One area that has felt the sheer combustible force of the global pandemic is the music industry, which has been brought to its knees as we’ve been confined to the four walls of our homes. Our beloved festivals, club nights, residencies, gigs have been collateral, and even now the industry is scrambling to stabilise as our eyes dart repeatedly to that sacred day on the calendar: 21st June.
As usual, at the forefront of these efforts is Boiler Room who have launched SYSTEMRESTART.TV, an online festival planning to “uplift artists, to empower collectives, to forge and harness networks, to educate and to entertain”.
Launching at the festival as part of their longstanding commitment to celebrating local music communities around the world is Ballantine’s True Music and Boiler Room’s COLLECTIVE TV, which made waves with the success of their 2020 Streaming from Isolation series and grant scheme which awarded 20 under-threat music collectives financial grants at the beginning of the pandemic.
Across two days on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th February on SYSTEMRESTART.TV, they will champion eight of the most exciting and up-and-coming collectives from around the world who have been impacted by the pandemic. Expect the return of some of the 2020 grant recipients including MARICAS, Moonshine, Directions Radio, Brutaz and Cxema, as well as showcasing buzzy new collectives, Bubblegum Club, Radio Alhara and Absurd Trax. And on offer are extended 16-hour broadcasts of audio-visual shows, talks, interviews, mixes and music videos. Club culture is getting a heady injection of love.
The music collectives will be using their broadcasts as an opportunity to dip listeners into their local communities’ vibrant talents, spotlighting the current sound of their communities, not to mention giving us a visual sense of their cities’ atmosphere and culture. You can practically feel the heat of the dance floor. Series of vogeuing, burlesque and avant-garde performances, body-shaking B2Bs, and the likes of online magazine Bubblegum Club giving an eye-opening perspective on the people and production defining South African youth culture.
To find out more about Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music and to sign up for updates, check out truemusic.boilerroom.tv