It’s an early morning in May and as the sun rises, red, orange and yellow hues bathe the swaying sugarcane fields of Malkerns, a small town in the landlocked southern African country of Swaziland.
Swaziland, renamed ‘the kingdom of eSwatini’ in April this year on its 50th birthday, awakens to the sounds of the rustling wind and chirping birds. Very soon, these natural notes will be replaced by the cacophony and camaraderie of thousands of guests jetting into the country for the annual Bushfire Festival, a three-day fiesta of art, culture, music and food in the last week of May.
It’s a busy time of the year for a kingdom that is one of the world’s last remaining monarchies.
Within the Bushfire Festival arena, djembe drums beat to the rhythm of the heartbeat of Africa. Revelers indulge in traditional feasts at the food markets as the musicians take center-stage.
The likes of South Africa’s Samthing Soweto, Brazil’s Flavia Coelho, Nigeria’s Yemi Alade and Mali’s Salif Keita are present, offering a profusion of sounds and melodies.
In the camping arena is a confluence of cultures, as over 29,000 guests who have traveled here to attend the festival make new friends and form unlikely collaborations.
Many stop to admire a hand-crafted grass hat worn by a young woman who has traveled from Lesotho. Anna Thai is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States.
“The people here are very relaxed and accepting of each other. There are so many from different countries, so many languages and so many different faces and I really enjoy the diversity of it,” she tells FORBES AFRICA.
What started as a cultural meet around a small amphitheater, where artistes performed in front of a crowd of no more than a hundred, is today one of Africa’s most talked-about festivals.
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<div id="attachment_36776" style="width: 955px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36776" class="wp-image-36776 size-full" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM.jpg" alt="" width="945" height="628" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM.jpg 945w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM-768x510.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 945px) 100vw, 945px" />Swazi-born Jiggs Thorne. Photo by Karen Mwendera.</div>
<blockquote>“We started off as kind of a charity running a business and very quickly learned that it needed to be a business running a charity.” &#8211; Jiggs Thorne</blockquote>
Swaziland-born Jiggs Thorne, the founder and director of the festival, always had a passion for the arts, but admits he had to learn the business aspect of the festival the hard way.
“The important thing is I never studied to become a festival director and that’s the thing with entrepreneurs, you are driven by passion; the kind of passion that gets you up and creates that drive you need to make something work. And you have to be incessant,” Thorne tells us.
Born in Manzini, he was inspired by his parents who owned a restaurant. He went on to pursue a degree in drama and politics at the University of Natal in South Africa.
In 1994, when he finished his degree, he decided to return to his home country and apply his passion for the arts. Thorne wanted to develop the local arts scene.
In 2000, he set up House On Fire, the eclectic venue where the festival is now held.
However, its business model wasn’t sustainable, and Thorne realized that if he didn’t act quickly, his dream would slowly fade away.
“Well, I was very much an artiste and I think I’ve become entrepreneurial along the way and we started off as kind of a charity running a business and very quickly learned that it needed to be a business running a charity,” he says.
The Bushfire Festival came into being.

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“It was always about a positive light, warmth, about celebrating diversity,” he says.
A majority of the funding came from sponsorships, and partnerships – the festival is called MTN Bushfire.
With his brother Shelton, Thorne fine-tuned the business model to keep its mandate as a creative arts platform and business at the same time. As Thorne came from an arts background, he had to depend on others to make his dream work.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2012/07/01/setting-fire-swaziland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read More: Setting Fire To Swaziland</a>
“There needs to be integrity in the way in which you deal with people so I think that’s kind of paramount in this equation where you are dependent on others to make it happen,” says the 48-year-old father of two.
The festival grew beyond what Thorne had imagined, he says, contributing over E50 million ($3.7 million) to Swaziland’s economy.
“When the king travels overseas, people ask him about Bushfire, you know. So it’s quite a surreal thing that the concept that came up all those years ago in a sense has become owned by others,” laughs Thorne.
This year, the local newspapers, radio stations and social media were abuzz with news on the festival.
Thorne owes its success to his team and his parents who left the legacy for him and the family to build on.
