Two of South Africa’s most celebrated musicians – Karen Zoid and Valiant Swart – have been confirmed for the 22nd Splashy Fen Music Festival to be held near Underberg over the Easter long weekend from April 21 to 25.

A multi award-winning artist, Karen Zoid recently released her highly anticipated fifth album entitled ‘Terms and Conditions’. Known for her super-charged rock energy and distinctive voice, she is a South African music icon whose song writing is studied by university students as part of their academic modules.

Never without his trademark harmonica and acoustic guitar, Valiant Swart is regarded as one of the foremost Afrikaans songwriters of the past 20 years, during which time he has notched up over 3 000 local and international performances and released 14 albums. Aside from being an acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician, he is also a poet, composer and actor.

Both Zoid and Swart are being sponsored by the new KFC in Underberg, which is set to open its doors towards the end of April 2011 – just in time for Splashy Fen! The new restaurant will also have a snack stand at the festival to satisfy visitors’ taste for the original flavours of KFC.

Other artists confirmed for this year’s festival include the likes of Dan Patlansky, The Rudimentals, Good Luck, Holiday Murray, City Bowl Mizers, The Kickstands, Boulevard Blues, The La Els, Wrestlerish, Margaret’s Daughter and The Aquarian Quartet, featuring guitar maestros Steve Newman, Syd Kitchen, Greg Georgiades and Tony Cox. The full line-up will be announced shortly.

Aside from awesome music and top-class sound, lighting and stage production, Splashy Fen also offers fun outdoor activities for the whole family, colourful arts and crafts, as well as a variety of food and drink outlets catering to all tastes. This year will also see the introduction of a new Freestyle Tribal Village, which will host workshops in various art forms, plus activities like fire poi and interactive drumming.

In addition to Splashy Fen’s on-site camping facilities, which include a separate family campsite and tent hotel, there is also a wide selection of guest houses, self-catering cottages, backpacker lodges, hotels and B&B establishments in the Underberg area, all of which are within easy reach for daily commuting to and from the festival. Click here for links to various accommodation websites.

Tickets cost R500 at Computicket outlets around the country (including the Money Market counters at all Shoprite, Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores), and will soon also be on sale at selected Game stores. The price includes camping for the entire festival.