Sun City announces Big Birthday Bash

Sun International’s iconic Sun City will celebrate four decades of memorable moments with a super charged lineup of events, entertainment and promotions leading up to the Big Birthday Bash on 7 December 2019, exactly 40 years to the day since the resort’s doors were opened to the public in 1979. The details for the Big Birthday Bash were revealed at an event on Thursday, 4 April 2019, hosted by Sun City’s General Manager, Raul de Lima.

The Big Birthday Bash comprises an exclusive concert on the beach at the Valley of Waves and a grand scale party, open to the public, in the Sun Arena (previously the Sun City Superbowl).

Speaking at the launch of Sun City’s 40^th Birthday Bash, de Lima said: “In March, we kicked off the 40 week countdown to our milestone event in December. The full lineup will be announced at the end of May and tickets will go up for sale on 1 June. We can confirm that award winning headliners AKA, MiCasa, and Kwesta as well as electronic band GoodLuck are already booked to perform at the bash. We are hard at work negotiating exceptional local artists, who reflect the diversity and depth of talent available in South Africa.”

“Turning 40 is a most auspicious milestone for Sun City which has endeared itself as South Africa’s most iconic leisure and party destination to millions of visitors for four decades. The Big Birthday Bash will be the crescendo to nine months of thrilling activations that will take our guests, employees and other stakeholders on a journey of celebration and nostalgia. These include music shows, golf tournaments, gaming promotions and other exciting experiences.”

AKA (Kiernan Jarryd Forbes) is a multiple award winning hip hop recording artist who has been dubbed the Prince of South African Rap. Originally from Cape Town, AKA studied Sound Engineering and finally began his solo career in 2009 winning “Best Newcomer”, “Best Hip Hop” solo act and “Best Produced Album” award at the Metro FM Music Awards. He has been topping the charts and collecting awards ever since.

Multiple award-winning Mi Casa, known for hits like "These Streets", "All the Glory" and "Jika", is revered for its brand of soulful house music, which merges dance music, jazz, vocals and disco. The name Mi Casa was firmly entrenched in 2011 when the band was chosen as the opening act for American rapper Drake when he performed to a crowd of over 4 000 fans at a concert in Johannesburg. Mi Casa comprises three talented individuals: Dr Duda, producer DJ; J-Something, vocalist and guitarist, and Mo-T, the trumpeter. Their musical talents blend to create a distinctive sound.

Local hit maker Kwesta (Senzo Vilakazi) from Gauteng released his first radio single “Shap Fede” in 2007 and by 2010 he was the South African Brand Ambassador for the Soccer World Cup and had released his debut album Special Rekwest. That was followed by DaKAR (Da King of African Rap) in 2013 and DaKAR II in 2016 with songs such as “Ngud” and “Spirit”. He cleaned up at the 2016 SAMA awards, winning Best Male Artist of the year; Best Collaboration; Best Hip Hop Album; Album of the year and Highest Airplay of the Year.

GoodLuck is a Cape Town-based live electronic band of three, comprising Ben (Producer/Beats/Electronic Percussion); Juliet (Vocals/Production/Songwriting) and Matthew (Live Synths/Saxophone). Good Luck launched themselves onto the music scene in 2011 and quickly became a household name in South Africa. Now internationally acclaimed, this act’s sound is often described as having ‘a modern electronic edge with the rhythms of Afrobeat, Afro house, tribal music and African drums’ lining their songs. Their break out single, “I’ve Been Thinking About You” hit no one and was solidified as the most played song across all Top 40 SA stations in the country for the month of June 2016. Since then, they have consistently performed to sold-out shows globally.

Tickets to the Big Birthday Bash at the Sun Arena will go on sale in June 2019. More announcements for events and promotions leading up to the main event on 7 December will be made in the coming weeks.

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