This story begins a year ago when I ran into a festival by fate/algorithm/or pure luck. The covid pandemic was in the distant past yet a dark cloud of its shady aftermath was riddled with conspiracies, jabs, digital start-ups, DIY and not forgetting cabin fever; a lot of people were itching to mission if you get what I’m saying, people wanted to go out, like REALLY out and what better way would it be than to head towards a little-known musical festival that celebrates Rock, folk, and Electronic Music called Mieliepop, located at Lothair, Mpumalanga. I had such an eye-opening experience, especially as a person of colour in a predominantly Afrikaans festival; I decided to put a small team together to experience and share their unique stories. This is a summary of experiences, some sticky, some refreshing and some downright weird.

Arrival

The whole team arrived from different parts of town and with plenty of things to take care of before we could head out into the open; I’m talking emails, children, meetings and all high-priority things including packing your 2-ply toilet paper and doing your squats (more about that later). Even after all the preparations the most prepared was the “festival virgin” who clearly did her research and left nothing to chance. 

We arrived at our campsite right in the thick of the night and with the collective experience that we have as campers, we were able to pick the most ideal area to build our temporary homestead –  around a dwarf tree with the most mischievous shade.

We set up camp, had some shots of tequila, and headed right into the belly of the festival, the Rave Cave.

The Cave, Stage and The Woods

The Rave Cave

The Rave Cave was downhill from our campsite and tucked in between the pool bar and pool stage, you could spot it easily by following the thumping bass muffled by the bodies filling the cave; walking in there felt much like the opening scene to the first Blade movie. Drinks were as cold and as fast as a Joburg police officer and came with some really cool and reusable eco-friendly freebies. We headed there and zoned out to some EDM and some really unique interactions with the rave crowd, it was truly an uplifting experience.  

The biggest highlight from the Rave Cave was Tha Cutt who took us on a musical journey through his open format set that gave a fair share of Hip-Hop, Bass, dnb, dubstep, afrobeat and so many more genres that were basted with a generous amount of scratching. He displayed a cunning ability to find a common thread through music which felt more like an Alley-hoop at the NBA All-star-games, for the other Djs to follow.

The Main Stage

The main stage is actually the first stage you see when arriving from the top of the rolling hills at Campsite B (where the city cars can easily park) and is at the preface of the pool area; the mainstage is where the live acts/bands would perform on a stage big enough to house even The Charles Gene Suite – who by the way had an explosive performance that integrated a lot of sounds and content that reflects the diversity of music at the tip of a South African tongue – more highlights of the main stage which I was also able to catch were the likes of  Morena Leraba,  who pulled crowds from every cave and shadow through his Sesotho chants over electronic beats and melodies. His sound is deeply spiritual, avant-garde and cultural, an enchanting infusion of electronic music and poetry. 

Another Mainstage highlight was Shameless, a band that reminded me of how much  Rock music is deeply engraved and entrenched in the hearts of black people and their history; They were high energy and relatable with a thrilling performance that blended Rock, heavy metal, Punk rock with kasi stories and experiences. Shameless calls their brand of Rock ‘irock yase kasi’ (rock from ‘the hood’) or ‘nkabi rock’ (“Hitman Rock”) .  Their exhilarating performance had us sharing drinks, running away from the moshpit and looking for giant mushrooms to hide under from the heavy rains that followed shortly after their performance.

Cool in The Pool Stage

The path to the Pool stage was bedewed with water splashes from people floating and fooling around in the pool. The stage was a vibrant and refreshing space that came alive from midday to about sunset. We were blessed with great music from minimal house, deep tech to Madonna and loads more. The eclectic sound resonated against the murmur of cheerful conversations, bikinis and an odd trenchcoat, shorts, flops, shades and overall communal energy. Some of the DJs that had me swaying like leaves against a clear sky were, Malik Faquir and DSCO CAM

The Fruity Forest

The Fruity Forest was a bit too fruity for me, it was hilarious, intriguing and at most occasions very trippy. At some point, I saw a tall man with long shiny green pants and a ponytail that reached the back of his knees – Hopping around like a less mischievous Puck from a midsummer night’s dream…The toilets were absolutely filthy in the forest and feels like people were just left to their own devices…That’s all I’m going to say about that.

The People

Check out more images titled The people of Mieliepop 2023 here

The outfits were a bit safe and only a few were dressed as weirdly as the street style at the Paris fashion week. Most people were very friendly, filled with banter and open to engaging with each other regardless of background, race, gender and identity, and those that don’t F*ck with you would straight up ignore you.

There was also a lot of love shared between people of colour, from sharing stories to meals, laughter and experiences. Most of us found ourselves re-linking at the pop-up Jagermeister stage.

Facilities

The showers were warm in the mornings and surprisingly empty (not as empty as the pool though) which had me wondering, “ba geza kuphi labantu” (where do all these people shower)?

Ablution facilities were as standard as those found at an after tears and were kept as clean as humanly possible by the lovely cleaning ladies, although some ladies who attended the festival complained about the cleanliness of the toilets and the squats and positions they had to contour their bodies into in order to relieve themselves in the most safest way, there’s only so much you can do to keep a busy festival as clean as a hospital, however there’s lots of room for improvement there. 

There were about 4 food stalls for the entire weekend, which I felt was way too little in terms of variety, I mean you can only eat so many paninis and loaded fries, right? We ended up driving to Ermello to get Breakfast and hot wings at some point just to break away from the monotonous menu.

As a part of the media, I was highly disappointed by the lack of facilities such as a media tent with power at the very least. I found myself running from pillar to post to try and find a socket to plug into so that I could create content.

Thanks to the lady at the VIP camping for doing all that she could to get me set up, however, this needs to improve greatly in order for us to create the most qualitative content to share with our audience. 

The camping sites were very clean and green, they made for the best mornings with a view of the dam and the forest.

Overall experience

Overall I had an amazingly intimate experience; I was slightly nervous and anxious at the beginning so I really had to work hard to shake the Jozi off of me so that I can enjoy the pleasantly wild, welcoming and freeing experience of the Mieliepop music festival 2023. I look forward to seeing more diversified acts, a bigger turnout and more experiences in 2024.