The Cape Town Arts Festival (CTAF), powered by Ariva Arts Foundation, has completed its second successful Beyond Busking development programme.
The festival started off as the One City, Many Cultures festival started by former Cape Times editor Ryland Fisher as a way of addressing cultural intolerance and racial violence in 1999, following the Planet Hollywood bombings at the Waterfront in 1998.
In 2003 Yusuf Ganief became CEO, injecting new energy and perspective. In 2004, he initiated Cape Town Community Festivals providing significant annual employment opportunities, benefiting more than 1 800 artists.
The festival expanded, birthing brands like Cape Town Community Festivals, Cape Town Performing Arts Festivals, Jou Ma Se Comedy and Cape Town Youth Festival.
In 2021, Ganief rebranded the Cape Town Festival as the Cape Town Arts Festival, prioritising sustainable artist development through upskilling, nurturing and dynamic performance platforms.
On October 29, 2022, the CTAF organised the Beyond Busking Festival Day at the historic Castle of Good Hope. This event created a platform for 425 artists, volunteers and suppliers, attracting an enthusiastic audience of over 1100.
The festival showcased diverse artistic expressions, reinforcing its unwavering commitment to the arts.
Iviwe Nkopo, known as Ivee Soul, emerged as a singing sensation.
As the youngest participant in the Beyond Busking development programme, she recorded her own original song, Amandla, and also featured as a lead singer on the SHiNE song, alongside some of South Africa's acclaimed artists.
Selected buskers are immersed in an intensive training programme for three months with icons in the industry such as singer/songwriter Clive Ridgway who grooms young creative musicians to access their authentic and original voice.
Other skills include guitar lessons, vocal training, stage presence and life mentorship.
The programme runs during the CTAF at the Castle of Good Hope, which provides a big stage performance opportunity for the buskers.
“Last year the festival chose the theme of Social Harmony through National Effort (SHiNE), an initiative by the South African Human Rights Commission.
Part of the campaign was to commission the SHiNE theme song, which drew from both established and emerging artists.
Ivee Soul sang alongside Landrose, the rapper from Gauteng who rose to fame for rapping in seven official languages.
“The Beyond Busking formula, of taking artists off the street and placing them on the big stage, while giving them opportunities to collaborate with big names, can mark a significant milestone in the careers of emerging artists,” said Ganief.
“We will be watching Ivee Soul's promising career unfold with great enthusiasm.”
Originally from the Eastern Cape, Ivee Soul began her musical journey at the age of 8 as a soloist in her school choir.
In 2018 she joined an acapella group in Strand, her home town, further refining her musical talents.
In 2021 she began her solo career performing around Cape Town and showcasing her versatility and skill at the The Drama Factory in Somerset West.
In 2022 and 2023, she won Best Female Vocalist of the Year at the Look At God Music Awards.
Fresh out of school, she is now pursuing her dream and studying African Music at the South African College of Music, UCT, while being an active member of the Lwandle Arts Forum.
Her original song, Amandla, was released on all digital platforms on March 29.
As the reputation of the Beyond Busking Project grows, high-level recording studios and producers have stepped in to assist each busker with a final song production, which will assist each artist in becoming a prominent brand in the music industry.
Milestone Studios, Mallum Studios, Cape Town Sound and Rootspring Music, as well as top engineers from Gauteng such as Robin Walsh and Vincente Espi, have donated their skills to help these young emerging artists.