Bubblegum Club

Tag: nonku phiri

  • WE ARE ONE Music Festival // connecting people through music

    WE ARE ONE Music Festival // connecting people through music

    WE ARE ONE Music Festival is framed as an experience of “heritage, music and inevitably oneness”. Founders Tokoloho Booysen and Tshepang Mabizela explain that basing the festival on this idea came through reflecting on the fact that there are so many barriers in Johannesburg that divide people. Their intention was to create a platform that will allow people to engage with one another through music and other cultural experiences. “…the only way for us to [be] progressive and create the future we want is to band together, we need to develop a strong sense of community and we believe that comes by unity through diversity,” Tokoloho explains. He goes on to say that, “We [the festival] use music as a connecter because regardless of who you are, the music you like makes you feel a certain emotion and those emotions transcend genre.”

    WE ARE ONE also intends to provide a space where emerging artists can share the stage with well-known musicians. “We represent a bubbling underground, so this festival needs to showcase an unknown industry made of blood, sweat and tears,” Tshepang explains. By doing this they are hoping to contribute to the expansion of the South African music industry and introduce audiences to new faces and new sounds. With the aim of giving artists the recognition they deserve, the festival presents opportunities for future headliners and shifts in the music scene while still appreciating artists who have been in the game for a while. Artists included in the lineup are FAKA, DJ Doowap, Gyre, Langa Mavuso, Nonku Phiri and Rhea Blek, just to name a few.

    Outside of the music, there will also be food stalls, clothing stalls and a pop-up photographic exhibition to give attendees a well-rounded cultural experience. “We resonate with music but we know that music is not the only impactful art form, so fashion, visual artistry and food are art forms that can also help progressively push the artistic culture forward,” Tshepang states.

    WE ARE ONE will be taking place at 1 Fox on 31 March 2018. To find out more about who will be performing and how to buy tickets visit their Facebook page.

  • Musician RHEA BLEK : The Goddess of Finesse

    Musician RHEA BLEK : The Goddess of Finesse

    Rhea Blek calls herself The Goddess of Finesse (aka Finessa). It’s apt because she has an impressively delicate touch and skillful use of her voice, which is pretty in line with the definition of ‘finesse’. Rhea is singer/songwriter born and bred in the city of Durban, which you can kinda tell if you’ve been paying attention to the sounds coming out of the 031 lately. Although she says she creates genreless music, Rhea is part of a growing group of brilliant young women in Durban, like Red Robyn, Nipho Hurd, and Victoria Raw, who are making incredible neo-soul, R&B and jazz influenced songs that touch the soul. And I don’t even believe in souls.

    Rhea is firmly her own woman though, and while she may be playing in similar spaces, she’s doing it completely in her own way. On the opening track of her debut EP THIIIRD WAV, ‘Terms and Conditions‘, she opens up by confidently asking if she can shoot her shot and get down to business with a fine-as-hell man, with no strings attached, terms or conditions. Although, she also admits that she wouldn’t mind a little l-o-v-e, she’s happy to just get what she wants if the fine-as-hell man is down with it.

    Track 2, ‘Clyde‘, is a take on Bonnie and Clyde, but, as Rhea explained on Facebook, “this time, instead of Clyde running around and doing the crimes and Bonnie being down for it, it was Bonnie being the boss and Clyde being a loyal lover and partner in crime. That’s why the hook says ‘ride or die, sink or fly with me’”. Apparently a friend was supposed to do a verse but “the niggas were like ‘what you wrote is too hot, the song is yours, just write for the whole song’”.

    ‘Clyde’ is actually what inspired the whole EP, or, as Rhea puts it in another Facebook post, “After that, we decided – you know what? We’re making an EP, that’s what the fuck we gon’ do!” She also explains the concept for the album in her candid post, “I thought about centering it on love and on a love story with someone that started since we were kids, that’s where ‘TEENAGE DREAMS’ comes in.”

    ‘Teenage Dreams‘ is the last track on the EP and it’s a cute love song. According to Rhea, “That song is a story of how and where the love began and how long its sustained to the present. It’s just a big thank you to the dude and appreciation for the love. And it’s called ‘TEENAGE DREAMS’ because the love is so amazing it feels like we’re teenagers in love and we’re dreaming.”

