The City of Cape Town’s Festive Season kicks into top gear on Sunday 1 December 2013, when Executive Mayor, Alderman Patricia de Lille, switches on the City’s traditional festive lights signalling the start of an exciting two-month long programme.
The Festival of Lights celebrations, in the build-up to the traditional switch-on, will start at 16:00 and feature a star-studded entertainment line-up on the Grand Parade.
At 20:30 Mayor De Lille will ‘flick the switch’ to light up the City of Cape Town’s traditional festive lights, amid a spectacular fireworks and laser display.
‘We are committed to uniting the many diverse communities from across the metropole and invite all Capetonians to come out in their numbers and enjoy the celebrations. An event is a uniting force and people come out with a common purpose, to relax and have fun together in a shared space. We would like to see the “gees” once again at this year’s Festive Season events,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Marketing, Councillor Grant Pascoe.
Headlining the pre-switch-on entertainment is South Africa’s pre-eminent trumpeter-singer-songwriter, twice Grammy-nominated jazz legend Hugh Masekela. With 60 years in the music business, Masekela holds the Order of Ikhamanga from President Zuma (2010) and a WOMEX Lifetime Achievement Award (2011), while he has also appeared the world over alongside the likes of Miles Davis, Paul Simon and the late Miriam Makeba.
Mi Casa will then take to the stage for an electrifying street party. This multi South African Music Award-winning, Johannesburg-based house music trio have topped various charts nationwide and have opened for a number of major international acts including US star Drake.
Also in the line-up are local crossover band Hot Water, the classically trained vocal maestro Selim Kagee, chart-topping electro-swing outfit GoodLuck, pop singer/songwriter Jimmy Nevis and Cape Town’s beloved dance-pop band The Rockets. They will be followed by DJ LuWayne at 21:40, who will spin the latest and greatest hits for revellers until 22:00.
The celebrations will be hosted by award-winning local entertainers Sorina ‘Die Flooze’ Erasmus of 7de Laan fame and Terence Bridgett who has made appearances on Isidingo, Backstage and 7de Laan.
South Africa’s largest free open-air public event, the Festival of Lights, coincides with the start of the four-week countdown to Cape Town assuming the coveted title of World Design Capital (WDC) 2014 – a historic moment that will take centre stage at the City’s first-ever New Year’s Eve celebrations on 31 December 2013 which will be held on the Grand Parade.
But Cape Town’s festive fun does not end there. Over the next two months, residents and tourists will not be short of entertainment with a number of events planned:
- the Cape Town Summer Market (14 – 30 December 2013)
- the Mayor’s De Waal Park concert (15 December 2013)
- Reconciliation Day Festival on the fan walk (16 December 2013)
- the Christmas Choirs Parade (24 December 2013)
- the Nagtroepe/ Minstrels Choir Parade (31 December 2013)
- Tweede Nuwejaar Minstrels Parade (4 January 2014)
- African Nations Championship (CHAN) soccer matches (11 January – 1 February 2014), and opening and closing ceremonies
To keep track of the festive season events calendar, residents and visitors can follow @CityofCT on Twitter.
Entertainer Bios
- Sorina Erasmus: the multi-talented Sorina Erasmus is a beloved local actress, singer/songwriter, director, scriptwriter, and producer. She crept into the hearts of South Africans’ as the boisterous but lovable ‘Flooze’ in the popular local programme 7de Laan. Sorina has received several accolades, including the Tukkies Chancellors Medal for outstanding academic achievement in drama studies (2001 – 2003) and awards for three of her music albums.
- Terence Bridgett: a born-and-bred Capetonian, he is best known and loved for his roles in popular local programmes, Isidingo, Backstage and 7de Laan. Terence began his career as a stage actor and has since garnered awards for Best Supporting Actor (2001 AVANTIs) and Africa’s Favourite Actor (YOU Spectacular Awards 2010).
- DJ LuWayne Wonder: audio-visual engineer by day and resident DJ by night at one of Cape Town’s hottest nightclubs, The Bang Bar. DJ LuWayne Wonder has made a name for himself as a versatile mixer with a talent for reading crowds. Every Monday night for the past three years he has shaken up the airwaves with his resident set on Goodhope FM’s ‘That Radio Show’. He thrives at the heart of local music development, having judged the 2010 South African DMC DJ Championship Finals as well as the 2011 Red Heart Rum Deck.
- Hot Water: Donovan Copley, a madman of the South African music scene and creator of the mind-bending, genre and culture-fusing musical act, Hot Water. A profound plethora of kwasa-kwasa, sakkie-sakkie, folk, blues, and maskanda, Hot Water is a sensory experience that has grown organically through Copley’s passion for exploring what it truly means to be South African.
- Selim Kagee: classically trained vocal maestro, tenor Selim Kagee has a truly awe-inspiring voice. After Selim was signed to international label EMI in 2011, his debut album, ‘Cry for Love’ was released to great critical acclaim. Selim’s sound is a mixture of original compositions and moving interpretations of popular classical, pop songs and cinema themes. He performed at the 2013 Suidoosterfees, the Nederburg Estate New Year’s Eve spectacular, and the 2013 Huisgenoot/YOU Skouspel at Grand West Arena. He has recorded with international female group Celtic Woman.
- GoodLuck: Since the April 2011 release of their self-titled debut album, explosive electro-swing act GoodLuck has taken the charts by storm. Passion project of producer Ben Peters and singer/songwriter Juliet Harding, GoodLuck already have six number one hits, four international tours, and over 350 live shows under their belts. They have opened for legendary acts like DJ Paul Oakenfold and Basement Jaxx and have been nominated for three SAMA Awards.
- Jimmy Nevis: Jimmy Nevis, a 21-year-old Capetonian pop singer/songwriter and producer, released his debut album, ‘Subliminal’ in late 2012, and several of the single tracks have topped South African radio charts. Earlier this year, the rising young star joined top international acts Steve Aoki, Deadmau5, Benny Benassi, Alyssa Reid and Kaskade in signing an exclusive deal with American label Ultra Records, for distribution in the United States.
- The Rockets: Jerry Watt, Theo Watt, Bruce Newman, Devanish Hendricks, and Jano van der Berg, known as The Rockets, spend more than half the year touring internationally. A contemporary dance and pop act, they have been twice been nominated for a South African Music Award. They have performed the opening acts for Usher, Alicia Keys and P. Diddy, and have performed for hundreds of thousands of fans all around the world.
See also
https://scenicsouth.co.za//event/city-of-cape-town-festive-season-events-programme-24/
ISSUED BY:
INTEGRATED STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION AND BRANDING DEPARTMENT, CITY OF CAPE TOWN