Oppikoppi epiphany

This year's festival marks a turning point in SA music history. Miles Keylock was there for the ground-breaking highlights
posted on August 9 at 4pm

Forget about Woodstock. Oppikoppi '99 is South Africa's Woodstock. The totally sublime performances throughout Sunday signalled the dawn of a new era in South African music festivals. Finally, Oppikoppi delivered the goods that so many of us fans of South African music had been waiting for.

The day began in suitably chilled out fashion with what seemed like the entire Oppikoppi cramming into the Tassenberg Fleating Moments Stage venue to catch SA's own Bob Dylan, Koos Kombuis, together with Syd Kitchen. It was fucking hot. We all had heavy hangovers, man. The off-centre acoustic folk narratives of Koos and Syd guided us through the early afternoon as we gathered our energy for what was to be the singularly most mind-blowing event ever experienced by a South African festival audience.

Before the evening's proceedings though, it was off to the Savanna Fleanennium Intimate Stage to catch Neil Solomon, Carlo Mombelli and Philip Tabane. Solomon is definitely one of SA's classic singer/songwriters, incorporating Middle-Eastern, Latin and Western pop influences in an unmistakably Eighties South African sound that had many older festival patrons reflecting nostalgically.

Carlo Mombelli's performance emphasised just how much jazz lovers in this country have missed the diminutive bassist. Playing under the banner, "The Prisoners of Strange" together with Johnny Fourie on guitar, Rob Watson on drums and Bruce Cassidy on EVI and saxes, his late-afternoon set was a highlight for fans of a more European jazz tradition. So much so, that it spawned an entire debate about bass players and their love for the instrument among a group of journalists and musicians. Seeing Mombelli caress his bass was quite simply awe-inspiring. Equally impressive was the Afro-jazz guitar of the legendary Philip Tabane who, together with his backing band, creates deep percussive textures.

But nothing could have prepared me for the evening ahead. Fetish finally came of age at Oppikoppi playing to a packed crowd at the Mainstay Unfleanshing Main Stage. Singer Michelle Breeze's ethereally powerful vocals soared over the intricate and emotive instrumental sounds the rest of the band fashioned. Her confidence on stage took Fetish's music straight to the hearts of the audience, particularly on a new track where she dueted with Nine's soulful singer, Farrell. This band are going to be massive.

The festival was taken to new heights when Cape Town's hip hop contingent arrived to woo the Oppikoppi crowd. No one could've anticipated just how much they would blow people away. Brasse Vannie Kaap's set on the Black label Fleapit Stage hinted at the start of the euphoria with an unrelentingly funky, entertaining hour of rapping delight. And the white kids simply loved it, responding immediately to BVK's prevailing sense of humour.

When Prophets of Da City hit the main stage mid-evening, the revolution had begun. DJ extraordinaire Ready D, lyrical main men Shahid and Devious and the rest of their brasse provided that special something that Oppikoppi's predominantly white audience had so desperately been craving. POC are hip hop. Their music is, above all else, uplifting. Their message is simple: we're all South Africans.

C'mon. Let's listen to the music, let the music bring us together. The wonderfully emotional reaction from the Oppikoppi crowd was quite simply beautiful. A moment never to be forgotten! Oppikoppi were finally listening to the music ...