Musos jam it up with the sea and nature

American Grammy award-winning DJ Louie Vega joined SA musical acts Sun-El Musician, Black Motion and Msaki for the Corona Sunset Festival World Tour at Glen Country Club in Clifton, Cape Town, on Saturday.

SA, along with 14 countries – Chile, Peru, Colombia, Italy, Japan, Canada, UK, China, Greece, Brazil, Dominican Republic, India and Uruguay – will host the year-long festival across beaches chosen for their iconic sunsets.

Vega, who performed alongside Musa Keys, Jeremy Loops, Good Luck and Ndlovu Youth Choir, gushed over how his career spanning over two decades has been greatly influenced by the local music scene since his first visit in 1999. He added that he was proud to have been part of the evolution of the industry.

“There is so much great music coming out of here (SA) – from deep house to Afro-tech, amapiano and gqom, there is so much coming out of here. It’s been wonderful to see the evolution of dance music here and I’m very proud of all the talent that is coming out of here and spreading their love all around the world,” the 57-year-old said.

"The spirit of the festival is reaching new heights through collaborating with nature by giving back to the environment what we take from it.  

“The inspiration behind it [Global Music Festival] is about making people come outside and live and connect with nature. "This is an experience that starts here [SA] and then taking it to the world to inspire people to come to the festival as well as be able to create it in their own lives – the sunset happens every day and you don’t need to travel that far,” said Felipe Ambra, global vice- president for Corona.

The festival’s continued collaboration with environmentalists was extended into the music world with the South African Music Awards (Samas) winners Sun-El Musician and Msaki re-making their smash hit Ubomi Abumanga, featuring the unique sounds of Llandudno Beach in Cape Town as the voice of nature.

“The collaboration with Sun-El was just like a day out with a friend, as we usually bond over nature, and the brief was to incorporate nature into a composition or re-imagining a song that already existed. We used elements of the waves crashing against the rocks, the sound of the reeds and the crashing of the sticks. It was just a natural process. And we found that the sea [Llandudno Beach] was a profound collaborator and it was truly special,” said Msaki.