Archive for the ‘Festivals’ Category

An English rose in Africa

Photo courtesy of Shelley Kjonstad

South Africans know her as Miriam Erasmus, a folk singer extraordinaire, who has earned the title of “African Rose” in the UK where she has performed as Miriam Backhouse for more than forty years. Miriam invited Sharon Gill to her Botha’s Hill home for coffee and a chat …

It’s Splashy time!

splashy-2010-aerial-658

It’s that time of year again when thousands of music lovers from all over the country descend on a tranquil little farm in Underberg for the annual Splashy Fen music festival.

Splashy director responds to drug bust claim

Splashy Fen Director Peter Ferraz points out some serious discrepancies in Anil Singh’s story “Splashy drug bust: Teens nearly die of overdose”, and suggests that the Daily News is guilty of sensationalising its headlines.

Oppikoppi Trek 2000

Oppikoppi 2000_main stage

Eleven gruelling hours on the road with an underpowered bus and an overloaded trailer. We’re here at last, in the middle of nowhere, dust and dirt and thorn trees. But, incongruous in the surrounding bushveld, the domed canopy of the main stage is a shiny landmark, the jazz stage clings precariously to the edge of a cliff, and my cellphone signal says “Oppikoppi Festival”.

Oppikoppi inFESTation 1999

Crowd surfing

My first Oppikoppi. Ten hours on the road. Arrive at the dry and dusty campsite, and send out search party to locate and investigate the toilets. Get tent up, trying to avoid impaling ourselves on nasty thorn trees. Unpack half a ton of camping gear into the sand until we find the beers. Search party returns and reports toilets not only usable but quite luxurious compared with other festivals. Cold beers going down well. Unpacking suddenly slips to the bottom on list of priorities.

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