Bassline Fest is set to celebrate Africa Day with the queen of Afro Soul, Lira at Constitution Hill on May 25th. This will serve as her first show, with a band, after two years recovering from a stroke.
Lira is thrilled to announce her first live performance, with a band, since suffering a stroke whilst in Frankfurt, Germany for a performance in March 2022, which left her unable to read, write or speak.
“People were initially interested in my recovery journey and, as time went by, started asking when I would perform again. I have been practicing to perform as part of my recovery and have come to accept that the old Lira is gone. I wondered who the new Lira would be and have been getting to know her and feel ready to share her with the public," says Lira.
"I am so excited and looking forward to being on stage again to perform at Bassline Fest Africa Day Celebration on Saturday 25 May 2024. What makes this performance extra special is that not only are we, in South Africa, celebrating 30 years of democracy, but we are also celebrating the new Lira as well as the Bassline's 30th Anniversary. I have so much to be grateful for and look forward to seeing you at Constitution Hill Square on Africa Day."
Lira has spent the past two years working tirelessly on regaining her speech and her ability to read and write. Since Lira was in Germany, her speech therapy was in English and initially she was only able to communicate in English. "Learning to speak and sing in Sotho and Zulu has been extremely difficult, without any vernacular speech therapy, and I only spoke the languages from memory with random people such as cashiers and petrol attendants. They have really helped me. I am constantly setting little goals for myself to master the languages. I’m working on it..."
Bassline Fest has partnered up with the Department of Sport Arts & Culture for coming on-board in the support of the live music industry and in celebration of Africa Month and 30 years of democracy, also its associate partner Castle Lite.
"We also say thank you to Music In Africa, who are and have been Bassline Fest supporters for many years. What all this support does is aid the live music industry as a whole, as it creates work for the full live music industry eco-system from production, marketing, performing service providers and artists. It also creates a place for festival goers to escape while getting entranced by the artistic talent and to get entertained and have some fun!”, says Brad Holmes of Bassline Live.
The festival will commence at 3pm and end at 11pm.
Tickets are to be purchased at Ticketmaster and range from R270 to R430 (Inclusive of fees).
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