FreshlyGround.com
Title
freshlyground - South Africa's favourite afro-fusion band.
Description
Freshlyground have a busy year ahead of them for 2006: a national tour of South Africa in May, a UK tour in July, followed by Germany and Belgium in August. The band are then heading home to record their 3rd album with producers JB Arthur and Victor Masondo of Instinct Africaine in Johannesburg. They plan to release the new album in November 2006. Currently the album Nomvula is double platinum in South Africa, and there is increased interest from Europe and the US: Freshlyground hope to secure an international release before the end of the year.
Freshlyground formed early 2002, and is made up of seven talented and diverse musicians from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In 2003 Freshlyground launched their debut album, Jika Jika, the success of which firmly cemented the band as one of South Africa’s most successful young acts. In the same year this seven-piece Cape Town based band enjoyed much wider exposure, playing at numerous music festivals including the Harare International Festival of the Arts and the Robben Island African Festival. Freshlyground were invited to Harare International Festival of the Arts 2004 as the South African representative for the festival, where they headlined the closing ceremony, performing a song with Zimbabwean icon Oliver Mtukudzi. 2004 started off playing before President Thabo Mbeki at the opening of Parliament on the eve of celebrating 10 years of democracy in South Africa. One of the most exciting musical events in South Africa 2004 was the esteemed North Sea Jazz Festival. Freshlyground played alongside the likes of Miriam Makeba, Stanley Clarke and Femi Kuti. In July 2004 the band performed at the prestigious Villa Celimontana Festival in Rome while taking a break from the recording studio. Freshlyground were invited to play at the Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan in March 2005. They then traveled to Germany to front the celebration of 5 years of partnership between Cape Town and Aachen.
Freshlyground completed recording their second album in Johannesburg in June/July 2004 under their independent Freeground Records label, in conjunction with Instinct Africaine. ‘Nomvula’ was recorded and produced in Joburg by Joe Arthur and Sibusiso Victor Masondo and released in late 2004. After a somewhat slow start - but with a strong word of mouth buzz based on the band’s live performance reputation - momentum picked up as the sheer quality of the album begun to shine through. Radio picked up on ‘Doo Be Doo’ and the catchy song has gone on to become a favorite amongst a diverse spread of stations and their listeners. However, album tracks such as ‘I’d Like’, ‘Zithande’, ‘Things Have Changed’, ‘Manyana’ and the title track ‘Nomvula’ (with its stunning music video directed by filmmaker Ian Gabriel) are proving the depth and strength of this remarkable record. In addition to the Nomvula video, the band has just released music videos for “I’d Like” and “Doo Be Doo”.
Contact
- freshlyground
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- Cape Town Western Cape
- South Africa 7708
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- 217626721
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