In Africa, the participating cities are Johannesburg, Cairo, Luanda, Lagos and Nairobi, while in Europe they are Berlin, Bristol, Kiev, Lisbon and Naples. They all have flourishing club cultures and have developed their music and sub-cultures. Photos and texts will shed light on club culture today and in the past. DJs from all the cities will be involved to produce a joint CD.
Why clubs? Clubs are where not only youth and music culture finds expression, but also the way in which a society and a city deals with individual rights and liberties. In a time of digital spaces, this project is looking at the role of physical urban spaces in the creation of the public and counter-public sphere. However, digitalisation plays a key role in club culture and this is not only apparent in the way music is transmitted or produced live. The internet is a vehicle for the distribution and acquisition of music. Thus, Because of this, the project will focus not only on local cultures but also on the global exchange of knowledge.
The project was launched in 2013 with initial activities in Johannesburg. On Mahala.co.za, the blogger Mlilo Mpondo describes the party held by Ten Cities in a disused factory building:
The mixture of Kiev DJ’s Vakula and the Dubmasta, Mzansi’s Dirty Paraffin and Kenyan hip hop and Marabi instrumentalists, is the theatre of fluidity at its best. Ten Cities is a hive of cross continental and cross cultural influences and ideas. It mirrors the indulgence and the freedoms of club life; where (on good nights) race, sexual orientation, ego, wealth and the other constructs that tend to define us, are dissolved to form a momentary, single movement.
You can find out more about the project and about upcoming activities on the Ten Cities Facebookpage. The project will also present itself at this year's re:publica.
Translation: Jo Beckett
This article was published under CC BY .