    Rhea has been racking up the gigs around Durban and has even made a few Gauteng trips of late, and now that she’s put out some music, she can’t wait to put out more. She’s actually working on a follow up EP already and will be part of the We Are One Festival in Joburg alongside the likes of Moonchild, DJ Doowap, & Nonku Phiri on the 31st of March. Make sure you look out for The Goddess of Finesse, you’ll be impressed.

  • AFROPUNK as a cross-continental meeting point

    Many Joburgers, like myself, know the exodus that the city experiences over the December holidays, with most people coming back just in time to unpack their bags before going back to work. For those who go on holiday, the coast is usually the first option. However, over the last holiday Johannesburg saw a slight shift in this migratory pattern that we make so many jokes about. The AFROPUNK festival saw South Africans from other cities choosing to travel to Johannesburg to spend the new year’s weekend rocking it out to local and international talent. In addition to this, a large number of international travelers came to the festival. This included fellow Africans as well as people from the Americas and Europe. From interviews with a few attendees, it became apparent that despite the main motivating factor for being in Johannesburg was the festival, it became a point of departure for other adventures in the city post AFROPUNK. The festival also brought people to Johannesburg because it was the first AFROPUNK held in Africa, which was particularly important for those from other African countries.

    “AFROPUNK is more than the lineup. It is culture, inspiration, force. Be yourself. Be free in your own personality or outfit,” expressed Brazilian blogger Maga Moura. Her colourful braids and sparkling full body overthrow caught the eye of many at the festival. Maga shared that she wanted to be the one who is able to represent her Brazilian followers. She attended all of the AFROPUNK festivals that took place throughout 2017, and was most excited to be in Johannesburg as was her first time in the city. She also extended her stay in the city so that she could record spaces and people who have knowledge about South African history. Maga passionately expressed to me her desire to make her trip more than taking photographs at the festival, but also an opportunity to show her followers more aspects of South African culture and history from the vantage point that Johannesburg offers.

    Miles Greenberg, who was also in South Africa for the first time, is Canadian born but now lives in France with his boyfriend. They were both in attendance, mainly due to Miles convincing his boyfriend that he needs to share this experience with him. Like most international attendees, Miles was in Johannesburg for the festival. “I have been looking for an excuse to come here for the longest time. For me it was a matter of just showing up. And for me this feels like an important time and an important place for this to be happening. It feels just and it feels on point,” Miles expressed. He also mentioned that his decision to be here was influenced by Nonku Phiri, who he met at a gig in Shanghai. This indicates an additional thread to this cross-continental pollination of people of colour at the festival.

    Toby and Adrian Gardner from London also confessed that they were mainly in Johannesburg for the festival, and that this was also their first time in the city. With Toby being half Ghanaian, half Nigerian and Adrian being Jamaican, their outfits communicated the connections they were trying to make with being on the continent. Toby wore an outfit that reminded her of kente cloth, while Adrian wore a traditional Nigerian shirt that was given to him by his brother-in-law who is from Nigeria. “We are here to enjoy all the beautiful people. I feel it [the festival] will be way more laid back. Less about image and more about family and people being together,” they expressed.

    Damola Owode, from South West Nigeria, although shy with his words, expressed that he was representing his Yoruba heritage through his outfit. His decision to be in Johannesburg was influenced by his friends wanting to attend and this being a place where he can openly share his traditional wear.

    Of course the festival meant that people from various platforms would be sent on assignment to cover specific angles of the festival. This was the case for Shan Wallace and Lawrence Burney from Baltimore. Lawrence is a music journalist and spent time interviewing South African artists, and teamed up with Shan who is a photographer. This was also a special moment for Shan, as it allowed her to share images of her photographs with people in Johannesburg. “I use photography as a form of activism, and a way to share black peoples’ experience.  It is also a way for us to connect,” she explains.

