MTN Swaziland lauds Bushfire festival

The remarks were made by MTN Swaziland senior manager brand, communications and sponsorships Meshack Maseko at the launch of the 2018 edition of the festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday.

“Bushfire has become the home of the arts and we pride ourselves in the country because of Bushfire,” he said. “The arts industry in Swaziland was nothing before Bushfire and we decided to partner with them. We have been together since its inception.

“We saw the value in this because it is social development and development of the arts. We want to invite everyone to come and experience the value of heaven. We are proud to be associated with such a festival.”

This year, the festival is expanding its interactive space to encourage people to commit to social change around themes such as education, sexual health, inclusivity with a focus on LGBTQ rights, environmental sustainability, rural development as well as youth care and development.

To achieve this, the festival will partner with various organisations devoted to the promotion of social responsibility such as Khula Tree Planting, Conservation Music, Young Heroes, Stem and the Bomake Rural project.

Speaking at the same occasion on Tuesday night, MTN Bushfire founder and director Jiggs Thorne took time to reflect on the impact of the festival on Swazi communities.

“I think the big question for us was, how did we want to formalise the festival, and what we came up with was an idea of creating a conscious platform,” he said.

“We wanted Bushfire to be a space where we could engage, promote discussion and use creativity to access things that are quite different to talk about sometimes. And we came up with the idea of ‘bring your fire to Bushfire.’

“’Bring your fire’ means a collective response for positive social change. So it’s a conscious platform, it’s not just about entertainment for entertainment’s sake. It’s about a proactive, creative activism space and I think that is the real energy behind Bushfire.”

Line-up

The organisers of Bushfire also confirmed the first batch of artist to perform at this year’s festival, which will be held from 25 to 27 May at Malkerns Valley near Manzini.

The list includes South Africa’s Sibusile Xaba, Samthing Soweto, Rebirth of Cool, Alice Phoebe Lou, Derek Gripper, DJ Lag, Nakhane Touré, Georgetown and Nonku Phiri.

Adding to the line-up are Dusty & Stones (Swaziland), Tlale Makhene (Swaziland), Elida Almeida (Cape Verde), Kapa Dech (Mozambique), Timbila Muzimba (Mozambique), Mario Batkovic (Switzerland), The Grammers (Finland), 5K HD (Austria), Dub Inc (France), Flavia Coelho (Brazil), Manu Sija (Argentina), Nathalie Natiembé (Reunion) and Oki Dub Ainu Band (Japan).

The festival organisers said the main MTN Bushfire campsite would open on 24 May. Additionally, a new luxury camping option has been made available for festivalgoers looking for more comfort in their camping experience.

No cash

In another development, MTN Bushfire will become a cashless environment and guests will be able to create an online account before arriving at the festival. They will then receive an armband linked to their ticket that enables tap-and-go payments at bars and food vendors on site. Throughout the weekend guests can top up online or at various top-up stations. The development is designed to reduce queuing time.

For more information, visit the MTN Bushfire official website.