Varied music, art and theatre at the Clover Aardklop National Arts Festival

This year the Vodacom/MK Bultfantasties will present daily concerts with hours and hours of music featuring groups and artists including Van Coke Kartel, Karin Zoid, Jack Parow, The Parlotones, Locnville and GoodLuck.

The who's who of the popular Afrikaans music industry can be seen at the Clover Music Arena (Tuesday to Saturday), including Steve Hofmeyr, Theuns Jordaan, Gerhard Steyn, Nianell, Kurt Darren, Bok van Blerk, Juanita du Plessis and Robbie Wessels.

The following shows will be held in the amphitheatre: Coenie en Evita; Classics & 70's skud blad (Zanne Stapelberg en Joseph Clark); singing guitars and comedy sketches in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly; and Legendes Sing Legendes in which well-known artists such as Piet Botha and PJ Powers will sing songs of artists that have inspired them or those they consider amongst the best in the world.

Brand new shows

Nataniël, Chris Chameleon, Mathys Roets, Lize Beekman, Myra Maud and Mel Botes bring brand new shows to Clover Aardklop. Festival-goers can also look forward to Pedro Kruger, Amanda Strydom, pianist Rocco de Villiers and violinist Annake de Villiers together on one stage, and [Projek: Nuwe maan] with the interesting combination of Laurinda Hofmeyr, Riku Lätti and Les Javan. And gly, based on the concept of Glee, is a showcase of exciting young talent.

Ockie Vermeulen and Zorada Temmingh will perform in two separate and diverse organ concerts; the Goldberg Quartet gives life to Beethoven's Opus 18 quartets in three recitals; the Netherlands baroque ensemble Furor Musicus is part of Cantare et sonare and a concert performance of The Tempest; Fagottisimo gives festival-goers the unusual opportunity to experience four bassoonists together; and Magdalene Minnaar (coloratura soprano), Liesl Stolz (flute) and Mario Nell (piano) can be seen in Vuurvoël.

The Gugulethu Tenors, the Tygerberg Children's Choir, the Puk Choir, under the auspices of Awie van Wyk, will all perform and The Blondes (pianists Zorada Temmingh and Elna van der Merwe) will tackle the music of Grieg and Gershwin.

Visual arts

This year's festival offers a varied visual arts programme, with discussions, book launches, food events, literary programmes and productions aimed at the younger ones.

Festival artist Sam Nhlengethwa brings a special exhibition to the festival with his own paintings and collage and printmaking works. There is also a separate exhibition showcasing Nhlengethwa's extensive private art collection that includes works of, amongst others, William Kentridge, Gerard Sekoto and Marlene Dumas.

There will be solo exhibitions of Frank van Reenen, Marie Stander, Rina Stutzer and Wendy Malan, and group exhibitions including the finalists of the Absa L'Atelier; the latest Rendezvous Art Project with participating artists from South Africa, Greece and France; short films exploring different aspects of local cities; former students from the visual art department of the University of Johannesburg examining the dialogue around notions of body and identity; Rooftop III with a variety of artists; school children using Afrikaans literature to create art works; and the Leonard Cohen Tribute with different artists creating a work inspired by a Cohen song.

Flamenco, dance theatre and mime

On the dance front, the La Rosa company performs the vibrant Flamenco Puro. Penumbra is dance theatre telling the sad story of Helen Martins, and mime artist John Jacobs returns after a couple of years.

Actors Carel Trichardt and Petru Wessels pay tribute to the writer and poet Uys Krige with Sol y Sombra and Chris van Niekerk reads from PG du Plessis's astounding Fees Van Die Ongenooides.

In the Discourse series probing questions are asked about identity, while book lovers can look forward to conversations with a variety of writers.

Also on the menu is Absa's food-and-wine event "Proe Die Beste", Chris Koch combining whiskey with food, Peter Veldsman sharing his culinary knowledge over a plate of Boerekos, as well as the now popular Aardklop Long Table.

Theatre

There are 41 productions on offer this year, including: the unsettling Rooiland, directed by Jaco Bouwer; Aantrekkingskrag, Deon Opperman's brand new play; playwright Chris Vorster wears a comic-satirical hat in Buurtwag; Jan van Tonder makes his theatre debut with a farce, Die Onbeholpe Djin; and Louise van Niekerk's Ouma Wys Angel.

Pieter Fourie's drama Mooi Maria returns to the stage with Albert Maritz as director. In the translated Eendsonderend (David Mamet's Duck Variations) seasoned actors Marius Weyers and Louis van Niekerk join forces and Jon Fosse's Doodsvariasies is directed by André Stolz.

Albert Pretorius can be seen in the title role in the South African première of Will Eno's tragicomedy Thom Pain (based on nothing), while he also shares the stage with Gideon Lombard in the touching ...miskien.

Productions from other festivals

Popular productions from other festivals include Sylvaine Strike's The Table; Charles Fourie's Agterplaas; Dis Koue Kos, Skat with Elzabé Zietsman; Nag, Ma and Janneman (both featuring Sandra Prinsloo); Nicola Hanekom's Lot; and the disturbing Wees, directed by Hennie van Greunen. Prescribed works such as Reza de Wet's Mis and Vaselinetjie (an adaptation of Anoeschka von Meck's novel) will not only appeal to tertiary pupils.

Solo shows of popular actors such as Marion Holm, Ben Kruger, Frank Opperman and Neels van Jaarsveld are also on offer.

Tickets are available at Computicket.