Zakifo Musik Festival, Coming To Durban!!!

Zakifo Musik Festival, Durban

Durban Natal Command site: 27 / 28 May

Early Bird Weekend pass: R200 – book now!

The second annual Zakifo Musik Festival, Durban – features one of the most eclectic, multi-genre music line-ups ever gathered together in one festival programme – boasting some of the finest music-makers from France, Reunion, Mozambique, USA, Mali, Ghana, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Africa - comes to Durban at the site of the old Natal Command opposite Battery Beach, for two days only, on 27 and 28 May, 2016.

Surrounding the festival, there will be a host of satellite fringe events, workshops, couch-sessions, industry engagements and jams, including a closing concert at the Rainbow on Sunday 29 May 2016.

Estère. Photo Credit - Rachel Lafferty

There is an early-bird special offer of a weekend pass for just R200, running from 6 to 15 April 2016. By buying an early-bird or a full-weekend pre-sale, one will qualify to enter Zakifo’s competition to win a trip to Reunion Island, to attend sister festival Sakifo, the week following Zakifo! Terms and conditions apply.

This year Zakifo has hand-picked a phenomenal array of global music-makers to create a watershed programme for Durban. Following on from the precedent set last year, the focus on strong female artists continues at the festival this year – Zakifo 2016 will be staging some of the most outspoken, innovative, boundary-defying women performers active in the global music industry today, such as: 27 year-old Canadian singer Cold Specks, whose innovative music has been described as doom-soul; Estere Dalton has been compared to the likes of Erykah Badu and is a songwriter and beat-maker, hailing from New Zealand who plays/records a mixture of bass, synth, drums, guitar, vocal harmonies, keyboard, whistles, claps and kazoo; Inna Bocoum, known on stage as Inna Modja, is a genre-shifting Malian singer / rapper and model. Maya Kamaty has been dubbed the new, hypnotic voice of Reunion’s modern Maloya and Sega traditions.

True to Zakifo’s principle of delivering diverse, multi-cultural and inter-generational music of exceptional quality, we’re proud to present Malian rock band Songhoy Blues, whose documentary “They Will Have To Kill Us First” premiered at last year’s Durban International Film Festival to wide international acclaim and who have been tearing up music festival circuits across Europe and the Americas with their unique blend of traditional Malian desert blues and modern rock sounds. We couldn't be more excited to unleash their sounds on an unsuspecting Poison City!

Cold Specks. Photo credit - Autumn de Wilde

The phenomenal programme continues with Kid Francescoli, hailing from Marseilles, France and widely known for their upbeat and interesting pop melodies and diverse, sometimes whacky, influences. All the way from Australia, we bring you internationally-renowned Queensland roots-reggae aficionados, Kingfisha, a top quality band who have built a rock-solid global following delivering world-class dub reggae. Taking it back to the island, Reunion’s Loryzine performs a blend of modern, dynamic and traditional Maloya with an urban rhythm; Sauvage is a Paris-based act producing electronic music largely influenced by Africa and its many diasporas; Too Many Zoos is a brass house trio punk band from New York, famous for their viral internet video of the band rocking Times Square Station, they plan to bring it even harder @ Zakifo in Durban; Ti Rat and Rouge bring you original Reunion Island reggae!

Stay tuned for the announcements of our exceptional local line-up to match these eclectic global super stars, coming up in following press releases!

Zakifo is a member of the Southern African Music Festival Circuit (SAMFC): a regional fraternity of music festivals that take place over the months of May / June each year as part of the East3 Route, an intergovernmental initiative promoting tourism, arts and culture development and collaboration between South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.

Zakifo Musik Festival, Durban has been made possible by the generosity of international partners, Alliance Française de Durban; Institut Français; the City of le Port, Reunion Island's Conseil Général; Air Austral and Piper Heidsieck Champagne. Locally we applaud KZN Tourism; The Department of Arts & Culture, Durban Tourism and eThekwini Municipality for their support. (SABC)

Maya Kamaty. Photo Credit - Maya Press

Zakifo’s sister event, Sakifo, is Reunion island’s premier live music festival, bringing the world’s biggest international musicians to the region. Sakifo is the most significant music event in the Indian Ocean attracting music buyers, industry promoters and festival professionals from around the world.

“Sakifo means ‘what is needed’ in Creole. When we launched the festival in Reunion 12 years ago, our intention was to respond to the unique needs of the island’s cultural community,” says festival director, Jerome Galabert. “With Zakifo Durban our intention is the same. We want to start answering the call of the city’s creative voices; strengthening ties between the cultural communities of the Indian Ocean, from India to Australia to China and of course Reunion, Madagascar and Mauritius. Through our world-class line-up we strive to inspire and create lasting opportunities for collaboration; cross cultural exchanges; economic opportunities and skills development.”

"This partnership with Reunion Islands 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 part of travelers' annual calendar coming from all over the world,” said Sipho Sithole, one of the festival partners and founder / owner of Native Rhythms.

Tickets available at Webticket: www.webtickets.co.za (Include the direct link)

For more information, and for the detailed programme, visit   www.zakifo.com; or email zakifomusicfestival@gmail.com or ph 031 332 0119. Zakifo Muzik Festival, Durban is active across social media platforms – for regular updates, follow / like the festival on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zakifo-Muzik-Festival/1424193651227518?fref=ts 

Ticket costs as follows: R200 for early bird tickets weekend pass (limited number available). Running from 6 - 15 April

Phase II

Weekend pass:  R250

Friday May 27th pass:  R150

Saturday May 28th pass:  R200

VIP weekend pass (includes bottle of champagne, entry to after-parties on both nights and entry to The Rainbow Restaurant gig on Sunday 29th): R600

@ Door

Friday day pass: R200

Saturday day pass: R250

VIP Friday: R400 (includes afterparty entry)

VIP Saturday: R500 (includes afterparty entry)

Afterparty

With Zakifo armband: R50

Without Zakifo armband: R100

*Kids under five are free

**Minors must be accompanied by an adult

- Ends –

Issued on behalf of Zakifo Musik Festival, Durban, by

Illa Thompson

Publicity Matters

illa@pubmat.co.za

Tel: 031 2011 638

Share on Google Plus

About Media State

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.