ntsoana

I remember when Motheo Moleko, the rapper from Jeremy Loops’ outfit (featuring Jeremy Hewitt on guitars/loops and Jamie Faull on saxophone) asked me what I thought of their performance at 2011’s Sowing the Seeds festival in Cape Town. I told him that I thought it sounded at lot like lynch-a-nigga music.

I still do.

It took me several attempts at watching Jeremy Loops’ live show, in different settings, and that too proved a futile exercise. It was my obtaining a copy of his self-titled EP to finally appreciate what he was attempting with his live show. Suddenly, all the yoddling (I kid, I kid) started to make sense.

This came to my mind on a warm Saturday evening at the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Johannesburg last year when I got to see Jeremy again. It’d been a while, so I thought to give our tricky live relationship the last squeeze. I was glad I did. Time, and patience on my side, had turned the entire outfit into consummate performers. Jeremy was at ease, brushing aside technical errors such as the one whereby he missed his cue while performing this, his new single.

That they’re getting booked by almost all the major festivals in South Africa, and their international profile is somewhat starting to rise (Jeremy Loops has performed at shows in France, England, and India over the past year). ‘Down South’, the lead single from his debut album Trade Change, just got released. It makes even more sense live; give it a listen and get into the zone to kickstart festival season!

*PS: Check out Motheo’s rap project, MOMANTSS, here.