“It was kind of the fire they started and it’s a light that we’ve been able to follow. They are the legacy, says Thorne, who runs the festival with his siblings and extended family.
“Entrepreneurship is something that you don’t really study, you learn, and it’s something that takes over, and it’s kind of all-encompassing,” he signs off.
After the curtains come down on the festival, it’s back to the idyllic sights and sounds of Swaziland, until next year, when the little town of Malkerns will fire up again.

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Kingdom Calling At The Bushfire Festival

Here is a festival which is growing despite the unofficial cultural boycott called on Swaziland by the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), a South African-based organization. The “cultural boycott” is called in support of political reform in the monarchy; and  has already kept South African musicians such as Ringo Madlingozi and newcomer Zahara from performing  in Swaziland.
<div id="attachment_894" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-894" class="wp-image-894 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/photobramlammers-0131-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />SWAZILAND, MALKERNS &#8211; 20120525 &#8211; The Giant Puppets od Mozambique performs during the Bushfire Festival, Swaziland International Festival of the Arts. Photo: Bram Lammers</div>
Bushfire has grown from the initial 4,500 visitors to 17,000 with an impressive number of artists from all across the continent and Europe performing. The offering is great—from comedy to spoken word, reggae, house and theater, all on a small budget of R3.5-4 million ($476,000). It’s Swaziland’s biggest event and employs over 1,000 locals.
The MTN Bushfire festival took place during the last weekend of May. This idea which formed in Jiggs Thorne’s mind, has grown into a Swazi institution that has attracted many from across the globe and a major sponsor like MTN.
<div id="attachment_891" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-891" class="size-large wp-image-891" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/jiggs1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="316" />SWAZILAND, MALKERNS &#8211; Jiggs Thorne Photo: Bram Lammers</div>
Jiggs Thorne (Jiggs) is a Swazi native who studied drama and politics in South Africa, two subjects he feels are pretty much the same thing. As a creative, whose passion was theater, Jiggs’ first job in Johannesburg was at the Market Theater, as a waiter, as well as at the adjoining jazz club. He opened up a shop selling African crafts from Swaziland and got the idea for ‘House on Fire’ where the festival took place.
Jiggs refers to ‘House on Fire’ as an “on-going creation&#8230; a fantasy scape” that started 10 years ago, and sits on what is now a family business complex on their farm in the Malkerns valley, in rural Swaziland. His idea was to create a space to nurture the local creative industry.
Bushfire is six years old and all the festival proceeds go to an NGO called ‘Young Heroes’, started by Steve Gallagher, a former member of the Peace Corps. Young Heroes tries to help the AIDS orphans in the country. It keeps the orphans with relatives and allows people to sponsor them, these 1,000 sponsored households receive monthly cash stipends to assist with food, clothing and education. When Gallagher and Jiggs came together they realised that they were both looking for the same thing and found a partnership that has worked for them both.
Jiggs says that the name Bushfire comes from “the flames from ‘House on Fire’ expanding and growing outwards”. Its primary focus is developing the local arts while its secondary focus is raising awareness and addressing Swaziland’s great social issues.
The festival receives funding from local partners and businesses and MTN has just signed a 3 year title sponsorship.
This is something that takes a year to plan and implement. Walking through the festival, you could see Jiggs carrying sculptures; running around approving requests; trying to find crew on the two-way radios and keeping an eye on things.
Keeping in line with sustainable growth and sharing, Bushfire participated in the AFRIFESTNET, an African Festival Network, launched in Accra, Ghana. The launch was attended by 37 festivals from 18 countries. The idea for Bushfire’s involvement is to be able to share artists and connect with other festivals— taking advantage of economies of scale by coordinating their efforts, dates and acts.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-large wp-image-890" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Csydwillowsmith_bushfire_friday_56-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="316" />
Entering the festival, one gets a condom to spread the message of safe sex and responsible fun. Swaziland is said to have the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world, which was sitting at 26.9% in UNAIDS’2009 estimates.
