Eric appreciating music as a central part of South African culture

As I am slowly approaching the point in the semester where I begin to look back and reflect upon what I have done in Cape Town, I am starting to realize that my fondest memories took place in the presence of great music. Music is such a central part of the culture in South Africa. It seems like every single person I have met or walked by on the street is able to sing or play some sort of instrument. As we learned from watching the documentary Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony in Vincent’s class, music played a key role in the liberation movement. The songs united the freedom fighters and kept morale high in the face of violence and unfair treatment. I have been exposed so such a wide variety of musical genres and musical groups that I wanted to highlight some of my favorite!

Kirstenbosch Garden Summer Concert

The Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is among the most beautiful of its kind in all of South Africa, if not the world. However, in addition to its blooming flora, it hosts Summer Sunset Concerts on Sunday evenings on a stage nestled into the foot of Table Mountain. Our first trip to Kirstenbosch was during orientation to see The Soil, a trio of a capella jazz and soul singers. When my family came to visit, I made sure that I took them to see a performance. We saw Al Bairre, which apparently is one of the rising popular groups in South Africa. I can certainly see why—their music is uniquely upbeat and cheery and I have listened to them almost every day since. This evening, many of my classmates and I are going once again to Kirstenbosch to see the Icelandic group Of Monsters and Men, an extremely popular and well-known band around the world. Though the nights are certainly chillier than they were for the first concert, I know we will have an amazing time together. 

I also attended two music festivals (and plan on attending one more tomorrow!) from all different genres of music. In late February, I traveled to the West Coast Ostrich Ranch not to see the animals, but to attend Ultra Music Festival, a gathering of some of the world’s best electronic and dance DJs. We partied with people from around the world to the sounds of Galantis, Zedd, and Skrillex. This past Monday, a group of us rounded out our Easter weekend by attending Parklife, a music festival on the grass of the Cape Town Cricket Club featuring several local folk and rock artists. I got to see Al Bairre perform once more, in addition to another band called Desmond and the Tutus, whom I had also previously seen with some classmates at The Assembly in District Six. The highlight for me was seeing Jeremy Loops, a fantastic South African performer whose music I knew about much before I applied to study here. Lucky for us, we managed to score a selfie with him after his performance! Tomorrow I will be attending Cape Town’s world-renowned International Jazz Festival, where I will immerse myself in a style of music that seems to be played in every other restaurant here in the city.

As I mentioned above, singing seems to come naturally to the average Capetonian, not just those who are famous. I’m sure by now many of my co-educators have written about Mteto, the inspiring young man who taught himself how to sing Italian opera. I was lucky enough to have Mteto sing a very special rendition of Happy Birthday to me on my birthday! I twice ate at Stardust Theatrical Dining and both times was blown away by the talent of the waiters and waitresses who doubled as our entertainment for the evening. Not to mention, the men and women at the church service in Gugulethu and the choir from Easter mass at St. George’s Cathedral would put most American reality singing show contestants to shame.

Fortunately, because of video recording and the Internet, I will be able to take some of my favorite new artists and performances home with me to the United States! I am hoping that in these last few weeks, I will be able to attend a few more concerts and gather with friends and strangers alike to simply appreciate each other’s company in the presence of beautiful sounds.