So after many years of planning to attend the BushFire Festival in Swaziland and somehow getting my plans cancelled last minute, I was finally afforded the chance to not only attend the BushFire Festival but to explore the beautifully breathtaking Kingdom of Swaziland by the Swaziland Tourism.
The first day of the BushFire saw a number of people flock through Swaziland and causing major congestion at the border. Despite the long lines, there was a pleasant atmosphere with everyone anticipating a great fun filled musical weekend. On our eventual arrival at the BushFire , Qibho and Sands were performing and they were a welcome sound to my ears. The variety of the music genres made the festival so much fun ,for me at least because it was a new experience. The much awaited performance by Muzart was amazing, these youngster never disappoint. They had the crowd doing the soul train and the guitarist showed off his skills by playing the guitar with his mouth.
Other performers included the likes of Spoek Mathambo, Fuel Fandango, DJ Muscle. Bongo Maffin, Bholoja, LA-33, Uhuru, Pelepele, DJ Lolo, Normadic Wax Collective, Sigauque Project , Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Oliver Mtukudzi just to mention a few. The festival attendees looked good in their different clothing and it was a refreshing sight to see different cultures represented. For shopaholics like me ,there was a market where you could get everything from bags, clothes,necklaces and crafts. Condoms were distributed all round the festival in a bid to promote safer sex for festival goes because we all know how things can get out of hand .After all prevention is better than cure.
Children who tagged along with their parents seemed to be having so much fun in partaking in the different activities at the KidZone. The recently introduced interactive art and dialogue space called the Barn had some really interesting dialogues going on. When I got there there was a lady talking about how she left overseas for married life in Swaziland and she went on to discuss the different initiatives that there are working on.
The campsites looked beautiful like a small village somewhere . I met a lady sitting at the corner of the road at the campsite charging her phone. As someone who likes to have her phone with, I could understand the need for her to sit and the corner and guard her phone while it charges. So the charging spot worked on a first-come-first-serve basis. I ran into a couple of friends at the festival and we had so much fun waiting for Saturday night’s most talked about performances. Bongo Maffin and Uhuru had the crowd dancing and singing along to their songs, even when they had finished performing the crowd still wanted more.
The highlight of my Saturday night was when LA-33 came on stage. I heard never heard of them prior to the BushFire Festival but after that night they have topped my favourite musician list. Their performance had me dancing salsa( even if I don’t know how to) and planning a trip to Colombia. I cannot wait to see what BushFire Festival 2015 is going to be like I think I have found a new ritual, I might just try camping because the people at the camping site looked like a close community. Much respect to the production team. It really was an amazing weekend.
Afrikan Princess 