Moshito rated a success

15 Oct 2009

Moshito 09 attracted nearly 500 delegates a day during its four days at Museum Africa in Newtown, Johannesburg. All provinces except the Northern Cape were represented, together with Africa, Europe, Australia, North America and South America.

The official programme featured 20 international speakers and a host of South African contributors who gave their input on many of the key issues facing the South African music industry, including how to grow digital music sales in South Africa, exporting domestic music internationally, meeting piracy head on and stimulating the live music scene in South Africa and Africa.

Moshito itself proved a key factor in the latter, hosting 60 showcases that featured close to 250 artists drawn from throughout South Africa and the continent, including a number of acts impacting on the global stage, like Blk Jks, Bakithi Khumalo and Etran Finatawa.

Free masterclasses and workshops

What was also particularly striking about Moshito 09 were the number of free masterclasses and workshops on offer that provided an important complement to the formal conference programme running at Museum Africa.

These educational elements to this year's Moshito go a long way to fulfilling Moshito's mandate to increase significantly skills in the South African music industry and included the Hands On Mic Off! Workshops presented by Business and Arts South Africa with the support of the Cultural Development Trust.

Mentorship awarded

Run free for registered and non-registered Moshito delegates at the Market Theatre, these workshops culminated in the awarding of a Cultural Entrepreneurship Incubator Mentorship valued at R25 000 to Ernest Gololo of the Diepkloof-based Slaghuis Hip Hop company.

The 2009 Moshito Masterclasses, supported by the National Arts Council (NAC) and held at the Bassline, were also open to all and featured expert input by globally-revered South African bassist Bakithi Khumalo on a rare visit to his home country, Grammy Award-winning producer, Kevin Bond and award-winning engineer and producer, Ian Osrin.

Another exciting aspect of Moshito 09 was the very visible linkages between Moshito Music Conference and Exhibition and key organisations and events on the global music scene.

Chief among these was the presence of Equations Musique, which gave life to Moshito's aim to be the portal into the African music business through its exhibition stand.