    Mariah Matthews shared a similar attitude to Shan, in that she wanted to be able to connect. From New Jersey, she spent a few months at UCT as an exchange student. Her experience at AFROPUNK was a parting gift to herself as she would be leaving South Africa in January. “I always wanted to come to South Africa because of the spirit of resistance that so much of the youth has here. I needed some of that fire sparked inside of me and some of the knowledge from movements such as Fees Must Fall.” For her, being at AFROPUNK solidifies all she has learnt throughout her time in Cape Town.

    Cynty, from the Caribbean, has also spent a few months in Cape Town at an internship that extends her studies in Tourism. She and a group of friends from different parts of the world came up to Johannesburg as a way to bring in the new year together because they are far away from their families.

    Njeri from Nairobi expressed to me that her decision to be at the festival was based on the fact that this was the first AFROPUNK held on the continent. She has always been drawn to AFROPUNK because of “the music and the movement. The arts element as well as the movement being about Black empowerment.” This was also a moment for her to reflect on the different cultures in Kenya, and bring elements of them to South Africa through her outfit.

    Mariette Immaculate is a designer from London. As someone who travels a lot, she shared with me that she documents culture and enjoys being able to represent these various place with the clothing that she wears. Being at AFROPUNK was an experience where she can thread together the places she has been and the new culture she experienced in Johannesburg.

  • Nonku Phiri Doesn’t Have To Try Be Anything

    I assume everyone reading this website knows who Nonku Phiri is. Well, you know her work, at least. The multi-talented creative has featured on a handful of hits, both as rapper Jung Freud and as ‘herself’, has collabed with some of the most respected names in the game, and put out two vastly different singles, in the few years she’s been putting out music. She’s also an illustrator who has done work for other local musicians. Oh, and she has her own record label, Albino Black. It’s all been so multifaceted that while she’s shown her range of skills it’s hard to say that any of us really know who Nonku Phiri is from her work so far. This year though, we’ll all be getting to know Nonku a lot better.

    I had the pleasure of getting to know the songbird a little bit better and get a feel for what she’s got going on this year via a short Skype call a few days after her New Year’s weekend Afropunk and Smoking Dragon sets. She was a bit tired but still lively, “It’s just been a long year so I’m feeling a bit in need of a break. Nothing too hectic”.

    Since it’s the new year, I opened by asking her if she was the resolution type, “Nope. I do think one does need to have a plan for each year but I like to leave room to expand. I have plans for what I want and plans to achieve through the year and then everything else that falls in between is like leaving room for surprise and seeing what the world has to offer.”

    Her plans for this year include kicking off the year by putting out a fresh single and finishing off the EP she’s planning to release around June. “There’s a new single coming out soon,” she tells me and wryly follows up with, “I’m not gonna give you dates but it’s coming out soon.” Nonku plays her cards close to her chest, she wouldn’t even tell me who she was working with on the project. “You’ll find out when it comes out. I’m just working with someone I’ve been working with for a while.”

    “I plan on putting out a lot of music this year. I’ve been producing as well so…” I interrupt her by asking her what it’s like moving from just being a vocalist to producing as well. She corrects me by saying “I’ve never just been a vocalist,” and goes on to answer the question,“I’ve been solo for the last 3 years, been travelling and kind of have a different approach in terms of the live set. A lot has been learnt in terms of, as you said, being more of a vocalist and using the voice as an instrument, versus standing there and having backing tracks. It’s been fun to explore that side of being more hands-on with how the music gets done versus stepping into a booth and just writing.”

    Because of how much she’s collaborated, I ask if she’s looking forward to having more control over the music. “I’ve had control over my music the whole time, I just think the collaborative part of, I guess, the formative years was just based on kind of challenging myself and getting out of my comfort zone.”

    Nonku then gets into what about collaboration she thinks is so dope. “It’s being able to create something that can’t ever be duplicated with any other individual. Being a musician or being a creative will always have a collaborative element to it. I think for me it was being young and, you know, not necessarily having one thing that you’re solely focusing on genre-wise. Going from boom-bap, experimental hip-hop beats, to then doing house music, then having a stint, like, rapping, and then getting back to just making music.”

