Once again, the Cape Town Electronic Music Festival (CTEMF) didn’t disappoint, it was a freakin’ banger! All roads led to Cape Town over the past weekend for the festival. It may have started off with a few people just lazing around, nodding heads to the music and sitting cross-legged on the pavement, but the weekend ended with every single person that had attended the festival with sore feet (at least mine were).
The third edition of the CTEMF kicked off on Friday February 7 and ran right through to Sunday the 9th. The lineup included international acts such as deep house don Dixon (Germany), dub-step music producer Caspa (London), drum ‘n bass trio Noisia (Netherlands) and hip hop pioneer DJ The Original Jazzy Jay (US).
On Saturday, the party didn’t start until Fever Trails played their set. You could see people gathering around and starting to pay attention and occasionally doing the white people dance moves that aren’t really in sync with the music. Nonetheless, these guys made an impression on the crowd. 27-year-old producer and drummer, Cid Rim, played his drum fused with electronic dance music set which was quite refreshing.
Dirty Paraffin sure outdid themselves on their set, with OkMalumKoolKat getting people to “turn up” while giving a 101% performance and indeed proving they’re Smart Momparas. From then on, Jazzy Jay played his set of old school boom bap hip hop (which isn’t really my scene), but the guy got a great response from the crowd.
At exactly 22: 30 , Caspa got on stage and played his dub-step mix! Oh man, that guy just murdered it. The media was all over the place, cameras flashing everywhere. The guy definitely knows how to play. I got a chance to interview him after his set and here’s what he had to say when I asked if he has any upcoming events planned for South Africa: “No, but hopefully after this. It’s been a great show, and I had a great time. I’d love to do another show here.” His fans better be on the look-out for that (myself included) and his dub-step session mix CD which is due for release in March. He also gave a shout out to Cape Town: “… Cape Town has been amazing, I met some great people here. I would also like to thank my fans and the people that came here to support me. Thank you.” (whatever Capetonians are doing, don’t stop. Keep at it!). The second night of the festival ended off with Haezer Live and Noisia playing their great sets.
On the last day of the event the hype was around the veteran DJ Black Coffee. People started flocking in even before he arrived. Sir Vincent and Shimza were good, in their own right. The collaborative performance by Julian Gomes and Culoe De Song had the crowd going mental. These two paved the way for the man of the evening, if I may say so myself, DJ Black Coffee. He didn’t need any introduction, his set said it all. It started off deep but he knows how to keep the crowd on their feet. If you missed his set, don’t worry, he has something lined up for March in the Mother City (that’s all we’re saying) so, you better keep your eyes and ears on him.
The CTEMF 2014 was a ‘effin turned up! To all electronic dance music lovers that missed this one, be sure to attend next year’s festival. You won’t regret it. Electronic dance music is the new pop music.
Images: Lisa Gabriel
