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(above) Cannonball Press Snake at Oppikoppi. Photograph by Alexander Wilson

Cannonball Press at Oppikoppi Music festival, Northam 8th-11th August

The Cannonball Press duo of Mike and Martin travelled to Northam (North-West of Johannesburg) with open minds and various improvised components of an armature, and a huge canvas adorned with woodblock prints. Their idea to parade their twenty-meter long snake at Oppikoppi was part of what they had pitched to the festival organisers when it was suggested that they could provide an artistic edge to the musical proceedings.

Apart from the snake, they created a large-scale collage of woodblock prints on canvas as a gift to the festival. The banner was stretched over a scaffold tower in a prominent position near the main stages, with a spotlight illuminating it after dark. The banner was very enthusiastically received, and its graphic qualities complimented the spirit of the festival.

On the first morning, together with their assistant Niall Bingham, they began assembling an elaborate armature that would ultimately support the canvas skin of the serpent. By 14h30 the snake was dressed and ready to go. Unfortunately, most people seemed too preoccupied with intoxication to be able to man the eleven poles which needed carrying if we were to show it off. The other difficulty was the height of the snake in comparison to the height of the overhanging Acacia branches. A route was carefully chosen through the thorny grove between the two stages, where the snake stood waiting, as to not hook the skin on the foliage.

After we finally assembled a willing team of paraders, the snake slithered rather sluggishly around a very short circular route in the main arena. Due to the slight limitations in the articulations in the armature, the snake needed to make very wide turns that resulted in a few encounters between canvas and thorn. The thrash metal band provided a fitting musical backdrop.

At the end of the day the snake was disassembled, and stored away overnight, only to be reinstalled the following morning to be paraded again. A less than sober gang of festival goers put an end to the snake’s debut at Oppikoppi when they decided to parade it on their own accord, having seen the performance that morning. The armature was slightly damaged in the process, so the snake shed its skin one last time, to return to its home in New York.

For the rest of the weekend, the Cannonball team spent time immersing themselves in South African youth culture. The rich variety of quality music on offer at the festival’s four stages provided them with just reward for the week’s hard work.

Apart from their performance and the banner, the Cannonball Press prints were on sale at the merchandising tent along with an assortment of screenprinted band posters created by other local artists.

– Niall Bingham

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