The vintage party bus labours its way onto the highway as traffic piles up behind it.
In the bus, however, we are carefree as the breeze gently funnels its way through the open-air double-decker.
We’re headed to Braai Maestro in Pretoria West for some drinks and braai meat, along with a heavy dose of amapiano and Bacardi sonics.
Where better to do this than in a neighbourhood that has contributed to this movement immensely? On the bus before we pull up, those feeling the true spirit of a Saturday evening in Gauteng wave and dance along to the barcadi music thumping from the DJ on the decks in the bus as various media entities take the liberty of grabbing the accompanying microphone and getting the small crowd absolutely hyped before we even pull up to the first stop of the evening.
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“Look it’s a party bus”, children scream excitedly on the roadsides as we glide along. Neon lights strobe as the Ballantine’s begins to take hold.
You have never been under an overpass until you have done so from the harrowing comfort of an open-air bus.
On occasion, tree branches reach out and lash the side of the bus, but we arrive unscathed and floating on a cloud of Ballantine’s and some of the fiery foliage that are the necessary accoutrements for the 420 celebrations that coincided with this event.
Mellow and Sleazy see to it that everyone can’t shake the urge to dance as tray after tray of braai meat is lifted off the grill and served to the large media contingent in attendance.
10 years and counting
This isn’t just any old celebration as tonight marks the 10-year milestone of the Ballantine’s True Music Boiler Room experiences that have played such a pivotal role in exporting the local sounds of gqom, house, amapiano and Bacardi to the world.
Saturday, 27 April 2024, will see the Durban Leg unfurl with DJ Tira and Sox paying homage to the global sensation that is gqom and how this is largely considered to have paved the way for all these other newer genres.
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Before things reach a fever pitch, we are carted back onto the bus and whisked away to Hawayu Lifestyle in Centurion where Bacardi stalwart Enny Man da Guitar and the principal of private school amapiano Kelvin Momo await to enthral us with their acumen on the decks.
Hawayu, where are you…we are here!
A popular blogger from the top deck with his raised in a victorious stance as the people on the sidewalk gaze up in amusement as we leave Braai Maestro and head to a swanky night hangout that appears to have been named after the smash single by Daliwonga, Myztro, Xduppy featuring DJ Maphorisa, Shaunmusiq and Ftears.
Or maybe the single was named after the club or perhaps neither has anything to do with the other, either way, this spot is an absolute bop and pulsates from the moment we arrive till our departure in the earlier hours of the morning.
This record is all the rage on TikTok but as yours truly does not do things with the word tick in it unless we’re talking Nike, I hadn’t really paid much attention to it.
“This guy doesn’t even know this track,” a colleague says to me in jest.
A refreshing, albeit embarrassing, moment as amapiano now seems to embody that essence of hip hop where if you’re not in the know then you’re late to the proverbial party and not hip to the game. I take it on the chin…I know it now.
Bottles with sparklers shimmer as they’re held aloft by sisters clad in Ballantine’s attire, dancers execute routines on the large bars as the club begins to swell to the sounds emanating from the decks.
Quite an intoxicating environment, which is what you can come to expect from the actual Boiler Room experience scheduled to take place in May.
Last year, this event was held at Chaf Pozi in Soweto and saw the likes of Uncle Waffles tear the roof off the building along with a myriad of DJs contributing to this cauldron of creativity on each of the nights.
The next 10 years are sure to be as uplifting and as slick as this preview was and we are eagerly awaiting the full-on Boiler Room experience in May. It couldn’t have been as late as 3am when a pioneer of three step, Mörda, takes to the DJ booth to gently see us off on our way home after a memorable jamboree.