    Circling back to the question of control, the musician continues, “I think the only thing that I would say is that it’s not about having control, it’s about finally being able to have people understand me outside of the collaborative part. Featuring on a track doesn’t necessarily mean that one’s just a featuring artist. I just feel like there’s a contribution, or a story, that can only be told by specific people or when you work with specific people.”

    “Everything I’ve worked on has always had a touch of me. Nothing else I’ve created through collaborations has been the same.” If you’ve heard her music, you know this is true. We get into the growth that comes with working with talented people across so many different genres. “The sonic side is something I’ve always been exploring and I guess you always learn or get influenced by the different genres or whatever. I’m using my voice and being able to come in and not just have to sing words, you know? Vocalists are kinda underrated in that sense. They are producers in their own way,” she says in reference to the earlier vocalist versus producer comments.

    Nonku sees the last three years since she’s moved back to Joburg as an incubation period. “I think it’s been a stage of incubation, a stage of exploring myself. I mean, before this I wasn’t really travelling overseas or playing to different audiences so I think It’s been a very beautiful growth period and, I don’t know… I just think Joburg always has all these negative connotations attached to it, but it’s home for me. This is where I was born.” Although she grew up in Cape Town, she was born in Jozi and moving back gave her “time to just figure out who I was at this particular phase as an adult.”

    “It’s just been a really great mirror in terms of what you surround yourself with. I don’t think the influences have necessarily come from the city, but I think it’s been a space that’s allowed me to just be… “ she briefly pauses and then lets out, “without having to try be anything.”

    And I guess that’s the thing with Nonku, why it’s so hard to pin her down – it doesn’t feel like Nonku is really trying to be anything, she just is. She’s a creative spirit expressing herself, and she plans to do so in a myriad of ways this year. She’s keeping things hush for now, but she’s clearly excited about putting everything she’s learned up to this point into a definitive release that encompasses all her talents. Look out for Nonku’s name, voice and visuals in 2018. You’ll be glad you did. 

  • Music and Technology at Fak’ugesi Festival

    Now in its 4th year, the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival is a celebration of technology, creativity, collaboration and innovation from across the African continent. The festival includes a range of seminars, talks, exhibitions, workshops, hack-a- thons, films, artists, games, innovation riots and music. With highlights including the Fak’ugesi Conference, Making Weekend as well as Fak’ugesi Beat, a new curatorial partnership with WeHeartBeat that focuses on beats, music and technology.

    The Fak’ugesi Beats program is multifaceted and includes the week-long Fak’ugesi Beats Lab workshop, the curation of panels at the Fak’ugesi Conference and the Fak’ugesi Beats Bloc Party which sees the festival outcomes come to life. Red Bull Studios Johannesburg at the Tshimologong Precinct will play host to the workshop which includes Soulection’s Hannah Faith, videographer Foxy Neela, French Soulection beatmaker Evil Needle, Swiss beatmaker Melodinsfonie, alongside the local Mante Ribane and the Dear Ribane collective working on a collaborative piece the result of which will be showcased at the Block Party and also see the work pressed to vinyl.

    Two of the panels at the Fak’ugesi Conference will be examining the influence of technology on music. ‘Future Beats’ features Joe Kay, founder of Soulection and pioneer of the Future Beats sound, Evil Needle and trap jazz pioneer Masego. The conversation will look at how the digital age as influenced new genres in music and what this means for musicians and artists as a whole. The second panel discussion ‘Sonic Visions’ will be an examination examination of collaboration between film, design and music. With a panel that features singer Nonku Phiri & Rendani Nemakhavhani who collaborated together on a music film, Foxy Neela, Hannah Faith, Mahaneela Choudhury-Reid of WeAreInBloom, and Benoit Hicke of the French F.A.M.E Festival the aim is to have a playful conversation that engages with the audience.

