Boiler Room and Ballantine’s Scotch whisky today announce the line-up for the Durban leg of their three-city True Music tour of South Africa, which will touch down in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town for three amazing showcases. Promising to Take A Stand For True Music, the project is part of Ballantine’s commitment to push True Music scenes forward and support artists, fans, crews and communities around the world, by spotlighting the home-grown talent redefining their local scenes.
BOILER ROOM X BALLANTINE’S TRUE MUSIC: DURBAN
For the first time, on Friday 27th September Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music will head to Durban for the ultimate Gqom line-up. This limited capacity show will be headlined and hosted by pioneer DJ Lag, and his hometown event Something For Clermont. DJ Lag propelled the Durban sound way beyond the city, straight into the international music zeitgeist; Beyoncé recently enlisted him for Lion King track ‘My Power’, he is re-releasing Anywhere We Go with Shekhinah and has just released his Uhuru EP on Diplo’s Good Enuff (MadDecent) Records which features Moonchild Sanelly and Unticipated Soundz.
- The ‘gqom King‘ himself, DJ Lag, bringing the now-global sound back to its roots.
- Co-originators on the gqom scene, Rudeboyz, known for their raw, dark and hypnotic take on SA House music.
- DJ production duo AbashanaBonjandini have worked with a who’s who of SA, sharing the stage and credits with the likes of WTF, DJ Lag and Moonchild Sanelly, becoming one of the most exciting new names in the gqom game.
- Gqom powerhouse Unticipated Soundz (AKA UntiChickz), who specialise in a distorted, wild variant of gqom that makes them quite unique in the Durban scene.
- Young DJ sensation Thukzin, known for his co-production credits with Babes Wodumo and reputation as one of Durban’s most vital names.
BOILER ROOM X BALLANTINE’S TRUE MUSIC: JOHANNESBURG
This announcement follows the recent news that Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music will be heading to Johannesburg, bringing together a line up of artists creating the future sounds of South Africa within the alternative, experimental and LGBTQ+ communities, including, Sho Madjozi, Busiswa, Stiff Pap, Queezy, Doowap, and Lelowhatsgood.
BOILER ROOM X BALLANTINE’S TRUE MUSIC: TELLING THE STORY
Via video content and interviews with the artists and wider True Music community in each city, Boiler Room x Ballantine’s aims to tell the stories of these boundary-breaking music communities and the opportunities they are carving for themselves to the wider world. Following the tour, the True Music project will continue to support these scenes through a soon-to be-announced initiative created in collaboration with one of the communities the tour has visited.
Ballantine’s Head of Music, Tom Elton, said of the project: “We are so excited to be heading back to South Africa with Boiler Room. The diverse and dynamic music scenes in this country continue to surprise us as they don’t stop evolving and always deliver something new. We’ve spent a lot of time in Johannesburg and Cape Town in recent years but have learned no two visits are ever the same, so to be heading back and adding Durban to the mix, somewhere completely new for our partnership, is amazing.
Not only are we spotlighting the thriving communities on the cusp of something huge, we are doing it in collaboration with two highly influential local hosts who have worked with us to handpick the artists coming from those varied and inclusive scenes, ensuring their stories are told in their own words.”
Boiler Room Founder and CEO, Blaise Belville, added: “South Africa has proven to be a huge success for the Boiler Room and Ballantine’s shows with some of the world’s richest music history and forward thinking sounds. This year’s Autumn tour shows the breadth of what is happening musically across the country, from big bold experimental live performances by some of the best female acts coming out of Joburg right through to the next wave of gqom and hip hop in Durban and Cape Town respectively.
In Joburg alone, we’re giving Sho her first full live performance on Boiler Room as well as backing hot tips Stiff Pap and Queezy. Durban has long been somewhere we’ve wanted to visit, the birthplace of a genre that has gone from Clermont township to Beyonce’s album, so this is a big moment for us to be working with DJ Lag to showcase a genre in the very home it was born out of. And no tour of SA would be complete without a return to one of our favourites, Cape Town. I’m excited to see what comes of our collaboration with local crew Crayons, giving over our platform to some of the city’s best new rising talent for a night of kwaito and hip hop.”
RSVP for the show here and find out more on True Music, https://truemusic.boilerroom.tv/.