Frequencies Festival

The Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria (Javett-UP) in partnership with Colombian artist Oscar Murillo is excited to present Frequencies Festival, a family friendly art and music gathering to be headlined by folk and blues guitar maestro Dr. Madala “Bafo” Kunene, Africanist experimental Jazz band Iphupho L’ka Biko, and CAFCA Music Ensemble’s performances which will speak to the exhibition Oscar Murillo: Frequencies. Taking place on Saturday, 28 October 2023, the festival coincides with the Javett-UP’s four-year anniversary, and will also inaugurate the centre’s refurbished façade, which adorns a newly constructed gathering area with a performance platform that will host exciting offerings going forward.

The festival will feature a fantastic lineup of activities that will captivate art enthusiasts and music lovers alike. The highlight of the day will be the Oscar Murillo: Frequencies exhibition which has been on view at Javett-UP since May this year. This is a decade-long research project that has informed multiple bodies of work, exhibitions, and interventions within the artist’s practice, reflecting on global communities, collectivity, and modes of empathy. The exhibition displays over 10, 000 canvases created by school children from across the Global South, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Zambia, and now recently in South Africa.

Initiated by Murillo in 2013, the Frequencies project sees blank canvases installed on school desks and left for learners aged 10-16 to freely draw, write-on and mark the canvases over a period of 6 months, alongside their daily activities. The resulting canvases, with their accumulation of both conscious and unconscious markings form a monumental collection of over 60 000 examples, bearing the marks of thousands of individual school children, and allows an insight into the collective unconscious of youth in a process of social becoming.

In addition to the captivating art displays, the festival will come alive with the enchanting sounds of outstanding music acts, carefully curated to provide a memorable musical experience for attendees of all ages. One of the notable acts is Dr. Madala Kunene, affectionately known as ‘Bafo,’ who was recently conferred an honorary doctoral degree (Doctor of Music) by the University of Kwa- Zulu-Natal’s College of Humanities. This befitting accolade recognizes his extraordinary impact on indigenous music, throughout Africa and the world. 

The Kwa-Mashu born folk and blues guitarist started busking on Durban’s beachfront at the age of 7, making his first guitar out of a cooking oil tin and fish gut for the strings, soon becoming a popular performer in the townships. Over the years his fame spread exponentially, earning him the title ‘king of the Zulu guitar.’

iPhupho L'ka Biko has been making waves with their unique fusion of jazz and indigenous African music. They descend on this gathering with their well-received debut EP "Azania," which explores a tapestry of themes close to their hearts, including spirituality, Pan Africanism, freedom, love, ritual, tradition, culture, and displacement. The name of the band translates to ‘Biko’s dream’. The collective was formed in 2015 during the time of the #feesmustfall student movement.

The day’s performances will be Kickstarted by the enchanting young minds aged between 9 and 15 years who play classical jazz compositions going by the name CAFCA Music Ensemble. The 15-member group is from Committed Artists for Cultural Advancement (CAFCA), a music academy for disadvantaged children based in ‘the town of melodies’, Mamelodi. The academy was founded by musician and educator Jesse Mogale and his brother Moss Mogale to impart their knowledge to the youth.

In between music performances, there will be a children’s edutainment session and the launch of Javett-UP’s long-awaited Handle with Care publication. Made possible by National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), the publication is an archive of the Handle with Care research and curatorial project which features a selection of works from the SOUTH32 Collection. It reflects on a precarious time we collectively experienced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in turn allowing us to think of multiple ways of care. Festival goers stand a chance to win a copy of the publication through a ticket raffle.

Tickets for Frequencies Festival are now selling at Plankton.mobi https://tr.ee/p6dIdC0PFc 

-General R150-R250

-Early-Bird (limited tickets) R150

-Under 16s R100 

-Under 6s free

-Add R5 to your ticket to enter a lucky draw to win the Handle with Care publication that will be launched on the day.

Gates will open at 11:30. The event will start at 12:00 and end at 18:00.

Food and beverage stalls will be available on-site, offering a delectable selection of refreshments and snacks for festival goers to enjoy