Oppikoppi was a music festival held in the

Limpopo Province Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

of South Africa, near the mining town of Northam. The festival started off focusing mostly on rock music, but gradually added more

genres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

and now plays host to a complete mixed bag of genres. Anything from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, world music, house music, acoustic, comedy and all else in between can be heard on one of the multiple stages. Each year in the first week of August - except for 2017, when the festival was held in October - thousands of people used to flock to the farm to camp out in the

bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

and enjoy the music for several days. The festival features mostly South African bands, although international acts are included in the line-up.

Background

"Oppikoppi" was a colloquial abbreviation of the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

phrase "op die koppie", which literally means "on the hill". The festival derives its name from the resort on the piece of land where it is held, featuring a picturesque hill on top of which there is a bar and a small original stage. Once a year, the festival grounds were erected at the foot of that hill, where many simultaneous performances took place on the several stages. Beyond this were the camping grounds. A stage on a second hill usually featured dance acts and DJs.

History

The festival was first held in August 1995, with 27 local talents performing to a small crowd of enthusiasts. It has since grown substantially, with the addition of many new stages and thousands of people turning up each year. The festival is regarded by some as the primary influence in jump-starting the South African live music movement in the late 1990s. It attracts thousands of attendees annually. According to the organizers they have "rolled bakkies, burnt tents, driven over knees, slept in jails, slept outside jails and turned over several stones to make gigs and festivals work." In 2008, the ''

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'' ranked OppiKoppi as the 4th best music festival in the world. The festival has grown yearly, with 16 000 attendees and around 100 acts for both 2010 and 2011 and an estimated 20 000 attendees and 130 acts for 2012.

Acts and genres

The festival hosts a wide array of acts, with artists being booked from genres including, but not limited to: rock, hip hop,

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punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

, folk, blues,

drum 'n bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

big beat Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as th ...

s, funk,

kwaito Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of h ...

, jazz,

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, world music, metal,

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and other genres. In the past there had been smaller, more intimate gatherings on each Easter weekend in April and New Year's gatherings. In 2012, Oppikoppi announced that it would be organising a festival in

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called "One Night in Cape Town". One Night in Cape Town was organised again in 2013, and every year since.

Previous editions

Oppikoppi is generally divided into three different strains of Oppikoppi: the main event in August, the Easter edition (which was discontinued after 2009) and miscellaneous events for various reasons. Regardless of the occasion, date and size of each event, they have all had different names and themes associated with them. The organisers took a "gap year" in 2019 following negative reviews of the 2018 edition. 2020 dates have not yet been announced.

References

External links