By Lineo Segoete
For the past five years a quaint village hosts alternative folk, jaded city types and adventures for the Annual Jammin ‘n Ting Music and Arts Festival. Enthusiasts come together as loners seeking tranquillity and spiritual elevation and wind up bonding with kindred spirits in the process. For four days there is balance in the world as music ranging from ultra-Worldly dub, Afro-soul, Hip Hop and Funky sounds paint the skies in pure truth, love intoxicates all around, the local mommas bring on the heat with their hearty grub while the kids add more flavour to the jubilation on the dance floor!
Naledi Village is an intimate little core in Eastern Freestate South Africa that comprises of rural people living in self-built wattle and daub houses; it is tucked away in Rustlers Valley which was popular in the 1990’s as a new-age hotspot.
Music festivals, workshops and courses tailored in Education, Catering, Gardening, Cleaning, Labouring and Building gave the people of Naledi village constant exposure to a stream of visitors coming in from all over the World.
This hidden valley has an immense array of caves, paths to walk, mountains, nooks and crannies as well as abundant wildlife.
The arrival of Roel Engels, a cement relief sculptor, saw developments in the small community with the erection of; four rondavels, a gate-way, a triple storey building called Avalon and a bar/restaurant area that was previously a shed. Using local relatively unskilled labour, sandstone, thatch and cement, Roel created the original Rustlers style. He complemented these with wall murals that depicted anything his fervid imagination could conceive, water features, a magical terrarium and a series of small bridges interlinking the garden paths.
A bigger building called the Kraal was built extending to accommodate 11 buildings in the estate. The Kraal was built around a central courtyard adding to which, the rooms had minimal sound-proofing as the walls never quite reached the thatch roof. This gave room for guests to enjoy the nocturnal noises of the area.
This year will be no different. J&T is right around the corner and promises to continue raising the bar of the awesomeness that has been previous years. The countdown is already on cue, where will YOU be from 18 to 21 April? In the next insert, we will give you introductions of the artists on the 2014 line-up.
The Hub 