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Koos Kombuis chats Malkop festival, new album and holiday plans

Cape Town - After a hugely successful first Malkop Summer Rock Festival in 2015, the festival is back in 2016 in one of the country’s most beautiful regions. 

With more than 24 of the best rock artists in the country (including the likes of Albert Frost, Francois van Coke, Koos Kombuis and many more), the festival is the perfect excuse to start your holiday season early this year.

With camping facilities available where you can camp at your car, the two day line-up of the Malkop Summer Rock Festival is the perfect weekend getaway where you can witness the masters of rock, blues and folk music in the beautiful surroundings of the West Coast.

We chat to Koos Kombuis ahead the festival:

You have crowdfunded your album, (congrats by the way!) so how are things going with the album? When will it be finished and what can people expect?

We were very fortunate to overshoot our R100 000 target and Jumpstarter was very helpful. The recordings are now almost done and the album will be in stores early next year. I hope that it will also be available as a download before Christmas. 

How does the album differ from your previous albums?

My previous albums seem quite dated and old compared to this one. The production is excellent and there are some delicious Cape Jazz piano sequences provided by Ramon Alexander. We were also very fortunate to get collaborations by David Kramer, Anna Davel and others. I would like this album to serve as a testimony, first of all, to where I am in my career right now, and also, collectively, to where we are as South Africans. I see it as my contribution to the civil society movement towards a corruption-free and more open South Africa. In particular, since most of the songs are in Afrikaans, I am trying to help reposition Afrikaans music, not as a thing apart, existing in its own isolated little cultural bubble, but as part of the broad spectrum of local music. Of course, one album cannot achieve all that, but I am trying to point other songwriters and performers in this direction. 

You’ll be playing at Malkop Summer Rock Festival, what can people expect from your set? Maybe a few new tunes?

I am really looking forward to this year's Malkop festival. I hope it will prove to be one of the fastest-growing festivals in South Africa. The setting is fantastic, the people are friendly and helpful, and it is the perfect weekend getaway for the season. This year's line-up is quite awesome! Oh, and yes, of course I will perform some of my new songs! 

How do festivals today differ from back in the day?

South Africa has the climate for open-air fests, and it is a good thing that we have so many. A festival is not an easy thing to organise, though, and not every festival shows a profit. I have a list in my head of festivals where I want to play, where I feel welcome, and where I trust the organisers. Malkop is right near the top of that list for me. 

What are you plans for the holidays?

Actually, I don't have plans yet. One thing is for sure, though: my trip to Malkop must include a culinary visit to the famed Muisbosskerm, which is right across the road from the festival. It is an open-air restaurant where people eat anything from seafood to braaivleis with seashells as their only cutlery. I got married there years ago, and last year I returned with my wife and two teenage kids in tow. I return there whenever I get the chance.

Details:

Date: 2-3 December 2016
Venue: Malkoppan Guest Farm, Lamberts Bay
Tickets: Friday - R180; Saturday - R250, Weekend Pass - R400; Weekend Pass + Camping - R550

Tickets are available from Webtickets.

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