The highly anticipated Unyazi IV Electronic Music Festival will run from 9 to 13 September and promises to feature the latest and most innovative local and international talent in electronic music.
Unyazi 2014 forms part of the Fak’ugesi: Digital Africa Festival hosted by Wits University, aimed at coordinating and curating a number of stand-alone conferences, exhibitions, workshops, short-courses and other activities that will promote the fusion of creative and technical development of digital culture in Africa.
Fakugesi
Cameron Harris, curator of the Unyazi event and lecturer in Composition and Music Theory at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg says Unyazi Festival of Electronic Music is one the very few African festivals dedicated to the latest developments in electronic and electro-acoustic music. “This year’s festival will feature innovative and experimental music from Africa and the rest of the world with a focus on collaboration between South East Asian and South African artists,” he says.
The 2014 festival is set to emphasise the interaction between South African musicians and composers, and those from Asia including Tomoko Momiyama (Japan), Kazuhisa Uchihashi (Japan), Alfred Harth (South Korea/Germany), Carl Stone (Japan/US). Also performing are Ravish Momin (US) and Lukas Ligeti (Austria/US). South African artists who will be participating in the festival include Frank Mallows and Brydon Bolton. The South African New Music Ensemble will also perform at the festival.
Festival goers can also look forward to a well-equipped listening room, set to be a focal talking and listening point of Unyazi IV. Explains Harris: “Featuring high-quality AV equipment and surround sound, the room will be both aurally and physically at the centre of activities, positioned equidistant from all the concert venues. During some periods of each day the room will function as a listening library where visitors can select from the large bank of music related to the festival and take a journey through South African and Asian electronic music. At other times the room will become the stage for directed listening events and illustrated composer talks and presentations.”
First launched at Wits in 2005, the 2014 Festival is presented by NewMusicSA at Wits, the Wits Art Museum and the Goethe Institute, and will form part of the inaugural Fak’ugesi: Digital Africa Festival.
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