Behind Bazique Festival Cape Town – art, music & absurdism in the Mother City
The crazy crew behind Bazique Festival Cape Town are going all out to introduce an event of fantastic proportions.
Bazique Festival Cape Town promises features, installations and bizarre happenings (in the best possible way), they say will ‘either blow our minds or have us tickled fancy with the absurdity of it all.’
Whilst a high-quality lineup of music is still at the top of their priority list, which is eclectic, diverse and packed with a veritable who’s who of local SA talent, plus no less than NINE international headliners, Bazique Festival Cape Town are looking to put on a show and then some!
READ: Bazique Festival announces full lineup
But who are the party architects behind this intriguing weekend festival?
- Are they as crazy as the event suggests?
- What experience do they have?
- Are we in good hands?
- Why should I buy a ticket to Bazique Festival Cape Town?
- Why shouldn’t I?
- Why, why…. Why?
I decided to find out more about the crew-behind-the-do…
Bazique is going to be quite silly it’s true … but we are serious about our music and the love we put into everything we do.”
The serious stuff…
Let’s start with the name: Bazique – How did that come about? Was it an intense brainstorming session or just one of those easy lightbulb moments?
Nick: It was a dancefloor moment at a psytrance party down here in the mid-90s … the sun was coming up … dancefloor absolutely rocking … everyone smiling … one of those perfect moments in time where there is absolutely no static… just pure, unadulterated enjoyment… and right there and then we came up with a word to describe that perfect moment … and the word was Bazique!
There are several partners involved with the mystique that is Bazique and I know you all come with plethora of event experience. Care to divulge the party architects…
Nick: Yeah Bazique is not only a ground-breaking music festival concept for South Africa and indeed globally, but the organisation behind it is pretty unique too.
Its essentially a creative cooperative, comprised of international and SA promoters … the head creatives behind UK’s legendary Secret Garden Party and Glade Festival (UK) … then Joburg hip hop meisters Pop Bottles, Cape Town’s Wolfkop Weekender, Sexy Groovy Love, Cape Town Electronic Music Festival and the brilliant Diskotekah.
Then the festival Art Director is one of the world’s foremost festival installation artists, Joburg’s own Daniel Popper … and then the Department of Arsing About is run by the super charged creative minds of Will and Andrew at The Sunroom.
Oh yeah … there is one more Bazique family member we haven’t announced yet …and its a biggie… but that’s a surprise … coming soon!!! 😉
The idea to opt in several leading event brands to co-host stages and/or days/nights at the festival is ingenious…
Nick: Cape Town’s outdoor party scene has now, for years, been one of the best in the world no -doubt about it … and we felt that by combining the talents behind some of its best parties with arguably the best boutique festival in the world, The Secret Garden Party, we could create an event concept that has never been seen before here in SA… and the creative richness and originality that ensued is amazing.
The team came together pretty organically… it just kinda flowed from one conversation to the next … but essentially sought a balance of communities and creative inputs that would all get along with one another.
We did pretty well to get nine international artists in the first year; it was actually quite easy pulling together. As soon as we told people who was involved and what we were up to, everybody wanted to play!”
The Secret Garden Party is part of English party culture folklore and certainly a coup for Bazique to have as a co-host/partner… 
Nick: I first went to Burning Man festival in the USA with Fred Fellows, the owner of the Secret Garden Party (SGP) in 2006 … at the time I was running The Glade Festival … and we both came back incredibly inspired by the Burning Man concept and set about opening up the creative content of our respective events to open source, user generated creative content…. and Bazique has followed in those footsteps.
It has got lots of art and ideas coming in from the participants … Art cars (if you don’t know what an Art car is Google it!) Art boats, sculptures, installations…. all sorts … but at the same time it has a host of world class artists playing at it!
Then there is the nutso interactive theatre stuff that Secret Garden party have lead the festival world in for over the last 15 years … or as we are calling it at Bazique, ‘The Department of Arsing About.’
