constantia
on the other, the only thing to do is party. Pakalolo (Hawaiian for tobacco and crazy) is certainly no Frankenstein’s palace; rather, as the smell of the nearby ocean mingles with cigarette smoke, it’s a temperate version of the laid-back South Seas where you expect someone to approach you and suggest: “We’re going go get high on da pakalolo braddah. You like try come? " read more

Louis Heyneman, CEO of Cape Town’s Philharmonic Orchestra, in conversation with 021’s editor Bernard Franz.

Louis, I see that you have all the latest electronic gadgets on your desk. How do you
see the future of classical music in this digital age?

We do have phenomenal access to the electronic media and they are all competing for our attention. With faster Internet speeds, we will see many more changes in South Africa in the very near future. With better cameras, surround systems, and high definition TVs, the sound and images will be better than in the opera house itself. read more

A Summer Sunset Concert at Kirstenbosch combines some of the best Cape Town has to offer – a stunning mountain backdrop, homegrown music and a celebration of cultural diversity. Events manager Sarah Struys tells us what it’s all about… read more

The dance floor is pumping and you’re standing in the middle of a thumping crowd. But if you’re not feeling it because you’ve had enough of staring at people lipsynching to Lady Gaga, Siri Linn Brandsoy suggests five indie venues to get you shaking.

Indie is a word that describes a style of music stripped of commercial clichés. Since its birth in the late 70s and early 80s, it’s been used to describe the antithesis of mainstream music. It started off as a description of independent record labels and alternative rock bands like Sonic Youth, Joy Division and The Smiths, but nowadays it is applied to any style of independent music. According to urbandictionary.com it symbolises a sense of originality and can also refer to people:
the alternative crowd that swims against the current and dances against the mainstream. read more

What’s hot in Cape Town’s Indie Music Scene this spring?
Trance DJ and producer Slug is making his seasonal outdoor trance scene debut at Alien Safari: Sprung on 4 September. After a long hibernation, hippies from all around the greater Cape Town area will emerge and set forth in their sonic creations to bloom in the spring sun. The first outdoor trance party of the new season will see veteran Slug take to the stage with new offerings from his soon-to-be-released album Leave It All Behind. Slug has been involved in the Cape Town psytrance scene during its inception in the 90s until its boom in 2002 and has even enjoyed the resurgence in trance culture during the latter part of the decade. Slug’s sets are explosive, often featuring operatic slabs of synth over a blend of twisted night beats and fun yet full-on day tunes. Exciting times are ahead this summer as attendance of trance parties is set to hit an all-time high, providing artists with the market and inspiration to produce world-class trance. read more

Juan Pierre Coleman is a rambunctious music man, master of all things creative and perhaps one of the hardest, most focused individuals you will come across. He has scourged the Cape Town music scene with joyous abandon, composing musical banter and bristling, electronic dialogues. Employing unrelentless fervor, he resonates high-octane energy from his studio, a space where day tends to flow unnoticed in to night. read more

Graham Richards, lead singer of local band She Man Lion, is as elusive as his lyrics. He’s a rocker by night and accountant by day. He engages with Cape Town’s underground scenesters in a rare, humble, kind-hearted way. He’s the kind of guy who makes you want to be a better person. Whatever that means.

Originally a Jozi boy, Grey’s now a prolific musical force in Cape Town. It’s shameful to label bands like She Man Lion as Indie Electro – a lazy, thoughtless categorisation meant for musicstore shelves and pseudo conversations. She Man Lion encompasses a sound that Cape Town, and South Africa, is actually only beginning to really tear apart and explore. What is this sound? ‘It’s very dirty underground synth driven, amplified with heavy base and fast-paced drums, a wild lead guitar and very emotional vocals,’ says Richards. Think Morrissey and Ian Curtis’ soul-piercing, precious and melancholy lyrics.  read more

Raw and rebellious, choppy and full of bounce, balmy nights, rum interludes, luscious skunk and street fever, Ska is rooted in Jamaican culture. Shaped by Jamaican political history, ska surpasses mere sound, and is more akin to a musical encyclopedia that tells a story. It’s a tale of a carnivalesque lifestyle, sunny days and turbulent times that provided a musical realm of freedom, a rare escape from society’s hardships. read more

You will tap your toes, hum along to every song, and be moved to tears,” promises choreographer and producer Glenda Jones about the song and dance gala at the Cape Town Convention Centre on December 12th.

Glenda is not interested in sympathy applause from the audience, but it’s worth knowing that many of the kids on stage at this event come from impoverished backgrounds, and paying the taxi fare to get to rehearsals is a challenge. Among seasoned performers Alistair Isobel and Vicky Sampson are Alfredo Prins and Lana Fredrick, teenagers from Mitchell’s Plain that Glenda discovered and mentored. For these talented singers, the evening represents a quantum leap in their lives, placing them for the first time in front of a large critical audience. read more

All of you music addicts out there need to treat the flaps of cartilage on the side of your head to the ultimate fix

Zami Mdingi’s sound lives in a loop in my head. That husky voice… forget it, even when she’s just talking or laughing, she is OMG. As for my large collection of dancing shoes, well if they get the slightest whiff of her voice, they fly out of my closet and onto my feet, there’s no stopping them. Several favourite pairs of six-inch heels have ground themselves down into mere soles with holes. Let this be a warning to shoe lovers everywhere. read more

Is our city a refuge for the alternative and uninvited? Does its plethora of narrow streets resonate with forbidden passion and breathe crushed velvet? 021 enters a world of fairies, gargoyles and donkey-eared Anne Rice novels in an attempt to pin down Cape Town’s Goths and Emos.

The underground is a world composed of wandering vagabonds who destroy to create, challenge to learn, affecting aesthetic transformations from day to night. It’s about being experimental and explosive, tapping into a collective energy that has force, passion and an ability to revolutionise. The enigmatic and elusive ‘people of the night’ is a subculture that has outlived most others. What is Goth? Emo? Is it a lifestyle? An escape? A common ground? An identity? And are they, er, alive in Cape Town?  read more

“Use your imagination you can make music with anything”, says Pedro Espi-Sanchis. from earliest times, people used sound to make life lighter to bear. Getting as many sounds as possible out of a piece of kelp is an example of ancient creativity. Along the shoreline of the Cape Peninsula, the earliest hunters and gatherers might have used dried seaweed to make what today we call a vuvuzela. In many cultures, people have used their inventiveness to make sounds from found objects – much like the Zulu who create flutes from the stems of paw paws.  read more