The little village of Nieu-Bethesda, tucked into a fold of the Sneeuberg Mountains in the Eastern Cape Karoo, is one of the creative touchstones of South Africa.
Musicians arrive in battered old split-window Kombis, set up a stage at a local bar, plug in and play for the hat and the love; writers hire cottages for the winter and settle in behind log fires, laptops and good coffee to finish overdue book projects. Some never leave.