Whether or not you decide to become a part of the Human Ten Pin Bowling or get up on the Dance Duel stage is up you…”
This year we will be doing The Dance Duel (a version of the Dance off Stage at SGP – Google it its hilarious), Mermaiding Workshops, Human Ten Pin Bowling, The Hug Deli … and loads of other ‘ in between’ bits that give people the opportunity to unleash their own creativity … it really is going to be an event like never seen here in SA.
There are also 5 fully immersive themed stages that we hope people will bring costumes for and get involved that way.
One of the environments is a 3-roomed La Fee Verte – a Moulin Rouge style ballroom with a weird cocktail bar called the Bad Taxidermist…
The Fat Chance Casino and Champagne Salon where you can play blackjack and roulette and sip bubbly whilst listening to 1920s Jazz and other musical oddities … (btw you’re gonna have to dress sharp to get in the casino. 😉
So, you guys are taking your tagline “AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT” – and an event description as a ‘3-day reverie of art, music and absurdism’ – rather seriously then?
Nick: Bazique is going to be quite silly it’s true … but we are serious about our music and the love we put into everything we do.
We like a bit of absurdism ‘cos it shakes things up in a good way … it’s good for us humans to get loose and play with our inner child!
Whether or not you decide to become a part of the Human Ten Pin Bowling or get up on the Dance Duel stage is up you … but we suspect that people may be motivated by the free tequila we offer to our enthusiastic participants… 😊
The lineup is massive, and dare I say it, rather absurdly diverse!!!
From the annals of pop-rock – aKing & Ard Matthews to the twisted techno of Felix Laband & D-Nox to the Grime infused Hip Hop of Foreign Beggars this is an artist list of epic proportions. It must have taken some real blood, sweat and the odd partner tear to get to this together….
Nick: Thanks …it’s certainly unique and as you say like nothing ever before seen … which was the goal!
We did pretty well to get nine international artists in the first year; it was actually quite easy pulling together. As soon as we told people who was involved and what we were up to, everybody wanted to play! Yeah, its definitely diverse … but that’s what we think a festival should be …. a broad-spectrum experience … a journey of the unexpected.
Daniel Popper – party architect extraordinaire… are our minds going to be blown?
Danny: We [are] certainly aiming for that… for sure, there is no doubt your eyes will be tickled way more than at the standard Cape Town outdoor festival.
The absurdity test…
Let’s see just how absurd our Bazique Festival Cape Town architects are…
For this one Nick dragged in the Department of Arsing About (DAA)…
Would you rather have finger sized nipples or nipple sized fingers?
Nick: Finger nipples would come in very handy for things like crochet.
DAA: Definitely erect finger sized nipples, pierced with little crooning robots.
Would you rather have a 1-minute conversation with your past self or your future self?
Nick: The Buddhists on team Bazique don’t understand the question – they have transcended self, apparently. (this may not be true, however)
DAA: Here at the DAA we find it far too tense to even converse with ourselves in the present.
Would you rather shout all the time or whisper all the time?
Nick: Shouting might not be fun… but at least everyone doesn’t get paranoid.
Would you rather be a genius that nobody believes or an idiot that everybody believes?
Nick: Apparently Donald Trump is both.
Would you rather live without music or live without tv?
Nick: At Bazique we have both music AND transvestites, so you can have the best of both worlds 😊
Would you rather fight 100 duck sized horses or one horse sized duck?
Nick: If you spent your whole time shouting as suggested above you would be a little horse which essentially ducks the question.
DAA: We are now considering making a horse sized duck with a diamante bill.
Would you rather always forget who you are or always forget who everyone else is?
Nick: It depends why you are in the witness box.
Would you rather sneeze all the time or have hiccups all the time?
Nick: At least hiccups are funny.
DAA: both at once please… ‘sniccups’.
Would you rather have a bell go off every time you’re horny or never get horny?
Nick: It depends on the bell … assuming humans adhere to Pavlov’s behavioural theory, it might work out quite well for you once the word got around.
So, now that we’ve heard from the Bazique Festival Cape Town posse head over to their website.
It’s pretty amazing and definitely gives one a good feel for how awesome Bazique Festival Cape Town is going to be.
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