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CAPE TOWN FESTIVAL 2010
reaches out to the
AFRICAN Continent
The Cape Town Festival, born out of the 'One City, Many Cultures' campaign, will be reaching out to the continent this year, in line with our country's hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Festival organisers are negotiating with popular African artists such as Angolan R&B singer Ansellmo Ralph and Nigerian Two Face Idibia, of African Queen fame to perform at Cape Town Festival 2010.
"This year's festival will be bigger and better than ever before", said Cape Town Festival chairperson Ryland Fisher. "Our aim is to present a celebration that would make the people of Cape Town proud and showcase our beautiful city to the world."
"By inviting popular artists from throughout the continent, we want to showcase Cape Town as a proudly African city."
In 2009 the festival attracted more than 32 000 people over three days. This year's festival will run over four days because of the Human Rights Day long weekend.
The dates for 2010's festival are Friday 19 March until Monday 22 March. Human Rights Day is on Sunday 21 March, which means that Monday 22 March will be a public holiday.
As usual, the venue will be the Company's Gardens in Queen Victoria Road in the city centre. And, as usual, all events linked to the Cape Town Festival will be free.
The concerts will again be accompanied by a food, arts and craft market.
Among the local artists who have agreed in principal to perform at next year's festival are 2009 Idols winner Sasha-Lee Davids, soulful singer Chad Saaiman, reggae masters The Rudimentals, evergreen The Rockets, jazz diva Emily Bruce, the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra and popular local singers Alistair Izobel and Emo Adams.
The programme on Friday 19 March will feature a range of musical styles, while the programme on Saturday will be more youth-oriented. The Sunday programme will feature mainly jazz music while the Monday will feature our popular Community Vibrations Concert which showcases artists from our three community festivals.
Our community festivals next year will be in Atlantis (Saturday 27 February) and Muizenburg (Saturday 6 March).
Our schools workshop programme, which attracts more than 2000 learners from schools across the peninsula, will take place from 8 until 12 March.
Good Hope FM and The Next 48hours will be the media sponsors for Cape Town Festival 2010.
For more information, contact Leole-Ann Francis-Tchimbioputo at 021-4659042 or 084 599 2535
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Cape Town Festival support:
Adding a different dimension to World Cup 2010
As the CEO of the 2010 FIFA World Cup organized in South Africa and on behalf of the African Continent, we said that the approach that will make this World Cup different to that in Germany, Korea , Japan, United States or any previous World Cup, is the fact that we want this event to be hosted, organized and presented in the context in the art, culture and music of our country.
This is a culturally diverse country and we want this World Cup to be a celebration of all the contributions and achievements of so many artists. So many of you as you gather today, in recognizing those South Africans who have excelled in those fields.
On the 4 December 2009, we are celebrating the final draw of the World Cup. As we gather in Cape Town, the final draw indicating to us that the matches and fixtures are completed and all 32 teams from all over the world will gather there. We want that event also to not only celebrate football but the art, culture, heritage, tradition, food and all of those things that we hold dear as a nation.
Congratulations to the Cape Town Festival as you take the first step in giving the additional dimension that will be the difference maker of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Congratulations and thank you for a wonderful effort. May you have a wonderful and successful event.
Once again, thank you very much
A message from Danny Jordaan
CEO Local Organising Committee
FIFA World Cup 2010
Ryland Fisher
In my book, Race, I interview Carel Boshoff, one of the founders of the white homeland, Orania, in the Northern Cape. One of the things he said to me has made me think a lot about our society since then.
Boshoff said that he did not understand the fuss about Orania, because they were doing what most people were doing in South Africa in any case. He said most people in South Africa socialise or want to live only with people who look or sound like them.
I thought about his comments a lot and found myself agreeing with him. It is true that most people socialise only with people who look and sound like him. Those who socialise across racial and cultural barriers are very much in the minority.
And it is true that, more than 15 years into our democracy, the barriers between different groups of people in our society, whether it be religion, race or class, have become more pronounced. It seems like most people have retreated into a laager where they hope to find solace from people who are similar to them.
What we have tried to do at the Cape Town Festival and the "One City, Many Cultures" project over the past ten years or so has been to try and break down these barriers. We are asking people to come out of their comfort zones, to sample cultures that they would not normally sample and to claim pieces of different cultures as their own.
I have always refused to be put into a little box and I enjoy different parts of different cultures. Just like I believe there is good and bad music, there is good and bad in just about everything.
The challenge is to reject what is not good and to embrace what is good.When we put the content together for this year’s festival, as we had done for all our other festivals, we were mindful that we had to cater for a wide variety of interests, whether this be in musical tastes or religious preferences.The musical content will include music that will appeal to different groups of young people, but there will also be music that will appeal to jazz lovers, gospel followers or fans of R&B.
In the next few weeks, we will reveal more details about our performers, but we again promise to deliver a festival that will make all Capetonians proud.
But our festival is not only about music. We have a strong schools component, we have a discussion on Wednesday 17 March about "Cape Town Beyond 2010" and we also have a documentary film festival that will run over the period of the main festival.
We also have a few community festivals ahead of the main festival, about which I will write a bit more in the coming weeks. So, whatever you do, pencil in March 19 to 22, Company's Gardens, Cape Town, and come and enjoy some cultural interaction with us. Who knows, this might be the beginning of more regular interaction with people of different cultures.
(Ryland Fisher is Executive Chairperson of the Cape Town Festival)
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