    The Free Workshop Program at the Making Weekend allows the public to gain hands on experience in areas from programming and creating gaming controllers, to robotics and music & film. Led by French/American artist Yann Seznec, the workshop ‘Room to Play’ explores the world of DIY musical controllers and instruments. Making use of everyday objects the workshop will challenge attendees to reimagine what a an instrument is and placing limitations on its function thus challenging the design strategy of commercial controllers. “How do you make a digital instrument that’s more difficult to play? And then thus what kind of questions does that open up?” asks Yann Seznec.

    According to Seznec DIY musical controllers and instruments have had a large impact on the performance of electronic music. “It means that you can do electronic music performances that are more meaningful to an audience. One of the big changes in electronic music in the last 10/15 years was that everything could be done on a laptop. With the downside of it being pretty uninteresting. I think what’s nice about DIY instruments is that it brings new methods of performance to the world,” notes Seznec.

    The Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival will culminate with the Fak’ugesi Beats Bloc Party which will feature the outcomes of the festival’s various collaborations as well as a selection of some of the finest local and international artists including Masego, Joe Kay, MNDSGN, Melodiesinfonie, Evil Needle, Hannah Faith, Nonku Phiri, Christian Tiger School and Petite Noir. “We’re trying to setup an international beat festival and present artists that we feel are making headway internationally and deserve platforms and deserve to be heard. So we feel like we’ve put together a really beautiful lineup,” says Dominique Soma of WeHeartBeat. “We’ve worked with artists that apply the traditional analog way of music making in terms of playing traditional instruments but then creating it in a digital space or through a digital process,” she adds.

    Unique on the continent in its offering, the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival highlights the importance of the cross-over between culture, creativity and technology in Africa. With the addition of Fak’ugesi Beats the festival is examining the relationship between music and technology and this program will expand over the coming years. “We’re still looking to explore the relationship between the two spaces in the long term. Over the next few years you will see that crossover coming to life a little bit more,” notes Dominique Soma.

  • Bubblegum Club Stories Ep12

    In this episode we checked out Skullboy’s exhibition The Preoccupied Lives of Islands which explores how cellphone culture has connected us globally but divided us on an interpersonal level. We share Tabita Rezaire’s healing frequencies with behind-the-scenes footage of our cover shoot with her. Hakim Malema chatted to us about his staple look for our fashion feature. We also spoke to Rendani Nemakhavhani about the latest offering for The Honey from her and photographer Kgomotso Neto Tleane in collaboration with Nonku Phiri and Odendaal Esterhuyse. This performance piece forms part of Rendani and Kgomotso’s plan for the year – bringing the characters Honey and Gavini to life.

     

  • The Siren’s Call video – Visual metaphor of sonic melancholy

    “The Siren’s Call” from producer Jumping Back Lash’s latest EP features Nonku Phiri. The video for this track provides the perfect mirror to the electrified melancholy in the sound.

    The opening silhouette of Nonku looking away from the viewer sets up a sense of longing and invokes a nostalgic mood. A grainy black and white video of soft waves crawling onto the beach plays in the background. The silhouette fades as one watches the shoreline recede. Nonku reappears, this time facing viewer, eyes closed and slowly swaying her head in a way that imitates the movements of the sea. She fades and the crawling waves greet the viewer once again. Finally Nonku looks directly at the viewer, unintimidating and open. “And in moon-filled skies we gave love a try…”. The gentleness and vulnerability in her face and voice bring an immediacy and added depth to the lyrics. Mentioning the moon while we see images of the beach references how the moon moves the tides, much like how the lyrics reveal how love creates movements of its own.

    “You’ve been treating me much like the stormy seas…”. The imagery of the ocean in the background become increasingly violent, contrasting the gentleness in Nonku’s voice, but mirroring her words. “Feeling always fluctuate. Stories always end this way…this feeling of love and hate.”. One is immediately confronted with overlapping image of shattering glass, waves crashing into the shores. The video cuts to flashing lights revealing short moments of dancers underwater folding their bodies around each other.

    “Can you hear the siren’s call?”

    The aggressive cutting and swapping between shots, the hazy and overlapping videos and images that fade in and out of one another are a metaphor for heavy bass Jumping Back Lash has crafted.

