i played session guitar at the kknk a few years back, did a whopping 18 gigs in 8 days ?

from what i experienced the crowds were very good, and at most of the gigs there was a lot of people at the gigs

The name of the festival actually refers to the quality of the music being performed KKNK - KAK, KAK, en NOG KAK.
That describes the Afrikaans music scene in general. I was at the KKNK once. Worst 3 days of my life. I almost went for councelling afterwards.

Arno West wrote: The name of the festival actually refers to the quality of the music being performed KKNK - KAK, KAK, en NOG KAK.
That describes the Afrikaans music scene in general. I was at the KKNK once. Worst 3 days of my life. I almost went for councelling afterwards.

Sadly, that was my experience as well. There were some good artists and shows on offer, but the majority of it seemed to be either the Big Names doing their best to kill their reputations or young and unknown hopefulls trying to break into the scene with dodgy dance moves and off key singing to backtracks. And the drunkards....bloody hell > Don't get me started on the manne who are apparently only there to drink themselves stupid and make a nuisance of themselves by being loud and obnoxious. Apparently you have to know where to go to catch the good stuff (of which there really is a lot of I hear) and which places to avoid, but we only stayed there one night on our way to holiday in Glentana and that one night was plenty enough for me to say never again.
BUT, if I was a performer and not a tourist I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to play there. A good gig or two there and who knows what doors might open for you. And even if they don't, you would have been paid to play music in front of people and that can never be a bad thing. So I say go for it!

Had a couple of gigs at KKNK in '03 and '04 but the best was always at the pub/restaurant venues. There use to be a place called RockArt Cafe, it had the best music at the festival. All afrikaans festivals have the same commercial crap on the main/big stages but it is the smaller pub type venues in these festival towns that has all the good stuff.
We have the same problem here in Nelspruit with Inniebos festival, mostly commercial crap!

I reckon if the pay, and it is worthwhile go and do it and decide if you wanna do it again next year. At least the food use to be good at the festival.

I would like to report back on our experience for if someone needs info on this topic in the future.

We played about 6 shows total, Brians Grill ended up being the best venue we played at with it being a full house every night no matter what time. We ended up getting a slot at the last show alongside Francois van Coke and Jack Parow, which brought many people.

We made an incredible amount of valuable contacts that liked our music and wants to start working with us in the industry - including interested labels that we are looking into.

Note however that we got paid nothing, and it was all on our own expense, it was still worth it to us just for the new fans we made as well as contacts. I cannot guarantee the same experience for everyone though.

Most of the music there was unbearable I need to add, but there are a few gems.

Hope this helps to anyone looking into playing at KKNK in the future.