Sandisiwe Gumbo, Sunday Life Reporter
THE annual Summer Garage Festival is taking the celebration of kasi culture, the car industry, and music fans to the next level today for its 4th edition at the New Luveve Industrial Site.
The festival has been organised by the well-known House Music group, Something Strange, introducing a centralised stage known as the “boiler room” setup in an aim to uplift the experience and create an environment where people can fully immerse themselves in the exciting beats of house music while surrounded by the energy of the car fan community.
“A boiler room set-up is a set-up that is intimate with people,” explained Thando Nkomo, aka Nkoks, one of the organisers.
“The stage is put in the middle of a crowd. Usually most set-ups the stage is in the front which denies the audience proper access to the performers.”
The new centralised stage is an exciting development that will take this year’s festival to new heights, with organisers promising a thrilling experience for all people who attend. Festival organisers believe this innovative addition will enhance the fusion of kasi culture and the car industry.
“The creation of centralised stage was inspired by our ways of changing set-ups for each and every Garage Festive we do,” Nkoks stated.
“We therefore set a challenge to change the whole idea of having a stage on one side of the venue to removing the stage set-up totally. The setup will give the audience an ultimate experience of having DJs perform just next to them, to see how they play what they do and have that feel of being part of the DJ experience.”
The centralised stage will feature live performances from some of the Bulawayo house music DJs and will also present a variety of car-related attractions.
The DJ line-up consists of Philip Phiri, the entertainment manager for house in CBD, well known as Feel G, DJ Prince Eskhosini, Just Drey and Crazy Dee just to highlight a few.
“For our line-up, we managed to cater across the city in order to give everyone and every DJ a garage experience as they will represent their kasi as well. We are striving to invite the team that will be at the spin-off on set to come and showcase their cars and style.
We would like to see the likes of team VW MK1 golf and team BMW as they grace us like the previous years,” Nkoks said.
“As our culture we always make sure our set-ups include garage utilities, that’s from seats , rims, bonnets etc or both will be one of a kind this year as we strive to use a trailer loading box as well as boot of a car as our DJ table.”
The organisers are promising the “boiler room” to provide a great level of energy and excitement, making the Summer Garage Festival a must-attend event for anyone looking to celebrate and explore the blend of kasi culture and the car industry.