Music Festival: Teched to spec

09 October 2015 - 02:01 By Rea Khoabane

One festival, one continent and three countries - the African Futures Festival aims to unite. From Lagos to Nairobi and Johannesburg, the festival runs from October 28 to 31. It will explore visions of the future, following potential narratives and artistic expression in literature, fine arts, performance, music, film and various digital formats.The Alexander Theatre in Braamfontein will host the unique sounds of electronic music producer Spoek Mathambo on October 31. He will play a new set of music in collaboration with Mozambican artists. Together they form the electronic music collective Batuk.The group, founded by Mathambo, with Aero Manyelo, Nandi Ndlovu and Carla Fonseca, aims to interrogate and expand on ideas of futurism in African music."We're working on a collaboration with a traditional music collective from the Inhambane area in Mozambique."Our aim is to create and record an original set of music," says the band manifesto."We also want to create a live suite of music, to challenge and break through stagnant music ideas to build new models of collaboration between urban and rural musicians in the African context."Our future as African musicians lies in recovering, exploring and expanding on ancient music ideas, and rebalancing the hierarchies of how modern music is analysed and critiqued."Raised in Soweto, Mathambo says his music is defined by his fusion of a wide array of musical influences. He coined the term ''township tech" to describe the electronic music he produces.Benjamin Keuffel, public relations manager at the Goethe Institute, says the idea of African futures resonates with the musicians invited to the concert, and all of them will engage with the topic through their performances."The festival will also explore other aspects of the future, for example, by highlighting female artist collectives and their innovative, futuristic ways of working in an environment that is still male-dominated," he says.Keuffel says the questions are not only limited to an African context but have a worldwide relevance.More than 50 international guests have been invited to African Futures, including Nnedi Okorafor of Nigeria, Jean-Pierre Bekolo from Cameroon, Congolese Faustin Linyekula and Achille Mbembe, also from Cameroon.For more on the African Futures Festival programme visit www.goethe.de/africanfutures..

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