Creative Cape Town

Goematronics is a Creative Cape Town project that emerged from the popular and first Creative Cape Town project, Goemarati, in 2007/8, a CD compilation of local music and a series of public concerts.

 Goematronics takes its cue from the Mangue Bit movement. Think Recife, Brazil, late 1990s – the advent of an entirely new generation of Brazilian musicians like Chico Science and Nação Zumbi, supported later by government as a creative industry strategy and now established internationally as a music scene in its own right. Then think Cape Town in the late 1980s with that quintessential goema rock band – The Genuines.   Later Mac McKenzie and Hilton Schilder would take the sound forward, fusing Latin beats and electronics, working with the likes of the late Alex van Heerden through such bands as The Goema Captains of Cape Town and Rock Art.   In 2008, Goematronics emerged as a cultural hybrid.

Recognising the design, musical and technical talent in young creative professionals, their lifestyles and pastimes, modes and imagination, Goematronics strove to fill a gap in the creative market.  By marrying urban and sonic development, it encouraged something quintessentially yet unprecedentedly Capetonian.

Sonically speaking, we are a city both stupendous and strange. Our underground movements are often locally and internationally recognised yet just as often marginalised. Movements are known in moments or motions, on home soil or across oceans, but rarely are they integrated geographically, and often genres are segregated racially, meaning that much music remains niche in reach.

Yet we don’t lack heroes. We have musicians and composers of note working in the fields of electronic-related music – in rock-inspired electronica; reggae- and ragga-inspired dub; funky,  synthy house; socially conscious, homegrown hip-hop; and spaza (similar to kwaito). What do we have to do to get them to mix more naturally? Well, er, get them to mix digitally, maybe? First, more history.

At around the same time, Creative Cape Town recognised that digital designers and electronic musicians are key to the city’s sound and spaces, defining a core of young creative professionals for whom work and play involves both. It also recognised that while new media informs youth culture, when it comes to its composers and musicians there is little understanding, recognition or appreciation of local contributions to a global music scene, and there’s a distinct disconnection between the more international electric and digital scenes and the city’s rich and specific sonic heritage(including Cape jazz and goema).

 In response, Goematronics was begun as a journey which included history and music tours, generated new songs and started a creative movement for musical civilians. The tours set the tone. February to August 2008 saw: 

• An historic tour of the city with Cape Town Partnership’s Andrew Boraine and Creative Cape Town’s Zayd Minty 
• Meetings with  goema greats Mac McKenzie and Hilton Schilder and visits to Lansdowne Club Swingers
• Meetings with carnival leaders like Melvyn Matthews, Boeta Achmat (who produces gammies aka goema drums) and visits to the Fabulous Woodstock Starlites, as well as the Hanover Minstrels in Mitchells Plain
• A township reggae tour including a meal with musician Teba Shumba, a visit to Wakile Xhalisa‘s studio and the famous reggae dancehall in Philippi

A number of musicians and producers were invited along, with Fletcher (African Dope Records), Andre Swanepoel (Mr Mo), Warrick Sony (Kalahari Surfers), Peter Abrahams (DJ)as the most consistent participants. Eating and travelling together facilitated connections and communication. The result was music to our ears – new songs using goema samples.

Goematronics: Experiments in Local Distinctiveness by Creative Cape Town

 At its culmination, everyone involved in the 2008 collective exercise agreed that others should be invited to engage with this branch of Cape Town music and culture.

So, with the support of the Red Bull Studios in Cape Town, a series of samples were recorded.   Goema-inspired jazz legend Hilton Schilder (one of the key musos behind Genuines) and the legendary goema jazz man Robbie Jansen, created the samples which were used to produce five new songs.  DJ Peter A worked with house-proud Erefaan Pearce, Fletcher, the Kalahari Surfer and Mr Mo each produced songs using the samples.

The samples include:

• Drum
• Gammies
• Tamboors
• Banjo
• Horns