    “You got me…you got me…you got me…you you you…got me. Cupid’s got my heart in a chokehold. Ain’t no telling when he’s letting go”

  • Slow Oceans EP is a Carefully Considered addition to Jumping Back Slash’s Unique Catalogue

    Writing about music from day to day usually isn’t that difficult. A lot of releases are so one-dimensional, cliché and uninspired that you can name drop a few genres, say some shit about a hook here or a beat there, give some info about the artist, throw in some hot-takes and you’re good to go. So it’s a bit daunting being given Jumping Back Slash’s latest EP to tell you about. Slow Oceans is so incredibly layered and nuanced that I feel like I may be out of my depth, which makes it rather aptly named.

    I’m on my 13th listen and I find myself drawn to new subtleties each time. The soft, repetitive “thump” of the kick-drum throughout “Come Rescue Me”. The reverberating bass set against playful use of a vocoder on “Khule Naye”. The way “Signs in the Stream” builds so subtly and makes repetition an art. The opening track which the EP is named after, “Slow Oceans”, sounds like the opening scene in a movie where there’s a new dawn in ancient land. Maybe there are dinosaurs, maybe it’s not that far back in time, I don’t know, but you get the picture. Like the scene in Jurassic Park where they’re in the trees and the sun comes up? Along those lines.

    It’s all quite something and there’s a lot going on across the six tracks, but they’re deftly held together by the ever-evolving producer and his choice in featured artists. Nonku Phiri lends her talents to the closing track, “The Siren’s Call”, and the sonic sorcerer Hlasko adds his touch to half the productions- “Khule Naye”, “In the Void” (which also features Shane Cooper aka Card on Spokes) and today’s exclusive premier, the hypnotic and haunting “Signs in the Stream”.

    Jumping Back Slash has such a unique catalogue and Slow Oceans is a carefully considered, and masterfully crafted addition. The EP drops on the 27th of January but you can treat your ears and listen to a piece of the puzzle, “Signs in the Stream”, below.

    For more about Jumping Back Slash, check out his website, Twitter and Facebook.

     

  • WeHeartBeat turns four this April; they’re celebrating by hosting The Mellow Orange Crew and dropping weekly mixes

    WeHeartbeat is a multi-media music platform encompassing a concept record store, live events, creative workshops, merch and exhibitions. The company is an international collective promoting black music and culture and will be celebrating its 4 year anniversary this April, with events hosting the Mellow Orange Crew (L.A) in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

    Here’s a mix is by Ohmega Watts, it’s the first of a four-part of a series curated by both Mellow orange and WeHeartBeat for the anniversary.

    This company is steeped in the sounds of black music including jazz, hip hop and soul. Through promoting events which feature excellent artists including Zaki Ibrahim, Eric Lau and Nonku Phiri, WeHeartBeat has become a fixture on the electronic and hip hop scene, a happy medium for heads and dancers.

    An event they hosted featuring Young Fathers is a highlight of my 2015, the show raised the roof in King Kong for an epic experience. The beauty of the brand is the welcome alternative they offer to the pressurized pubs and clubs that dominate public social interaction; places pushing alcohol rather than artistry.

    WeHeartBeat have integrated the soul and rebellion of black music into their brand; engendering spaces and events that stand out as celebrations of music and diversity.

    The WeHeartBeat store in Melville, is all wooden, with records featuring everyone from FKA Twigs to Blu and Exile stacked all over the walls. Go see it, you might score an opportunity to have tea with the founders; Dominique Soma and Sims Phakasi.  4 years of life, love and beats is no mean feat. To many more beautiful, soulful occasions and spaces celebrating the rich heritage of black culture and music.

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  • Skeleton Magic Bounce Feature in Video for Branko’s “Let Me Go”

    Branko’s most recent release, ‘Let Me Go’ features Nonku Phiri and Mr Carmack, the beautiful video, shot in Johannesburg is also graced by the talents of the Skeleton Magic Bounce crew. These amazing performers are known for their pioneering combination of pantsula dance, contortionism and magic tricks. Watching them is spellbinding. Enjoy the full extent of their artistry and innovation in the excerpt of Dancing City by Martin Meissonnier & Christophe Petit below.