PITCH has released the names of two new artists for their festival on 5-6 July and they have found them in Africa, where they know how to make exciting music. Mulatu Astatke (Ethiopia) and Shangaan Electro (South Africa) are the two music legends PITCH will bring to Westergasfabriek.

Shangaan Electro

Music can always be harder/better/faster/stronger, but the fun really begins when South Africa takes over. Shangaan Electro throws midi-keyboards, vocals and bouncing beats together in a devilish electronic mosaic. The result is then blown through the speakers at maximum velocity reaching 180 bpm, whereas traditional heavy dance records average only 135. It’s the ideal megamix for exciting (street)dance-offs in Soweto, where men and women with elastic legs bounce on the black asfalt like skippyballs. PITCH will feature, among others, Tsetsha Boys and producer/vocalist Richard ‘Nozinja’ Mthethwa – a.k.a. Dog.

Mulatu Astatke

The dictionary lacks superlatives for someone like Mulatu Astatke, who is a living music legend in the truest sense of the words. The 70-year old Ethiopian is the father of Ethio-jazz; a timeless and thrilling mix of pop, modern jazz, Latin, Caribbean reggae , afrofunk, and traditional Ethiopian music. His music is an experience in itself, but sampled by Cut Chemist, Madlib, and Nas (among others) it becomes something out of this world. Mulatu Astatke has been his funky self since the 1960s and still rocks the piano, percussion, and vibraphone, For his live concerts, he surrounds himself with the best musicians out there.