Lindigo and Ilima, Sunday 26 May
Zakifo Music Festival, in conjunction with Concerts SA, brings the island sounds of Reunion based outfit, Lindigo, and South Africa’s Ilima band together for your listening pleasure.
The music style of Maloya is Reunion Island’s vibrant symbol of creole culture whose strident vocal calls, chanted responses and complex percussion rhythms originated with the slaves brought to work on the sugar plantations and became a weapon of resistance, banned until the 1980s.
Established in 1999, Lindigo amazes with its explosive and stunning scenic representations. Combining the Maloya’s instrumental tradition with Madagascarian polyphonies, the band disrupts the rules of this kind of music: rhythmic joining Trance, lyrical arrangement “volt-face”, physical involvement, the personality of singer Olivier Araste. Lindigo follows the path of a very demanding musical performance, which expects them to push their limits higher and further.
Lindigo is one of the featured acts for the fifth annual Zakifo Music Festival which comes to Durban’s shores over two consecutive weekends from 24 May until 1 June with a series of intimate pop-up bespoke concerts in venues in and around Durban. This year Zakifo hosts 25 or more acts over the course of two weekends, from 10 countries in a myriad genres and styles who will participate in a series of concerts, workshops, industry talks and artists collaborations. This year the festival will occupy some of the city’s most interesting and happening venues: Durban Botanic Gardens; The Werehouse; the historic Winston Hotel and adjoining Origin Nightclub and The Rainbow Restaurant. There will be workshops and industry events taking place during the week at Curiocity Hotel in the CBD. Festival headline acts include Ben Harper (USA); Asa (Nigeria/France) and Mr Eazi (Nigeria).
Artistic director at The Rainbow, Neil Comfort, was intrigued by the group’s biography which explains how their music allows communication with the ancestors. It also prompted him to suggest local outfit, Ilima as the second act for the afternoon.
Ilima has been in existence for over twenty years, going through various line-up changes, but remaining consistently under the leadership of multi-instrumentalist, Victor Sithole.
Combining Western and African indigenous instruments, Ilima sets out to celebrate indigenous music and culture with a crossover into jazz, in a self-described style of IndiJazz.
The strong heritage theme behind the music relates to Sithole’s upbringing and family musical history with his mother, Ntombiza, a recognised Umakhweyana master (calabash resonated musical bow) and his uncle, Vika, a noted maskandi and uDloko maestro. The uDloko single-stringed zither, found primarily among BaSotho and BeNguni neo-traditional musicians, is used by Sithole to realise a repertoire of distinctly indigenous origin.
With Ilima, Sithole provides a continuation of decades of tradition, culture and heritage, making it accessible to the current generation.
For this event Sithole will perform on bass guitar, umQangala, uDloko and harmonica. He will be joined by a band comprising Philani Duma (drums), Vincent Mthethwa (piano), Aristides Manhique (guitar), Njabulo Shabalala (percussion), Bheki Khalala (guitar) and vocalists Sibusisiwe Ngubane and Nozuko Nguqu.
Ilima’s participation in this event is made possible through the support of Concerts SA.
Concerts SA is a joint South African/Norwegian project housed under the auspices of the Stakeholder Hub within The SAMRO Foundation; it receives financial, administrative, and technical support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SAMRO and Concerts Norway. By engaging with musicians, promoters, venue owners and audiences, the project aims to stimulate live music in South Africa by finding and implementing ways to create regular, sustainable performance platforms. Concerts SA also aims to develop an interest in and appreciation of live music by showcasing music performances and conducting workshops at schools.
For more information please visit our website http://concertssa.co.za/, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ConcertsSA or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ConcertsSA.
For more info on the Zakifo Music Festival: Visit festival platforms www.zakifo.com /
Instagram: @zakifofest / Twitter: @zakifomusikfest / Facebook: @zakifofest for regular updates.
DATE: Sunday 26 May
VENUE: Rainbow Restaurant, 23 Stanfield Lane, Pinetown
TIME: Doors open at 1pm
TICKETS: R80 at the door, Pick ‘n Pay or www.webtickets.co.za
INFO LINE: 078 440 8937
Double Bill Pleasure At The Rainbow
