Feature: Christoph Kotze

Christoph Kotze se musiek praat met jou as mens. Sy lirieke is insiggewend, sy diverse skryfstyl is uniek. Elke liedjie skets ‘n prentjie waarmee jy jouself kan assosieer. Dit neem jou op ‘n reis deur jou eie emosies, sonder om te verval in ‘n eentonige geteem. Van sy diep sielsoekende balades soos “Jasmyn Katryn”, tot die harder rock klanke van die jeugdige “17″ is daar vir almal die geleentheid om saam met hom sy liefde vir musiek, liefde en die lewe te ervaar.Sy lewendige optredes is egter meer as net musiek. Dit is ‘n vars vorm van ware Suid Afrikaanse vermaak. Of jy dus aleen in jou huis met ‘n glas rooiwyn sit, of by een van sy optredes met ‘n bier en baie vriende, is Christoph Kotze se musiek presies wat jy nodig het.

Christoph is ewe bedrewe in Afrikaans EN Engels. Dit is hierdie diversiteit wat verseker het dat hy op ‘n verskeidenheid TV programme verskyn het. Onder ander was hy al op KykNET, Glitterati, DKNT, MK (Live) en Jukebox. Verder het hy al sy verskeining gemaak in etlike van ons land se prominente gedrukte media (Vrouekeer, Huisgenoot, Beeld, JIP, Rapport Tydskrif, Die Burger en Volksblad). Sy musiek word gereeld gespeel op radio stasies soos 94.7 Highveld Stereo, OFM, MFM, KFM, Radio Houtstok and Oosrand Stereo.

Twee albums het al verskyn uit Christoph se pen uit. Die eerste, “Sprokie Suid Afrika” is in 2006 opgeneem, en her-vrygestel in 2009. Sy nuutste album “17″, het einde 2010 die lig gesien. Dit is met dié album wat Christoph homself werklik gevestig het as ‘n kunstenaar om mee rekening te hou.
Elke kunstenaar het ‘n unieke agtergrond. Christoph se musikale reis het op skool begin terwyl hy in die koshuis was by Afrikaanse Hoër Seunsskool in Pretoria. Kort na hy begin kitaar speel het, het sy natuurlike skryftalent na vore gekom. In Graad 11 het hy die eerste lied van sy debuut album geskryf.In 2005, terwyl hy sy matriek klaargemaak het, het Christoph die semi-finale rondte gehaal in die ATKV Crecendo liedjieskryf kompetisie. Gedurende hierdie tyd het hy ook die geleentheid gekry om “Sprokie Suid AFrika” op te neem.

In 2009 het Christoph die top 50 finaliste gehaal in die Suid Afrikaanse Idols kompetisie. Aardvark Records het hom hier raakgesien, en hom die geleentheid gebied om “Sprokie Suid Afrika” oor op te neem en weer vry te stel. Kort voor lank het hy op ‘n landswye toer vertek om op te tree saam met die befaamde kunstenaar Jan Blohm.
2010 was ‘n groot jaar vir Christoph. Nie net het hy, soos reeds genoem, sy tweede album vrygestel nie, maar sy landswye optredes het net meer en meer aandag begin geniet. Hy het onder andere saam met Jan Blohm ‘n musikale produksie genaamd Psalms vir ‘n Digter op die planke gebring.

Vir enige verder inligting oor Christoph, en om meer van hom te leer ken, volg gerus die skakels:

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter (@ChristophKotze)

 

RAMFEST 2011: An objective review

The title said I have to be objective, so I guess I will have to try . . .

Being objective is actually more difficult than it sounds, seeing as I -to put it plainly- had a really good time.

Mind you, are opinions regarding entertainment not supposed to be completely biassed? I mean, if YOU are being entertained, it tends to make any other opinion rather relative…

So, that being said, here’s MY review of MY experience at Ramfest 2011.

