THE SPLASHY FEN STORY

"Let's have a music festival," said Peter Ferraz, a trout farm owner and former journalist, to his friend, Bart Fokkens, one evening over a few drinks. "OK, I'll organise it," said Bart, a former forester who was in the process of setting up a computer rental company in Durban. The date was early 1990. The occasion was Bart's 31st birthday party. The two friends, who had been reminiscing about the great festivals such as Woodstock and Glastonbury which launched a generation of music onto an unsuspecting world.
Several months later, the first Splashy Fen festival was held over two days. It attracted about 1200 enthusiasts who camped on Ferraz's farm to listen to artists such as Tony Cox, the Silver Creek Mountain Band, Plagal Cadence and Syd Kitchen. Infrastructure was rudimentary - a make-shift stage, a tractor-powered generator and a few portable toilets. It was so successful that another festival was organised the following year, and the year after that. With its reputation growing year by year, the festival attracted more and more fans, and more and more top musicians from SA and abroad.
It is fair to say that, from humble beginnings, Splashy Fen has snowballed into a major event on the South African music calendar. The 1998 event was held over four days and attracted 10 000 people with outstanding musicians, such as guitar wizard Tony Cox, Silver Creek Mountain Band, Just Jinger, The Mike Smith Band, Plagal Cadence, Lee Jones and Syd Kitchen.

THE MUSIC

The festival is held on the farm Splashy Fen, which is situated 19 kms from Underberg in the Southern Drakensberg Mountains. The focus of the music in the early years was folk and light folk rock, as well as black music styles such as mbaqanga and iscathamiya. In the past few years the focus has broadened to include mainstream and alternative rock and pop, including some of the country's most popular current acts."