DURBAN - Durban is set to host the first-ever gqom music conference and festival next month as the popularity of the genre swells in South Africa.
The Gqom In Concert festival, which will comprise a two-day music conference and a gqom only concert at the Pavillion shopping mall in Westville.
Here is everything you need to know about the Gqom Festival.
- A two-day music conference will take place on
- The gqom music conference is being done to educate upcoming artists in the genre about the business side of music. The conference is being hosted because of the amount of interest there is for gqom music locally and internationally.
- The Distruction Boyz duo and DJ Tira are the men behind the Gqom Festival.
- The music conference is free for artists, but they have to book their seats on www.gqommusic.co.za
- Tickets for the concert costs R200 for general and VIP is R450, they can be bought at Computicket.
- Confirmed artists who will be at the Gqom Festival include Tipcee, DJ Boonu, Dladla Mshunqisi, Kwesta, DJ Vumar, Black Motion, OkMalumKoolKat, Busiswa, DJ Sox, Fearless Boyz, Naked Boyz and many more.
- Nope, there will be no Babes Wodumo or Mampintsha at the event.
- The Gqom In Concert event is being done to celebrate the success of gqom.
- The concert will take place at The Pavillion on April 21.
THOBANI ‘Que’ Mgobhozi and Zipho ‘Goldmax’ Mthembu of Distruction Boyz. Picture: Sibonelo Ngcobo / ANA
Event organiser DJ Tira said they had to do the festival and the music conference because there was a lot of interest in Gqom from upcoming artists.
"It's important for every artist to understand about the business of music , it's not about performances only but there's a lot of investment that an artist needs to know about in order to be successful which is why we need to host the conference to educate them," he said.
He said the concert will also be a celebration for the success of this genre.
"You cannot ignore gqom music, it's trendy and it's not about to fade anytime soon. We need to take this genre seriously and grow it to another level," said DJ Tira.
The gqom concert will take place at the Pavilion in Westville, in the undercover parkade, on April 21.
Artists to be featured includes Tpcee, DJ Boonu, DJ Vumar and others.
Pavillion marketing manager Julie-Annie Zuma said the mall supports events that speaks to diverse audiences.
"We go with something that is trending and relevant to our market," said Zuma.