What went down when Spotify brought ‘Skate Noise’ to Johannesburg

Earlier this year, we issued an open call for videographers from the Dazed Club community in Paris, Johannesburg, and Berlin to capture three global celebrations of Spotify’s Skate Noise, a platform focused on the sounds of skate culture and its communities around the world.

In June, the streaming service hosted its first international Skate Noise event in Paris, captured here by the 26-year-old videographer Léo Mazzoni. Now, the second event in Johannesburg, South Africa, is seen through the lens of local videographer Francesco Mbele.

This is a city where skating isn’t easy, but a diverse and dedicated crew of skateboarders still makes it work, landing tricks and skating the streets. Their creative expression – like music itself – fuels escapist fantasies and helps them forget the more mundane problems in their daily lives.

In Mbele’s visuals, all of this plays out against the backdrop of Skate Noise JHB. We’ve gathered everything you need to know about the film, and what went down at the event, below.

IT WAS BUILT AROUND A FUSION OF SKATE CULTURE...

As you might expect, Spotify’s Johannesburg-based celebration of Skate Noise brought together the two vital elements of the cultural platform: music, and all things skate culture. The event saw the city’s 1 Fox transformed into a unique skate facility to host free skating, as well as a skate contest with high-risk, high-reward games like ‘Cash for Tricks’.

... AND MUSIC

While the adrenaline ran high on the skate park, the energy on the stage was maintained by a stacked musical line-up. A roster including Lil Plvg, Shameless, Muzi, K.Keed, Tha Cutt, Twenty One Children, Uncle Partytime, The Qwellers, and Deniecé Marz kept the music coming throughout the event with live sets and performances.

A SHORT FILM DIGS DEEPER INTO JOBURG’S SKATE CULTURE

This iteration of Johannesburg was all about building community and sharing the passions that connect skaters and music-lovers alike, with an emphasis on the freedom and fantasy afforded by skateboarding. The realities of the Joburg scene go deeper, of course, and these are captured in a short film that accompanies the Skate Noise project.

Starring Lil Plvg, @bluegalore, and Boipelo Awuah, the visuals hone in on the role that skateboarding and music play in Johannesburg’s underground culture. “Skateboarding for me means everything,” says Blue. Boipelo adds: “Skateboarding is such a difficult sport, it helps me to survive. It’s taught me hard work and to always get up.” Watch the full film above.

MBELE FILMED A CLASSIC SKATE VIDEO

Still feel like you missed out on everything that went down at Skate Noise Johannesburg? Well, Mbele has you covered. In a video hosted by Dazed, the winner of the open call captures the energy of the event via candid clips, alongside interviews with attendees on the community spirit of the city’s skating scene, and what music they like to listen to while they skate.

LISTEN TO THE SKATE NOISE PLAYLIST

On Spotify, you can find a playlist curated especially for Skate Noise Johannesburg, by South Africa’s leading skate platform Session Skateboarding Magazine. Listen below.