Oppikoppi
Oppikoppi is the name of a music festival held in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, near the mining town of Northam. The festival started off focusing mostly on rock music, but gradually added more genres and now plays host to a complete mixed bag of genres. Anything from jazz, world music, house music, acoustic, comedy and all else in between can be heard on one of the multiple stages. Each year in August thousands of people flock to the farm to camp out in the bush and enjoy the music. The festival features mostly South African bands, although international acts are included in the mix.
Oppikoppi is a colloquial abbreviation of the Afrikaans phrase "op die koppie", which literally means "on the hill". The camping area is at the foot of a hill, on top of which is a bar and the Sipho Gumede stage. This stage features all the hip hop and dance acts, while the main Oppikoppi stage features all of the big acts and most of the rock.
The festival started in 1994, with 27 local talents performing to a small crowd of enthusiasts. It has since grown substantially, with the addition of many new stages and thousands of people turning up each year. The festival is regarded by some as the primary influence in jump-starting the South African rock music movement in the late 90's. It has attracted anything from 5,000 to 15,000 people.
The festival hosts a wide array of acts, with artists being booked from genres such as: rock, hip-hop, hardcore, punk, ska, folk, blues, drum ‘n bass, big beats, funk, kwaito, jazz, traditional, world music and other genres.
In addition to the annual festival in August of every year, the festival also hosts a smaller, more intimate gathering on each Easter weekend in April, focusing mostly on rock and jazz.
According to their organizers they have "rolled bakkies, burnt tents, driven over knees, slept in jails, slept outside jails and turned over several stones to make gigs and festivals work."
Names of the festivals
Each August Oppikoppi has a different name, please feel free to add what you can remember about previous years.
Here are some of the names of previous years.
- 1995 - festival of Rock
- 1996 - Stress relief from everyday situations
- 1997 - One Big Bang
- 1998 - Bushveld Blast
- 1999 - Infestation
- 2000 - Trek
- 2001 - Tuned
- 2002 - Plunge
- 2003 - Hond uit 'n boks
- 2004 - OK10 Bloed is dikker as soda water - Oppikoppi's 10th Birthday
- 2005 - Wired
- 2006(easter) - Haat my want ek vreet my hasie
- 2006 - Rock paper scissors
- 2007(easter) - More than somewhat
- 2007 - The way of the Dassie
- 2008(not so easter) - VMMIJDKWMKAHOID’nAPMWEMP?
- 2008 - Wildcard
- 2009 (Not-Quite-Easter-Festival) - Strictly Come Twakkie
Notable bands and artists
The following bands/artists have played at Oppikoppi:
- Albert Frost
- Chris Letcher
- Springbok Nude Girls
- Wonderboom
- Lithium
- Boo
- Koos Kombuis
- Battery 9
- Guy Buttery
- Syd Kitchen
- Fuzigish
- Matthew van der Want
- Prime Circle
- Strings & Skins
- Steve Newman
- Gito Baloi
- New Academics
- Brasse van die Kaap
- Kobus
- Honeymoon Suites
- Frank Opperman
- Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes
- Fokofpolisiekar
- New Porn
- Plum
- Blues Broers
- Valiant Swart
- Stoff
- African Dope Records
- 206 DJs
- DJ T
- DJ Jon Monsoon
- DJ Fokolnonsins
- Goldfish
- Roger Goode
- Groove Armada
- Jimmy Eat World
- Violent Femmes
- Stanton Warriors
- Greg Georgiades & Ashish Joshi
- Menage a tois
- Harris Tweed
- Dirty Skirts
- Dorp
- YoungBlood Brass Band
- Josie Field
- The Parlotones
- Bed on Bricks
- Karen Zoid
- Bacchus Nel
- Desmond and the Tutus
- Valiant Swart
- Blunted Stuntman
- Not My Dog
- C-Mon & Kypski
- Taxi Violence
- Heideroosjes
- Beef!