The fourth annual Zakifo Music Festival is hitting Durban’s shores later this month and promises to be a star-studded event with some of the biggest names in international music.
Festivalgoers can look forward to performances by local artists, as well as other artists from the rest of Africa, Europe and South America.
Nakhane, Alice Phoebe Lou, Dub Inc, Nasty C, Aloe Blacc and Flavia Coelho are just some of the artists set to perform at the festival’s three stages.
Zakifo aspires to strengthen ties between the cultural communities of the Indian Ocean through its sister festival, Sakifo, held each year in Réunion. Zakifo, which was founded by Jerome Galabert, Sipho Sithole and Andy Davis, is a member of the Igoda Music Festival Circuit, which includes Sakifo, the Azgo Festival in Mozambique, the Bassline Africa Day concert in Johannesburg and the Bushfire Festival in Swaziland.
These festivals happen over a period of three weeks in May and June, and have created an artist and festivalgoer touring circuit in the southern African region.
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“Sakifo means ‘What is needed’ in Creole. With Zakifo Durban, our intention is the same. Through our world-class line-up we strive to inspire and create lasting opportunities for collaboration, cross-cultural exchanges, economic opportunities and skills development,” said Zakifo founder Jerome Galabert.
“This partnership with Réunion Island has been a dream of mine. I have attended a number of music festivals internationally and there was no better choice and fit than Zakifo to bring to South Africa, particularly my home town and province.
“Zakifo is a destination festival, a people-to-people encounter, and we guarantee you that, over the years, this festival will become a part of travellers’ annual calendar, coming from all over the world,” he said.
French reggae band Dub Inc will also be performing and band member Grégory “Zigo” Mavridorakis said that the band was excited to be flying down to Durban.
Fans can also look forward to international singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc, best known for his hit singles The Man and I Need a Dollar, and for featuring on the late Avicii’s Wake Me Up.
This year, rather than utilising one festival site throughout, Zakifo is now packaged as a series of linked, stand-alone events taking place at three different Durban venues - the Bat Centre, Views @ Twenty5 and Blue Lagoon Beach.
The festival takes place from May 25-27.
* Tickets are available via Nutickets:
R500 - three-day weekend pass (excluding Madiba concert);
R150 - Friday and Saturday pass
R300 - Sunday pass - Blue Lagoon Beach
R300 - Friday Madiba concert - BAT Centre Friday
Friday, May 25
Bat Centre: Sekou Kouyate (Guinea), Nick Hamman (SA), Elida Almeida (Cape Verde), Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse (SA) .
Views @ Twenty5: from 6pm - Baraka (SA), K-$ (SA), DJ Doowap (SA), Nasty C (SA) and DJ Lag (SA).
Saturday, May 26
Views @ Twenty5: from 6pm - Oki Dub Ainu Band (Japan), Your Uncle Garry - DJ set. Nathalie Natiembé (Réunion), Linda Meyer - DJ set, Flavia Coelho (Brazil) Phatstoki.
Sunday, May 27
Blue Lagoon Beach: from 2pm till 9.30pm - The Sun Xa Experiment (SA), Nakhane (SA), Guy Buttery and Kanada Narahari (SA/India), Alice Phoebe Lou (SA/Germany), Siseko Pame (SA), Dub Inc (France), Femi Koya (Nigeria/SA), Aloe Blacc (US).
* For more information, visit www.zakifo.com
IOL