Music was not the only entertainment on offer. There was a market with locals selling their wares and a great focus is placed on free trade and being eco-conscious. The food stalls had everything from pizza to Indian and Mozambican food. The two campsites were full of festival goers who braved the winter chill, all in the name of a good time. Walking along the campsites you heard distinct murmurs of siSwati, German, French and a mixture of accents.
It was a great success in anyone’s eyes and a lesson to all about using whatever means available to push your message across, by celebrating diversity and making a difference.
Africa, where’s your fire?
<h3>“Ayo, Marry My Brother!”</h3>
The crowd stood patiently under the stars on a clear, cool, night, as the band set up for the artist they’d all come to see. Then, there she was… cut-off denim shorts, long legs and Chuck Taylors.
She sings like only she can, drawing you in, then she stops.
<div id="attachment_895" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-895" class="size-large wp-image-895" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/photobramlammers-0918-1024x703.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="325" />SWAZILAND, MALKERNS &#8211; 20120525 &#8211; Ayo performs and moves through the audience to dance and sing with the crowd during the Bushfire Festival, Swaziland International Festival of the Arts. Photo: Bram Lammers</div>
“The stage is too far. I don’t like it,” she says.
She makes her way to the edge of the stage. The crew and her manager look on stunned as they realize what she wants to do. Jump! Security rush to help her down. She says she hates distance and climbs onto the barrier to sing. The guard is standing there, holding onto her legs; the people are ecstatic; phones, cameras, tabs and ipads capture it all. In the blink of an eye she leaps from the barrier and is among the singing crowd. There’s a mad scramble by the crew to get to her, they jump the barrier, struggle with the gate. She doesn’t seem to notice or care very much… You may not see her but you can definitely hear her. What a voice. What a woman. It’s no wonder they wouldn’t let her end the set.
“We want more. We want more. Down on my knees… Down on my knees,” the crowd chanted for their favourite song.
“Ayo kissed me,” says one ecstatic fan as she screams out, “Ayo, marry my brother!”
If you haven’t guessed who was making waves, we are talking about singer, songwriter and mother—Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin, better known as Ayo. This 32-year-old German-Nigerian—who was born near Cologne, Germany—blew onto the music scene with her 2006 debut album “Joyful” and hasn’t looked back or stopped dancing.
She may be scared of flying, but after six years and three albums, she’s a true gypsy. In about a week Ayo flew from Guadeloupe to Paris, then into Swaziland for the MTN Bushfire festival. Then it was off to the Réunion Island, via South Africa, and then back to Paris—where her two children eagerly awaited her return.  Such is the life of one of the hardest working women in soul. Twenty-nine scheduled performances and an album recording between May, 11 and August, 3 alone. And she still has the energy to climb barriers.
It’s amazing to think how she manages to juggle her many roles with such grace and humility.
Her life has not been an easy one, with a mother who struggled with addiction and stints in foster homes. As a biracial child, fitting in was a challenge. Ayo points out that her middle name— Olasunmibo—means “the one who was born outside” and she doesn’t like the term “mixed” being used to describe her race.
“Mixed means 50/50, I think of myself as 100/100,” she says.
Ayo‘s music appeals to so many different people from so many different walks of life and transcends generations. She doesn’t know why this is but notes that we all share more than we think.
“My music is a therapy. Instead of going to the shrink, I’m playing music and writing music.”
‘I’m Gonna Dance’, ‘What Is Love’ and ‘Down On My Knees’ are only a few of her songs, which she calls antibiotics.
This mother of two, who’s all about connecting and sharing, is a true child of Africa, who feels she draws her strength from the continent.
“To me Africa stands for strength. I see strong people and people who have a lot of hope, who believe. People who know what it’s like to get up every day and fight.”
To her, it’s not about following the American and European industries but embracing the talent in the continent from whence it comes.
Not a fan of reality talent shows, she believes life is where you learn.
Heavens, I ran into her again the next day, waiting for the fight to Johannesburg and she looked just the same as she did on that stage; smiling, open and casual. We parted ways at O.R. International, in South Africa, with a promise that she’ll be back to perform in Africa.
It was off to Réunion Island with her straw hat in hand. I wonder whether she jumped the barrier there?
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Tag: Bushfire Festival

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