Hendrik Joerges. Image: Lusanda Luthuli
SA musician to spin the decks at virtual Burning Man this weekend
Durban’s Hendrik Joerges went from dreaming of attending the iconic Burning Man Festival in the US to being on the line-up.
Hendrik Joerges. Image: Lusanda Luthuli
South African DJ and music producer Hendrik Joerges will play in the 2020 virtual Burning Man Festival this weekend.
Originally from Somerset West in the Western Cape, the communication science graduate Joerges now lives in Durban.
What is Burning Man?
The Burning Man Festival is an annual event held at Black Rock City, Nevada in the US.
But Burning Man is more than a music event, however, it is also a global cultural movement with 10 principles.
This year the festival will be held completely online and hence is open to the “multiverse”. This means that everything will livestream from the festival’s website. There will be an audio feed running with visuals set up such as 3D stages.
Burn Week has been running from 30 August and ends on Saturday 6 September.
Joerges will be playing at 2:30am on 6 September CAT.
From dream to reality
“It has always been a dream of mine to attend Burning Man Festival. I did visual arts in high school and they were always speaking about the Burning Man Festival. I can’t believe I’m on the line up!” said Joerges.
His set will be 30 minutes long and what he describes as an “experimental set”, trying to keep to the mood of the Burning Man movement.
Joerges will be playing different genres and half of the set will be his own music, some of which he has not yet released.
“I feel really blessed to be given the opportunity to showcase what I can do.”
“It is difficult to establish yourself in South Africa, especially working in experimental genres that are not recognised here,” he said.
How Joerges got into Burning Man
International booking agency Above and Below selected the 24-year-old musician for the festival. The agency is also a record label and released Joerges’s song Controller.
“I saw their niche was electronic music and I thought, let me try my luck by sending them some stuff. They wanted to sign it which was amazing,” said Joerges.
Joerges’s career so far
On the South African scene he’s worked with artists such as Kyle Deutsch and Locnville.
Joerges has also worked with record labels in Italy, the US and Germany and he hopes to establish himself internationally.
He works at 222 Artist Agency as the head of music production, and artists and repertoire. He is passionate about uplifting new talent in South Africa, knowing how hard it can be.
More on the 2020 virtual Burning Man here:
