Ten Years of Freedom in SOUTH AFRICA
In 2004 South Africa celebrated ten years of freedom from the old Nationalist apartheid regime. 2005 has seen South African trance-heads celebrating ten years of Psychedelic Freedom!
With both our top promoters – Vortex and Alien Safari respectively – throwing ten year anniversary events 2005 has been a strong reminder of how psy-trance gatherings have become a part of our lives. With this history we have a scene that is the single strongest dance culture in Cape Town (SA’s trance capital) although still relatively small in the rest of the country. Whilst many other genres struggle to attract more followers and are seeing their parties become smaller, psy-trance is still slowly growing and has easily reached a level of sustainability with many new young faces appearing each year.
With no less than eight trance music labels and more than 20 producers successfully releasing music internationally, summer in Cape Town is a hive of creativity. We also get a steady stream of top names from around the world performing between October/November through to April each year, hosted by one of our ten top promoters. Production levels, sound quality and venues are normally of a very high standard.
Already known as a top international holiday destination, Cape Town is a fantastic city for any trance lover to visit. It is very cosmopolitan, but not too big so finding your way around is easy. Beautiful mountain walks, fantastic beaches and a short trip (approx 500 kilometres) up our East Coast (Garden Route) along with first world shops and restaurants should easily satisfy any tourist needs.
More importantly though is that throughout summer we have parties every weekend and regular club nights too. From Wed’s to Sat’s one can visit Organafix for some indoor action or the Candlebar (Labyrinth) which hosts SA’s top dj’s, producers and label parties each Thursday night. Most backpackers are fully aware of the scene so getting more info on what’s happening is not difficult. Your best option is to head down to Long Street in the city centre or pick up a copy of the BPM Magazine - SA’s top dance music publication which is free and has all the listings.
South Africans by nature are extremely proud of their country so we support our local dj’s and producers very much. It is not uncommon for a promoter to get a strong crowd (1000 people and more) to an event with only a South African lineup.
Police presence in the city is quite strong and should be respected. Drugs and marijuana (called Dagga in SA) are illegal so this should be done discreetly although the outdoor events are hardly ever interfered with and smoking chillums next to the dance floor is fairly common.
Top Promoters:
Vortex, Alien Safari, Crystal Visions, Groovy Troopers, Beartrap, Trancegression, Freerange, Psychosis, Red Eye Productions (JHB) and Lightworkx (Durban).
Top labels:
Nano, Timecode, Nexus-Media, Afrogalactic, Freefall, Sanskara, MMD and Red Eye Productions.
Top producers:
Protoculture, Shift, Rinkadink, Broken Toy, Damage, Hydrophonic, Hydraglyph, DMMT, The Commercial Hippies, Slug, Corona and at least ten or more new, exciting acts.
Facts
- Population: 43 million people
- Top holiday destination - although not nearly as cheap as five years ago
- Best holiday time (for good parties and weather) – December to end March
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Outdoor events still mainly attended by white South Africans (a minority race) although more blacks (majority race) are slowly getting interested.
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Random police searches (whilst not common) are legal and one should be careful.
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Music preference is still mainly full-on although progressive is slowly becoming popular again.
Links
Info and Forums:
Labels:
Promoters:
Contacts
- bpmmag2@eject.co.za (BPM Magazine editor)
- info@3am.co.za (System Administrator for 3am website)
- ashanti@iafrica.com (Backpackers and travel info)
Text
 Dave Mac
davemac@eject.co.za
One of SA’s top DJ’s, co-owner of BPM Magazine and Freefall Records, releases music under the name DMMT.
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