WEheartBEAT presents Fak'ugesi Beats Bloc Party 2018

ABOUT

The Fak'ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival returns to Johannesburg during the month of September 2018. Exploring music culture within the main festival, the annual Beats Program descends on the Tshimologong Precinct from 24 to 29 September 2018, with a 6 day takeover of Braamfontein's tech hub. Weheartbeat has curated a program of workshops, experiences and performances that will facilitate the meeting of mind and spirit in an environment geared around the festival's theme, “Tap Your Afro Source Code”.

Nurturing collaboration and creativity, the BEATS LAB will host international electronic artists in an exploration of the connection between music, design, technology and digital innovation. The lab will run from 24 to 28 September with the participants embracing the theme, combining tradition with futurism. The outcome from these sessions will result in an EP release, available both digitally and on limited edition vinyl. The artists featured in the 2018 Beats Lab are Potatohead People (Canada), S Fidelity (Switzerland), Zikomo (USA), Morena Leraba (Lesotho) and South African artists Bonj Mpanza and Hlasko.

On Thursday 27 September a womxn's networking breakfast will be hosted by shesaid.so South Africa, while a series of workshops focused on beatmaking, remixing and production software proficiency will round off the rest of the day's proceedings.

The week's activities culminate in a celebration at the Fak'ugesi Beats Bloc Party on Saturday 29 September. This event will reignite the energy and spirit created at the inaugural party in a union of performance, music, technology and digital innovation. The Bloc Party aims to showcase the best in underground talent, both local and international - etching it's name in the cultural textbooks as an inspiration to future generations of creators, producers and innovators. The second installment of this groundbreaking event will host performances from the Beats Lab participants, as well as Black Milk, Zikomo, Potatohead People and a strong local contingent including Morena Leraba, Langa Mavuso, Mx Blouse, Symatics and Ramz, Micr.Pluto and more.

DIRECTIONS