8 Cape Town-Based Artists To Look Out For At Cape Town Electronic Music Festival

8 Cape Town-based artists to look out for at Cape Town Electronic Music Festival 2014.

Photo via CTEMF

Cape Town Electronic Music Festival returns this weekend for a third edition of beatmaking, bass, and house music. This year's series marks the first time the event has boasted a heavy array of imports (the inaugural 2012 festival featured a 100% South African lineup). Joining international headliners The Original Jazzy Jay (US), Caspa (UK), and deep house's Dixon (Germany), are South African heavyweights the likes of Black Coffee, Dirty Paraffin, and Culoe De Song (head here for the full lineup). As CTEMF braces to kick off tomorrow with its most international roster thus far, we thought we'd run down some names from the impressive crop of hometown heroes slated to carry the bill. Below are eight Cape Town-based artists we expect to sound mind-boggling this weekend.

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Fever Trails (aka Nicolaas van Reenen)

Time: Sat. 8 Feb, 17:45 - 18:30

Haezer

Time: Sat. 8 Feb, 0:00-01:00

Sedge Warbler

Time: Sat. 8 Feb, 19:15 - 20:00

Stone-Age Citizens

Time: Fri. 7 Feb, 16:30-17:30

Miss CJ

Time: Sat. 8 Feb, 13:30-14:30

Sir Vincent

Time: Sun. 9 Feb, 13:30-14:30

Dan C & Matt Blitz

Time: Fri. 7 Feb, 17:30-18:30

Malcolm & Ian Skene

Time: Sat. 8 Feb, 15:30-17:00

CTEMF runs Friday through Sunday (7-9 February) at the Grand Parade in Cape Town. Find out more info on tickets over here.

Cape Town cape town electronic music festival ctemf dan c & matt blitz fever trails haezer malcolm & ian skene miss cj sedge warbler sir vincent stone-age citizens

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6 Samples From 'Éthiopiques' in Hip-Hop

A brief history of Ethio-jazz cultural exchange featuring songs by Nas & Damian Marley, K'naan, Madlib and more.

This article was originally published on OkayAfrica in March, 2017. We're republishing it here for our Crossroads series.

It's 2000 something. I'm holed up in my bedroom searching for samples to chop up on Fruity Loops. While deep into the free-market jungle of Amazon's suggested music section, I stumble across a compilation of Ethiopian music with faded pictures of nine guys jamming in white suit jackets. I press play on the 30 second sample.

My mind races with the opportunities these breakbeats offered a budding beat maker. Catchy organs, swinging horns, funky guitar riffs, soulful melodies and grainy and pained vocalists swoon over love lost and gained. Sung in my mother tongue—Amharic—this was a far cry from the corny synthesizer music of the 1990s that my parents played on Saturday mornings. I could actually sample this shit.

The next day, I burn a CD and pop it into my dad's car. His eyes light up when the first notes ooze out of the speakers. “Where did you get this?" He asks puzzlingly. “The internet," I respond smiling.

In the 1970s my dad was one of thousands of high school students in Addis Ababa protesting the monarchy. The protests eventually created instability which lead to a coup d'état. The monarchy was overthrown and a Marxist styled military junta composed of low ranking officers called the Derg came to power. The new regime subsequently banned music they deemed to be counter revolutionary. When the Derg came into power, Amha Eshete, a pioneering record producer and founder of Ahma Records, fled to the US and the master recordings of his label's tracks somehow ended up in a warehouse in Greece.