Ramfest 2010 was awesome, but had enough irritations to make it less memorable. The parking was nightmarish, the bars useless and the toilet facilities were bad for the girls (I’m a guy. I need a tree)
One thing that can be said of the Ramfest organisers, is that they learn from their mistakes. EVERY SINGLE BAD THING from 2010 was addressed, and improved to near perfection for Ramfest 2011. Hi 5 Hilltop Live!
Parking was a breeze. Even getting out of the fest afterwards took us less than 10 minutes (in comparison to the 30 minutes I spent just walking to my car last year) .
Ordering drinks was made EASY. The combined size of the 3 bars present were -to my estimation- at least 2,5 times the size of last year’s. Only once did I wait longer than 2 minutes to be served, and even then it was maybe 4 minutes.. Compare that to the 2 hours I spent in line last year, and you can imagine my elation!
A rare sight at a fest like this, was NOT seeing any knee-bending, crotch-pinching people with yellow tears standing in waiting for the door to relief to open.

So far so good. Hi 5 Ramfest.

Now, being in the entertainment industry myself, I am EXTREMELY critical when it comes to the artists, sound, stage, lighting etc. So even if YOU saw nothing wrong with anything, I probably did. And so did you, you might just not have known what you didn’t see…
As for the bands, I am going to write individual reviews for each. For now I just want to focus a bit on the general setup.

Overall, the impression was VERY good.
The main stage was one of the most impressive ones you will probably ever see at a South African rockfest. Personally I would’ve went with a slightly different lighting setup on stage, but what they had worked, so let’s not dwell on this (just  a general observation to the lighting engineers would be that they need to realise that after 12 hours at a rockfest, too much strobe can be a bad thing)

The sound at the main stage was a bit of dump if you were in the front and centre. Only when you backed up about 25-30 meters could you get the effect of the side stacks, and then it was great. But let’s face it, who wants to stand 25-30 meters away from the stage? An easy solution would have been to have just 2 line-arrays front & centre, playing down on the crowd.

The awesomeness which is the main stage, unfortunately set the bar so high, that it was really easy for the 2nd stage to appear inadequate. The sound at the small stage was great (except for some feedback issues here and there). The stage itself just seemed a bit like the poor cousin with the ugly teeth that you try to hide away from your friends. so yah, it could’ve been better.

Stalls and more
I loved it. There were more than enough food stalls, without turning a rockfest into a vlooimark. It was expensive to eat, but not ridiculously over the top, so you could still munch a bit AND drink a lot

All in all, well done Ramfest, you made me feel alive (and deaf) and reminded me why I love South African rock so much!

(All photos courtesy of Henno Kruger and Simone Fourie)

Follow on Twitter:
@RAMfest
@HennoKruger
@BaasDeBeer
@Up_A_Tone

Featuring Frankie Fire

Frankie Fire is one of the most exciting bands in South Africa.

Now that you know how I feel about them, you might think that my review is going to be biased. Well, of course it is, this is after all my opinion… But seriously, once you hear this band perform, you will definitely share my excitement!

I first saw Frankie Fire live when they performed at Firkin Centurion on 16 Dec 2010. My company had the honour of doing the sound for that event, and let me tell you, of all 18 performing artists/bands on that day, Frankie Fire (along with Sons of Signal) was by far the best. Thereafter I was at TuksFM‘s Motherle$$ New Years Party, where they graced the stage with their presence.

 

The Music

When listening to Frankie Fire, you will be forgiven for thinking you are listening to the lovechild that sprouted from a naughty evening between Springbok Nude Girls and aKing.
You will be forgiven, but you will also be wrong. You see, even though there is a definite genre-lapping resemblance, Frankie Fire manages to bring something completely fresh to the table. It’s like they have found the elusive balance between creating music that is alternative enough to stand out, yet commercial enough to sell. This by itself is an accomplishment of note, especially in the South African music scene.

Creative lyrics compliment their solid rhythm and vibrant melodies. Combine this with Francois du Toit’s outstanding vocals, and you have the recipe to bake a musical cake you will WANT to eat all by yourself, but just HAVE to share ’cause it’s so damn good.

My personal favourite tracks are “Bent and Broken” and “Pretty Girls”. What’s yours?

 

The Band

 

Francois Du Toit

Heinrich Pelser

Francois De Bruin Meyer

Freddy Helliwell

 

 

The links

Frankie Fire on Facebook

Listen to their music

Buy the music

 

The Nutshell

Frankie Fire is the type of band you will totally rock out to at a gig, yet you can buy every member in your family a CD and they will also like it.