The Ploemies Ready To Step Out From The Shadows At Ctijf 2025

They started as teenagers jamming in school and church bands, now four friends from Cape Town are set to take the stage at one of Africas biggest music festivals, not as sidemen, but as a headline act in their own right.

Now the four-piece band known as The Ploemies will make their official debut at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival CTIJF later this month. And for drummer Keno Carelse, it is a full circle moment.

When the email came, we thought it was fake, he laughs. Like surely someones playing games. But it is real, and now we are here. It is probably our biggest gig yet.

It feels unreal, he told Independent Media in a recent interview.

Weve played at the festival before, backing other artists or jamming , but this is the first time The Ploemies are there as ourselves, with our own sound, our own music.