What if every morning you got off the train and a different band was playing on the platform? What if Cape Town Station was the ’surprise me’ button on your iPod? What if the Station was a carnival?

From the 21 to 26 February, the Station became just that: three times a day – during the morning rush, the lunchtime shuffle and the evening stampede home – our daily rhythms in and out of the City were completely altered.

Cape Town music fundi, Iain Harris, put together a dazzling collection of Music Gems. One morning commuters arrived to the boom of Japanese Taiko drumming. The day before, the sweet, high tones of a Car Guard Quartet ushered people into the City. The lunchtime queue at KFC rocked to the sounds of Spaza hip hop, with marimba and mbira on one day, and on another commuters were surprised by the Zamanani Brothers performing isiXhosa initiation songs as they made their way home. And there there was a little Goema Symphony first thing in the morning to keep audience members humming through the day…

During Infecting The City 2011, the Cape Town Station Forecourt became a carnival of Treasures from communities across the City. During that week, the audience was a part of many communities.

The Productions

• Car Guard Quartet
• Goema Symphony
• Delta Soetstemme
• Loit Sols
• Madzishe
• Playing With Fire
• Spaza Hip-Hop
• Taiko Drumming
• Zamanani Brothers

MUSIC GEMS SCHEDULE

The Music Gems Stage took place on the Festival Hub (Cape Town Station Forecourt).

MONDAY 21:

08H15:  ZAMANANI BROTHERS
13H15:  GOEMA SYMPHONY
16H45:  DELTA SOETSTEMME

TUESDAY 22:

08H15:    CAR GUARD QUARTET
13H15:     SPAZA HIP-HOP
16H45:    PLAYING WITH FIRE

WEDNESDAY 23:

0815:     TEIKO DRUMMING
13H15:   DELTA SOETSTEMME
16H45:  SPAZA HIP-HOP

THURSDAY 24:

08H15:    PLAYING WITH FIRE
13H15:     CAR GUARD QUARTET
16H45:    ZAMANANI BROTHERS

FRIDAY 25:

08H15:   GOEMA SYMPHONY
13H15:    MADZISHE
16H45:   LOIT SOLS

SATURDAY 26:

09H15:   LOIT SOLS
12H00:  TEIKO DRUMMING