NewMusicSA is pleased to announce the complete schedule of Unyazi IV Electronic Music Festival, which takes place as part of the Fak’ugesi: Digital Africa Festival line-up, at Wits and the Goethe Institute from 9 to 13 September.
With a total of nine concerts, an artistic sound installation, as well as a non-stop listening room, the five-day music festival promises to highlight the brightest up-and-coming artists and the wealth of established musical talent in South Africa and beyond.
Says Cameron Harris, co-curator of the Unyazi event and lecturer in Composition and Music Theory at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg: “The 2014 schedule encompasses top quality concerts, talks, demonstrations and workshops, all of which will provide unsurpassed insight into the composers and musicians behind the music.”
Running throughout the festival, a well-equipped listening room will be both aurally and physically at the centre of activities. Curated by Carl Stone, you can look forward to a programme of over 30 composers from around the world.
Also poised to become a major highlight and talking point of this year’s festival is Lukas Ligeti’s sound installation, which will run for the duration of the festival at the JoziHub venue. In this not-to-be-missed loudspeaker installation, sounds recorded at soccer games at World Cup matches in Brazil – fans chanting, players panting, vendors hawking, balls hitting goalposts – are reassembled into a new, fictional match.
Prof Christo Doherty, co-founder of the Fak’ugesi: Digital Africa Festival and Head of Digital Arts at Wits University, says: “The collaboration of local and international artists is one of the most exciting aspects of the festival. It’s a brilliant platform for artists and is sure to delight audiences.”
Another must-see event is the Unyazi at Goethe concert taking place on 11 September at the Goethe Institute in Parkview featuring The South African New Music Ensemble at its finest.
A festival pass for admission to all Unyazi IV Electronic Music Festival events can be purchased for R100. On Wednesday the 10th and Saturday the 13th there will be two concerts per evening – a double-bill price of R50 per evening will apply. Festival goers can also take advantage of low general admission pricing at R40 for evening concerts, while at lunchtime concerts admission is free.
