Farryl Purkiss heads to White Mountain Folk Festival

Now based in Cape Town, the Umhlanga born and raised surfer-come-acoustic songwriter is currently recording his second full-length album, ‘Fruitbats and Crows', and festival-goers can expect a taste of some of his brand-new material.

It's been a long time coming for Purkiss, whose last big KZN show was at White Mountain in 2007. “Last time it was a solo show,” he recalls, “but this year I have a full band and we'll be playing some new tracks off the upcoming album, which should be good fun!”

2009 has been all about creating for Purkiss and has seen him commuting between Cape Town and Durban to work on the album, which he describes as “more mature”.

“I've definitely matured as a songwriter. The first album was compiled over 11 years and was my first foray into songwriting. This album took two and a half years to write and contains a lot of the influences I experienced from being on the road for so long. I'm very happy with it and hope people are going to love it,” he said.

2007 and 2008 were landmark years for Purkiss, with his catchy singles ‘Ducking and Diving' and ‘Better Days' climbing the charts on local airwaves. He also toured the UK, France, Germany and Australia, performing to massive crowds at Perth's Big Day Out and Byron Bay's Blues and Roots festivals, and enjoyed international playlisting on a host of radio stations including Japan's Tokyo FM.

Purkiss has also toured and shared stages with international acts like Jack Johnson, Donovan Frankenreiter, Ben Lee, Bob Evans, Missy Higgins and, most recently, Canadian duo Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland.

Right now though, he's looking forward to touching base with his KZN fans at the upcoming White Mountain Folk Festival, where he'll perform alongside the likes of Cito, Rambling Bones, The Simon van Gend Band, Bertie Coetzee of Zinkplaat, Josie Field, Larry Amos, Gary Thomas, Laurie Levine, Redhand Blues Band, Joshua Grierson, Andra, Barry Thomson, Peter Hoven, Flowing Water Band, Shannon Hope and Catlike Thieves, among others.

Coinciding with Heritage Day and the start of the school holidays, the festival is held at White Mountain Lodge near Giant's Castle, only 200km from Durban and 430km from Johannesburg on tarred roads.

It offers four days of live acoustic music in a stunning setting, arts and crafts, a beer market, assorted food stalls, plus lots of fun outdoor activities for the whole family. Festival-goers can also make full use of the lodge's facilities, including a restaurant, pub, games room, swimming pool and satellite TV.

Tickets are available at Game stores in KZN (R400), Computicket (R450) and at the festival gate (R500). The price includes camping for the entire festival and children under 12 pay R50. For more information and the full programme, visit www.whitemountain.co.za or contact Pedro at 082 892 6176.