PODCAST: South African indie makes waves

Sarah Berman,
Gazelle's Xander Ferreira performs the single ‘Chic Afrique’ at Bushfire, Swaziland's annual international festival of arts.

BY SARAH BERMAN AND SARAH FELDBLOOM, TORONTO STAR

South African indie music has rarely crossed the ocean to North America’s mass markets – but the genre is developing, and the sound is big, bright and bold.

Gazelle frontman Xander Ferreira says South African indie music is in a renaissance period: “We believe this is the future for African music, for people to gather a scene here first and then go and take over the world.”

At the Bushfire festival held in Ezulwini, Swaziland, Journalists for Human Rights reporters Sarah Feldbloom and Sarah Berman explored this movement of new music. In this podcast, hear what bands Gazelle, Hot Water and Tshe Tsha Boys have to say about what makes South African indie so hot right now.

Published by Sarah Berman

Sarah Berman’s writing has appeared in VICE, Adbusters, Maclean’s, Reuters, the Globe and Mail, the Vancouver Sun and many others. A lifelong supporter of independent and alternative media, Sarah has contributed to nonprofits like Journalists for Human Rights, Megaphone Magazine and Paper Tiger TV.