Africa's Festival of Creativity One Source Live takes place on Saturday and the line-up of artists is epic.
Starting off with the legendary Bongo Maffin who will be on stage together again as a foursome powerhouse.
Speaking at the media junket on Thursday in Hyde Park, the group said they were dedicating their time to making sure their performance would be amazing. Prior to this gig, they performed at the DStv Delicious Festival and did an ad for a major brand and two shows in December.
“But we have kept it pretty quiet now because we are embarking on a project together. We will be dropping a single and are working on an album throughout the winter season.
“A show like this is a great compliment to that process, this is one of those moments when we know we will be presented in a good light,” Stoan Seate said.
He added that being in a space where younger, new artists were making their own music was inspiring for them as a group that has been “frozen” for the last 12 years.
BONGO BLAST: The members of the group at the media junket at Hyde Park. Picture: Nhlanhla Phillips
Fellow group member Jah Seed said though certain things had changed, the sun still rose in the east and set in the west.
“Certain things remain the same as long as you are in this life you know, the struggle to survive is still part and parcel.”
Seate said the single they would be dropping in the next two months was titled Bongo Harare, but they had not yet started to record it.
“But I’m sure by then we will be working with a lot of young musicians as well as established ones. At Kalawa, we were always able to mix it up with other musicians, there is a lot of legendary South African musicians we’ve had the chance to work with,” he said.
Seed added that their love for music allowed them to express it in different ways. “ We use it for different things in our lives because music is energy. We are part of this energy called music, we express life through music.”
SEEING RED: Khuli Chana will be headlining at the event. Picture: Nhlanhla Phillips
The event, a first of its kind in the country is a collaboration with Absolut and Khuli Chana.
Taking place in the heart of Joburg at Joziburg on Eloff Street, the event will see artists and musicians perform, food trucks and an art market.
The festival comes as a sequel to the One Source album and video that saw Chana collaborate with Pan-African artists to produce the best selling iTunes song in 2016.
Tomorrow, five “creative revolutionaries” will collaborate. Led by the award winning motswako rapper, Chana; Tsonga rapper Sho Madjozi, style icon Trevor Stuurman, fashion designer and artist Fabrice Montero and photographer Osborne Macharia - the event will feature the continent’s most groundbreaking talent in an effort to change the way the world sees Africa.
Stuurman, who will head up the fashion side of things, said he wanted people who attended the event to see it as a way to see fashion presented by Africans from a new perspective.
“Also re-imagining an understanding of who we are. With the afro futuristic trend it is all about Africa not being third world and colonisation does not exist and we are not limited by anything but ourselves. It’s important to re-imagine ourselves in that kind of mindset and translate it into fashion. How we stand and look. And represent ourselves to the world.”
The Absolut One Source Live aims to play a part in fuelling Africa’s creative revolution.
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