Friends,

We, the band of merry minstrels, dancers and shufflers of the word before the wind of eternity, nomads searching for the horizon of the unknowable, dry drunks, low-way robbers, apprentice tricksters, would-be revolutionaries…

Salute and hail you, our illustrious ancestors and companions who preceded us here to imbue these spaces with beauty and with dignity.

We send you our greetings and regards as we move through the paces and the patterns and the rhythms that you laid out for us.

As we fit our feet into your shoes to walk the road, it is with the hope to have lived up to the quality of sound and sincerity that people around here still remember you for.

We, the ‘caravaners’ of DIOW3, embrace you, DIOW1 and DIOW2, with fond solidarity.

(PS : Julian Melck’s dog from Kersefontein asks when you are coming back ?)

Dominique Botha, Marí Stimie, Neo Muyanga, Catherine du Toit, Breyten Breytenbach, Georges Lory, Maram al-Masri, Efe Paul Azino, Yvette Christiansë, Keorapetse Kgositsile, James Matthews and Hans C. ten Berge, DIOW 2016