SA: Africa Day Concert is now three-day festival!

The newly launched Bassline Fest was previously known as the Bassline Africa Day Concert and has been around for 14 years. It is envisioned to celebrate African diversity and unity through music, food and dialogue.

This year’s theme of the festival is #BeTheLegacy, which Bassline Live said was inspired by a partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation to promote the icon’s legacy.

The festival line-up includes Simphiwe Dana (South Africa), Nathalie Natiemba (Reunion), Ghorwane (Mozambique), Elida Almeida (Cape Verde), Azah (South Africa), Nakhane (SA), Sekou Kouyate (Guinea), Dub Inc (France), Flavia Coelho (Brazil) and Oki Dub Ainu Band (Japan).

The headliner, as well as other performers, would be announced at a later stage, Bassline Live said.

The event is being organised in partnership with Kaya FM, TRACE Africa and various other partners.

“As the home of the Afropolitan, Kaya FM listeners frequently hear music and content from all over the continent as part of our regular programming because celebrating Africa, its people and its diversity is part of the stations culture,” Kaya FM managing director Greg Maloka said. “Thus, we have enjoyed a mutual and long-standing relationship with Bassline Fest and the Nelson Mandela Foundation for this event.”

TRACE Southern Africa senior vice-president Leo Manne said: “As we enter our second year of collaborating with the Bassline family, we look forward to taking our collaboration to greater heights. We are confident that the revival of this already successful event property will attract more of our urban African youth who are central to our commitment to building musical bridges across our vibrant continent.”

The festival will be held at the Old Fort Prison complex, which is now called Constitution Hill – home to the highest court in South Africa, the Constitutional Court. The venue has recently become abuzz with musical activity since it hosted the first Afropunk Festival in Africa in December 2017.

Bassline Fest is part of the Igoda festival circuit, which includes Azgo Festival (Mozambique), MTN Bushfire (Swaziland), Zakifo Festival (South Africa), Sakifo Festival (Reunion) and the DOADOA performing arts market (Uganda).