2014 South African Music Conference (SAMC) taken to eKasi!

The legendary Deejays Unite (DJU - DJ Fresh, Oskido, Vinny, Christos & Greg “The Maestro” Maloka) is taking the Southern Africa music Conference (SAMC) to the masses ekasi, for the first time ever!

Now in its 10^th year and celebrating 20 years of freedom, the organizers of the conference have decided to make the all empowering and nurturing platform easily accessible to “as many Industry practitioners, the underprivileged, and people with interest in the industry” as possible. Enabled by the City of Durban, Department of Arts & Culture, and media sponsors SABC1 & SABC radio, this year’s conference will be taking place from the 3^rd to the 6^th July 2014.

Kicking off in Kwamashu on 03rd July, then Umlazi on the 04^th, speakers at the event include International names such as Ralf Gum (Germany/SA), Rocco (France), Monique Bingham (USA), global superstar BlackCofee, DJU, Afrotainment head DJ Tira, Umlazi’s Big Nuz, Professor, DJ Zinhle, Cndo & more. This year’s linkage includes the massive “Mother of All Parties” at Kings Park Stadium on 05 July and a “one on one” demo session in Claremont on the last day – 06^th July.

Workshops will include vital topics like “producing”, “taking advantage of the digital world”, “treating one as a brand”, “the female touch“, and more issues of concern, from the well-travelled DJs, producers, vocalists and musicians. SAMRO will be tackling the “music rights” and “publishing issues”, and SABC Radio & invited community radio stations will be engaging music makers on “how to get their material on the relevant airwaves”, “what they are looking for” and “what their requirements are”.

The City of Durban and the Department of Arts & Culture’s partnership has made it possible for interested parties to attend the event that usually cost R500 for free (…gratis/mahala). Interested parties will have to reserve their places, on a first come first served basis, by sending a confirmation e-mail to info@djusa.co.za. Space is limited.

Greg Maloka says: “The tenth year is about linking several economies together and sharing ideas on how to make those work. Arts and culture together with tourism can be key avenues to create economic activity for communities across the country. We are moving to packaging ikasie and all its content for greater things. Extraordinary ideas usually come from ordinary people who are given a platform to think laterally and share that thinking.”

DJU’s Oskido adds that this year’s conference, like previous ones, is staged to help attending music minds “to better understand the music business”. “With the presence of SABC radio, they will also get a better understanding on how to submit their music and voice their concerns with present radio stations. We are bringing the conference to where they are with some of the talent, which has made it from where they live, and they should come prepared,” says the revered music producer/record executive/artist/DJ.

The Kwamashu event takes place at Lacoste Lounge from 9-4pm and Umlazi’s Eyadini Lounge is Friday’s Host venue. Metro FM will be broadcasting live from both venues on the different dates. The After-party at both venues happen on the conference day from 5pm – 2am to allow “those who just love the music to be party of this year’s activities”.

Making this year’s do even more special for music makers is the fact that the Demo Session planned for 06^th June at Tate’s Kasi Grill in Claremont will be a “one on one” affair. This means that music producers, who are already producing music & always attend the event, will this year be divided into smaller numbers, and have DJU members, the music industry legends and some of this year’s international guests give individual takes on their demos. Walk away,

Oskido adds; “Unlike previous years, music makers will get a more involved response, advice and suggestions to their works. These young men and women will walk away with a better understanding of how and what would make their tracks better productions. This will give them a chance to better engage with established players and leave with a clear indication of what they have to do, to create winning productions,” enthuses the legend, “all this for free”.

The bigger plan is to uplift younger musicians and at the same time uplift the areas where they come from. This year’s event will also be about local tourism for these townships and will see artists booked for these events staying at township B&B’s, “as a way for people to know that they can come and experience a weekend away in Durban through the townships”.  

Phillip Sithole, Head of Durban Tourism, proudly states that The City of Durban is honoured to be a partner to the South African Music Conference, as it creates the perfect platform to nurture and celebrate our local home-grown talent. “We are also pleased that at the same time our vibrant culture and lifestyle of our townships, will be reflected and experienced during the 3 day Programme in Kwamashu, Claremont and at the second largest township in SA, Umlazi. The city supports events of this nature as it adds value and upliftment to our communities and showcases hidden tourism nodes. We look forward to a successful event in Durban, more especially that it takes place in the heart of our energy driven townships and co-incides with the anchor event in the city’s calendar, The Vodacom Durban July.”

Dichaba Phalatse, Network Marketing Manager SABC TV Division comments: “SABC1 prides itself in being part of skills transfer program in the form of South Africa’s music conference. As a youth channel nurturing local talent, we have a mandate to empower aspiring musicians and SAMC enables SABC1 to play in this arena with our partners DJU, City of Durban & our SABC radio stations. We invite all aspiring musicians, DJs, entertainment business individuals to come and learn more about the entertainment business.”

As usual, the conference includes the vibrant and legendary Mother of All Parties. This year’s event will be divided into two stages at Kings Park Stadium. The one stage will feature International names such as vocalist Monique Bingham (US), Rocco (France), Ralf Gum (Germany), DJU, Zakes Bantwini, DJ Siyanda, DJ Sox, Ukhozi FM DJs and more.

The other one will be a DJU celebrates 20 Years of Kalawa Jazmee Records stage. This platform will see Kalawa Jazmee acts such as BOP, Mafikizolo, Bongo Maffin, Uhuru, Professor, Black Motion, Trompies, Dr Malinga, Mahoota vs Vetkuk, Heavy K, Character, Busiswa, DJ Zinhle, Tzoz, DJ Pepsi, Nokwazi, DJ Bobsta and more stable mates hitting the stage.

Tickets to this remarkable music event are R180 and R500 for VIP.

For more information go to www.djusa.co.za ; follow on twitter @DJUSAMC or search for Southern African Music Conference (SAMC) by DJU on Facebook.

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