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MUSIC
Barleycorn Annual Music Festival
Venue: Rygersdal Sports Club, Erin Rd, Rondebosch.
Time: 2:00pm - 10:00pm
Price: R30 - R60
Performances: 13 Feb 2010
Genre: Various
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It all started in 1975, when a bunch of musicians found it
agreeable to meet regularly to jam together, learn from one another and
consume beer. Over these past 34 years, the Barleycorn has met almost
every week to make what is now a Cape Town tradition & valuable musical
resource.
In the early years the music was mostly ‘traditional folk’,
with a smattering of Blues, Bluegrass, Country music & Olde English &
Irish material containing toxic levels of screeching fiddles. Yes, Bob
Dylan covers & political protest songs did appear fairly often, but the
Club rapidly developed a reputation as a place where home-grown original
material by local composers & performers found a receptive audience, and
it is these who have gradually formed the focus of the Club.
The inaugural Festival was held on 12th April 1980, at the
Maynardville Open-Air Theatre, packed to capacity to hear 20 acts perform
over 9 hours. The undoubted star of that, our first venture, was the then
unknown David Kramer, whose songs, red veldskoen & pork-pie hat captivated
absolutely everyone, including members of the press who gave his career a
massive kick-start!
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And thus has the Barleycorn Festival become an annual event
(well, almost; we missed a year in the mid 1990’s and two in the early
2000’s). This year the event has moved to the Rygersdal Sports grounds,
our regular Monday night venue, large enough for a decent-sized audience
to feel comfortable and Table Mountain forming a very picturesque
back-drop.
Long is the list of eminent musicians who’ve graced the
Barleycorn Festival stage, including Flat Stanley, Freshly Ground, Disu
Plaatjies & Amapondo, Steve Newman, Tony Cox … but this is not the forum
for a history of SA performing talent, this is to let you know that all
these years later, the magic will be repeated on Saturday 13th February
2010!
Thus far, confirmed acts include Boulevard Blues, Louise
Day, Wayne Pauli, Brothers Streep, Reini Adelbert, Dave Ledbetter, Natasha
Meister, K Ray & The Bird, Jasper Dick, The Hotties and Blacksmith …
eleven of what the Barleycorn committee consider to be the cream of the
best acts to appear at the Club in this past year. It’s home-grown & truly
lekker - bring a picnic basket & a blanket (although food & bevies will be
available) & join us for another episode in the ongoing saga of what is
excellent in local music.
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