The Subterranean Rhythm & Blues Experience

Photo by Brian Currin

Excerpt from STRAB website

A group of 60 scuba divers from the dive school Ocean Ecstasy in Pretoria, amongst them co-owners Annerie Snyman and Andries Burger, decided to add some live music to their 1^st birthday celebrations at Ponta Malongane, in the south of Mozambique. It was held in August that year [2003] and was known as “The Birthday Bash”.

After much deliberation and assistance from fellow diver Frans Human, it was decided to invite the legendary local band Jack Hammer to perform live at the event. The band plays a large variety of music, from love ballads to hard rock in both Afrikaans and English. The fact that all their songs have powerful lyrics and speak to all music lovers made them a perfect choice and added to the success of the weekend.

120 divers participated in the second “Birthday Bash” in 2004 and for a weekend of fun, scuba and rock & roll. Piet Botha, lead singer and guitarist from Jack Hammer, was so moved after the 2^nd experience that he wrote a song about Mozambique and insisted that this must become a regular event.  Annerie, gladly obliged, and The Subterranean Rhythm & Blues Experience was born. Piet Botha suggested the name which comes for the Bob Dylan song “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. The combination of sea, scuba diving and music reminded him of something “subterranean”. Professional sound and lighting engineer, Conrad Jamneck, became a permanent part of the family and more than three hundred scuba divers and other music fans joined the 1^st official STRAB in 2005.  The festival stepped up a notch or two, with bands like Southern Gypsy Queen, Scicoustic and Albert Frost being added to the line-up.  This “tester” festival proved to be a hit and the rest is history.