Dvorana Tabor (playground)
26 May
Jovi, lead vocals – Hloni, backing vocals – Kgomotso, backing vocals – Luja, bass drum, backing vocals – Skhumbuzo, marching/bass drum – Cheeks, congas – Mosebetsi, bass
Soweto’s finest are back for more: punk, funk, hip hop, soul and fierce acapella from the best live band in the world.
Photo © Pierre Mérimée, © Shudufhadzo Lubengo
DG veterans will have their own best-of lists, some of which might run to several pages – after all, the festival has been running for more years than many care to remember. But we’re betting that more than one or two will have BCUC in 2019 at the very top. Coming a month before a career-defining appearance at Glastonbury, it was quite simply the fiercest, most musically committed gig many of us had ever seen.
This seven-piece from Soweto have been called a punk band, which probably covers about half of it; you’re just as likely to groove on their singular take on South African community acapella, their clear love of hip hop, Kgomotso’s gorgeously soulful voice, Mosebetsi’s brilliant bass (equal parts Tina Weymouth and Bootsy Collins) or the heavy psychedelic funk that engulfs the whole.
With a growing number of people wondering whether they might currently be the best live band in the world, we can’t wait for a repeat. For Maribor 19 read Tabor 23. Let’s go again, people.
