Combining a myriad of musical genres in their home-grown performances, Nelson Mandela Bay’s self-proclaimed “ Afrofuristic” duo Ikati Esengxoweni often include western and indigenous instruments to explore a raw and liberal tone with their music.
Born and raised in Nelson Mandela Bay, Lark Wantu and Anam Manyati have performed on stages across Europe and are bringing their unique musical talents to this year’s National Arts Festival.
“Our music and vocals are more of a feeling than an experience,” lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist Manyati said.
Described by Manyati as more of a “performance art experience”, Ikati Esengxoweni, which translates to “cat in the bag”, were handpicked by the Independent Music Exporters of South Africa to perform, network and attend business conferences in both France and Spain.
“We were one of two South African music acts to perform at Primavera Pro 2018, where we were embraced more [by the audiences] than back home,” Manyati said. Primavera Sound is an international music festival and conference, where thousands of music professionals from all over the world meet.
This year’s festival took place in Barcelona, Spain, between May 30 and June 3, where Ikati Esengxoweni presented two performances – one day and one night show. The band, which formed in 2016, previously performed at the NAF in 2016 and last year, as well as at various other festivals, including at the Alliance Française’s Fête de la Musique in Johannesburg last month.
Ikati Esengxoweni consider themselves a live urban traditional, Afrofuristic, world music band that can either be acoustic and/or accompanied by violin, bass, lead guitar, drums, percussion, uhadi and indigenous instruments.
Their festival performance this year, Intaka Yakha Ngoboya Benye, has been inspired by the universe, and people who support and build each other up.
Catch Intaka Yakha Ngoboya Benye at the Graham Hotel today at 8pm, tomorrow at 2pm, July 6 at 12 pm and July 7 at 4pm.