Music and food spectacular over the heritage weekend

There's something about food and music which work well together, especially when people are gathered to celebrate an occasion.

Such was the case at the weekend with the DStv Delicious International Food and Music Festival.

The event, at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, was two days of tasting gourmet food plus great music with two stages of entertainment.

If this was your first time attending, though, it may have left a sour taste with the long queues at the food stalls.

Nontobeko Stewart and Ncamiso Mhlanga at the DStv Delicious Festival held at Kyalami Grand-prix circuit in Midrand.Photo:Matthews Baloyi/ANA / African News Agency

The Delicious Lounge, in association with Tanqueray and Johnnie Walker, was the marquee of choice for many who wanted to be centre stage for the entertainment. Performers, including Simphiwe Dana, also used the marquee as their choice for mingling with friends and fans.

Liz Ogumbo at the DStv Delicious Festival. Picture:Bhekikhaya Mabaso Africa News Agency (ANA)

The festival didn't use the usual Howler system for payments, instead choosing Visa for “quick and easy” payments. But the system was slow to work on Saturday as the Wi-Fi signal would barely connect, making the food queues even longer with people having to swipe over and over because of the machines being offline.

Tresor at the DStv Delicious Festival. Picture:Bhekikhaya Mabaso Africa News Agency (ANA)

Proudly South African had its own foodie village - a strip of home-made delicacies from local businesses. It catered for all, from Seven Khalaz Catering with their pap balls and curry, Why Cook with their dumpling burgers and Kota King giving a taste of their famous township sphatlo, to the traditional food from Blomplek, whose menu included mogodu, ox head, samp, ribs and wings. Products like Sihle’s Brew, Darling Sweet, Ya Mama Gemmer and Makhamisa Foods were also on sale for food lovers to try.

Neo Tutu and Thabisile Zwane at the DSTV Delicious Festival held at Kyalami Grand-prix circuit in Midrand. Photo:Matthews Baloyi/ANA / African News Agency

More than 20 musicians were on stage to entertain festival-goers.

On Saturday, the Channel O music special performances saw the likes of Mshoza, Thebe and Trompies get music lovers on their feet.

Lira and Simphiwe Dana perform Miriam Makeba's Malaika at the DStv Delicious Festival held at Kyalami Grand-prix circuit in Midrand. Photo:Matthews Baloyi/ANA / African News Agency

The Womandla stage had Lira, Dana and Amanda Black sing a few songs from their catalogues for just over an hour. Later, Jordan Rakei and D’Influence had fans dancing all night.

Louie Vega set the Vodacom Dance Arena on fire at the DStv Delicious Festival held at Kyalami Grand-prix circuit in Midrand. Photo:Matthews Baloyi/ANA / African News Agency

The Vodacom Dance Arena stage was situated just below the main stage, which was problematic as the sounds often clashed with each other. Standing about 300m away from the main stage would allow you to hear sets on both stages. If you didn’t know whether to listen to a mix from Oskido, DJ Fresh and Christos, or to be focused on the main stage, you could position yourself nicely a short distance from the stages. Hopefully next year they will not have the stages so close together.