BROADCAST LIVE ON : https://truemusic.boilerroom.tv
Boiler Room and Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky, a Pernod Ricard brand, today announce South Africa as the next stop on its 2019 True Music tour which will touch down in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town from Thursday19th September 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.
South Africa is known for its vibrant musical history, from soul and jazz in the 60s, to kwaito and house in the 90s. Today is no different, with each city home to a myriad of thriving underground scenes and sounds, spearheaded by pioneering artists who are weaving self-
expression, fashion and performance through their music. By working in close collaboration with local innovators to host line-ups that feature emerging and established talent from each city it visits, Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music tour will shine a light on these diverse, inclusive communities and share them with the world.
The first stop on the multi-city tour is Johannesburg. On Thursday 19th September,Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music will bring together a lineup of artists creating the future sounds of South Africa within the alternative, experimental and LGBTQ+ communities; these
are the artists redefining and reinterpreting the established sounds of kwaito, gqom, afropop, hip hop and house. Performing live on the night; Sho Madjozi, one of South Africa’s brightest stars, SA’s poet and rapper Busiswa, buzzing electronic duo Stiff Pap, DJ, performance artist and activist Queezy, rising DJ star Doowap, and founder of Vogue Nights Jozi, Lelowhatsgood.
For the first time, on Friday 27th SeptemberBoiler 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’.
DJ Lag’s Something For Clermont, taking place in the township he was born and raised in, features a handpicked line-up of gqom stalwarts and those he recognizes as the future generation of the genre. The line-up will be announced early September.
On Wednesday 23rd October Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music will host the third and final installment of the South Africa tour in Cape Town, celebrating a city that prides itself on an eclectic musical landscape with diverse experimentation of underground hip hop, kwaito and electronic music.
This unrivaled line-up of the city’s emerging hip-hop and rap artists is not to be missed. Hosted by Crayons, one of the most talked about streetwear brands and party promoters in the underground scene, the line-up features the artists leading a new-era of the city’s hip hop scene. The line-up will be announced in late September.
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.”
Boiler Room Founder and CEO, Blaise Bellville, added: “South Africa has proven to be a huge success for the Boiler Room and Ballantine’s shows with some of the worlds richest music history and forward thinking sounds. This year’s Spring 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.”
RSVP for the show here and find out more on True Music https://truemusic.boilerroom.tv