Meet Peter Ferraz, aka, Lord of the Fen. This seventy-something character is the brain behind Splashy Fen, SA’s oldest outdoor music festival. I was there over Easter weekend and met Ferraz while snooping around the media tent.
He told me that back in the day Splashy Fen was just a handful of local folk singers, an ancient tractor driving an erratic farm generator, and a few hundred hippies drifting about on this Drakensberg farm.
It’s difficult to picture when twenty odd years later you get faced with this super organised musical event, complete with giant marquees and security guards on walkie-talkies. Amidst the tented stages of folk, rock and rap artists, there is a field size craft market, a massive tepee beer tent, Harre Krishna lentil loafs, luxury camping, three plunge worthy vleis, and an eco village screening pro green documentaries.
I took my camera for a wander and came across a host of really chilled people. In the flea market I met Janine who sells gypsy style clothes from her ‘happy shop’. She’s been trading her own brand of ‘Madeba Beleva’ t-shirts for the last seven years.
At the food stalls I met B.J who used to paint backdrops for events held by an Arabian prince in the Seychelles. Now he makes delicious Potjes and pitches up at all the festivals with his tarot card reading girlfriend, Dana.
Then there was Abdul’s, the fluorescent wooden shack where everyone likes to hang out and munch on a cheese toastie between bouts of dancing.
Of course, the man who really grabbed my attention was Lord of the Fen himself, who gave me a spontaneous rendition of the Irish country jig, while I was attempting to take his photograph.
But Peter Ferraz is far from the poncho wearing, pipe-smoking grandpa you might be imagining. He’s a well-spoken Rhodes graduate who spent much of his life as a Fleet Street journalist.
It was while living in England that he got hooked on the sixties music scene. Festival of the Flower Children at Woburn Abbey made a lasting impression, and inspired him to recreate the vibe at his farm near Underberg.
Over the years, Splashy has gathered momentum. From the die-hards and their multicoloured flairs to a crowd of more than ten thousand revellers. It’s a weekend long affair and the age spectrum spans between sixteen and sixty.
Nowadays Mandy and Pedro Carlo have taken over the production side of things. They have done a marvellous job bringing headline acts such as Jack Parow alongside long-time crooners like Syd Kitchen.
But the best thing about Splashy is that you party below an amphitheatre of fairytale like mountains – it’s a jaw dropping sight and will get you onto a natural high, with peace, love and harmony wafting around you.
FYI: If you like what you see and want to get involved as an act or trader, contact Pedro Carlo on tel 031-563-0824, e-mail [email protected]. Next year festivities and details will be announced at www.splashyfen.co.za.
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