After two years of showcasing virtually, the Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival is set to return to the Constitution Hill Museum and national heritage site for its 10th anniversary from 25 to 29 October. Founded in 2012 to immortalise the memory of the youth from the 1976 Soweto Uprising, the festival has the express aim of affording the youth of today the freedom to create.
While a major highlight of the festival will be the Sounds of Freedom Festival on 29 October, Basha Uhuru is about a lot more than just music. In what’s known as Creative Week, from 25 to 28 October, the festival will host an all-encompassing creative showcase that provides an opportunity for creatives and aspiring creatives to come together, draw inspiration from the experienced industry personnel in attendance and also showcase their talents. Each day will have a particular creative focus offering masterclasses, panel discussions, workshops and dialogues.
Janine Muthusamy, who is working on the operations and programming for the event, describes the past two years as being an interesting period for the festival because, despite not being able to host the event live, they were able to reach a vast audience virtually both locally and globally. Now, Muthusamy says she’s excited for the prospect of hosting attendees at Constitution Hill again.
She describes Creative Week as “possibly the most important component” of the festival because of how it speaks to all of their development programmes, masterclasses and workshops. “Creative Week is basically a four day event and we kick off on the 25th, which is the day that’s fully dedicated to business. So we’ll be bringing different entities together and hosting workshops that are talking about business planning, design, social media management, et cetera.
“We’ve themed them accordingly, so as we move forward you’ll find that each day develops into various things. So day two then becomes the day for design and we’ve got a variety of workshops that are happening during that period,” Muthusamy says.
Day three will focus on art, while the following day looks at where technology and the creative industries meet. “It’s a full day session with various workshops that are talking about utilising technology through art,” she explains.
The festival culminates with the Sounds of Freedom Music Festival, which provides a space for up-and-coming artists and new talent. The festival this year is headlined by local stars DBN Gogo, Mandla Spikiri, Blxckie, Big Zulu, Msaki and Lelowhatsgood.
“I think one of the most significant elements of Basha is that it was created to commemorate the memory of the youth of 1976 and remind them of those that fought for their freedom to be created today,” says Muthusamy.
“So the Sounds of Freedom Festival is pretty much a culmination and celebration of the festival and all the activities that’ve happened throughout the week and also holistically a culmination of the programmes that run and operate throughout the entire year at Constitution Hill that are focused on the creative sector… The objective is to ensure that there is space for artists that are up-and-coming to be profiled and given access to stage and, of course, a paycheck.”
She goes on to explain that the festival will begin with six artists that are relatively new to the scene who are part of the Bridges For Music programme before they then move into more established acts.
Msaki, who’s one of the festival’s headliners, is one of the most revered artists in the country right now. When I speak with her about the festival, she primarily expresses her love and respect for the iconic space that is Constitution Hill.
“Con Hill has always been a place that just reflects the beauty of young black artists,” she says. “We’ve always had a home there. Its history as a space of oppression has kind of been rewritten by how Dawn (Robertson) and the team are engaging with the art world. It’s a home for us. During the year, outside of events, Con Hill is a place where we can understand ourselves a bit better.”
While she says she typically approaches each of her shows with considered preparation, Msaki is looking forward to taking things to the next level here. “For Basha, it’s a special show. I’m putting together something that has got a string quartet. It’s a big band. I’m putting together something that has a horn trio, so I have to think about all my arrangements and the kind of songs that will compliment that set up. My full band is playing; it’s me the way that I show up the biggest in terms of music. I’ll also be bringing a DJ so that the last few songs can be more upbeat. So it’s a bit of a hybrid set where it goes from acoustics, or anything from just me and the guitar, and will grow into the big band experience and the DJ set.”
Msaki also adds that the festival is special to her because it affords her and her team the ability to put their best foot forward. “Just because of the care in the curation and how things are done in advance, there’s like a real excitement and there’s a real reverence for it, so I’m honoured to be one of the headliners. So this is why I’m saying I’m trying to bring my best show and it makes me wanna bring my A game, not that I don’t do that for other gigs, but we’re afforded the ability to because I can pay the musicians well.”
One of the lesser known up-and-coming acts on the line-up is DJ and YFM radio host Fif_laaa. Last December, the fast-rising DJ left the advertising industry to focus solely on her DJ and radio presenting career, as well as other opportunities in the entertainment industry. She’s since scored her own radio show called Sundaze that she hosts on YFM every Sunday from 6pm to 10pm.
Fif explains what we can expect from her set at Basha. “With Basha Uhuru, I wanna play a very local set. I think it’s important to shine a light on a number of creatives in the hip hop space who are on the come up or people that a lot of people haven’t heard of before. I wanna use this set to actually put people onto good music that they’re missing out on instead of listening to your mainstream artists who keep releasing the hits and stuff.”
Staying true to the spirit of the festival, she says she’s going to be digging into her vault for the unexpected tunes that she thinks will resonate with the crowd. “Let’s also give the alternative kids a chance to find a fanbase through me as a DJ … So I’m gonna play a lot of nice alternative and underground hip hop. A lot of good local tunes that I’ve been hearing over the last two years that I think would be suitable for that crowd.”
The Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival takes place at Constitution Hill Museum from 25 to 29 October. The full programme can be found on bashauhuru.co.za.
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