Thousands to gather for marimba and steelpan fest in Johannesburg

The festival, which is in its seventh edition, is divided into two: the main festival and a fringe programme comprising about 90 workshops in different music disciplines.

“The music education festival, curated by Education Africa, will bring about 80 institutions from all over southern Africa together to compete as well as share their love for music, and also learn from a series of competitions and workshops taking place simultaneously throughout the weekend,” the organisers said.

“We now have a large community of marimba players playing on a variety of marimba instruments throughout South Africa. Marimba playing has become very popular all over the world in the last century.”

Festival director Joan Lithgow told Music In Africa that the festival was designed to spread knowledge about the marimba and steelpan.

“The festival seeks to create awareness worldwide on the educational value of marimba playing and to create an international platform for our marimba and steelpan players in South Africa to perform on,” she said.

“As Education Africa we are also dedicated to giving young children in South Africa the opportunity to travel and mix with young people from other parts of the world, and we hope to develop our already extensive international network even further through this international festival.”

Lithgow said the festival had afforded disadvantaged pupils with a chance to travel abroad and perform in front of global audiences. “These young marimba players have wowed audiences in London, Austria, Slovenia and the US while experiencing different cultures, countries and languages.”

She said the festival would award participants in the Battle of the Bands, In the Mix, Strictly Classical and Proudly South African/African Prestige Bands categories.

“Our prizes include Best Marimba Band of the Festival and Best Steelpan Performance of the Festival. First, second and third places will be announced and the winner of each category of each section will be awarded a trophy. Additional prizes will be awarded at the adjudicators' discretion,” Lithgow said.

For more information about the International Marimba and Steelpan Festival, visit the official website.