A sold-out crowd turned out for ‘The Soiree’, at the African Beer Emporium in Pretoria on Sunday, kicking off the Gauteng summer social calendar in style, along with a star-studded music line-up, artisanal cuisine, and a live art experience.
Eventgoers to The Soirée by Stella Artois – an exciting new music, food, and art event – danced to an eclectic, all-star music line-up with a distinctive Afro-soul leaning, including celebrated SAMA award-winning singer, Msaki and much-loved acapella group The Soil. Also on the bill were electronic-soul artist Nutty Nys, Afro pop band, The Muffins, and well-known DJs Kenzhero, Bubbles and Justin Chalice & Sheldon Sham.
Live art installations also thrilled eventgoers with multi-disciplinary artist Boemo Diale’s playful take on a Soiree (for which Stella will also be giving away 10 limited prints of the mural in a digital competition) and Dbongz’ fun interpretation of a Stella chalice.
“This was a celebration for me, rather than a commentary on discomfort. The brief was laid back ease on a Sunday afternoon, so there’s a lot of playfulness, colour, and brightness, which I loved creating. It’s an expression of self and body with a lot of space for the characters – which is quite different to my other works,” says Boemo Diale.
Amongst the variety of artisanal food experiences were Asian dumplings, shisanyama, fresh oysters, seafood paella, shawarmas, gelato, and organic coffee, with hand-crafted Frites Artois (Belgian fries) a big hit with gourmet toppings such as shaved truffle and garlic aioli.
“The African Beer Emporium was the perfect setting to bring people together. Life can get so busy and often we don’t make time to connect with each other, so we very much wanted The Soirée to be a place where South Africans can just enjoy being together through a shared experience of food, music, and art. That’s what The Life Artois is all about,” says Estee Burger, Marketing Manager, Stella Artois.
