World’s No.1 Vodka + World’s Biggest DJ + Africa’s Best New Band = One-Of-A-Kind Collaboration

“ Tiësto is to collaborate with South African psych-rockers BLK JKS for a live performance at Smirnoff Experience South Africa on May 15th. They are also creating an exclusive new track, available only on www.smirnoff.com & www.facebook.com/smirnoff ”

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(eMusicWire.Org) – TUESDAY, 16TH MARCH, 2010: On 15th May, the Smirnoff Co. will remix the vibrant colors, boundless energy and unbridled creativity of South Africa in a ground-breaking mashup of culture and music. The world’s biggest DJ/producer, Tiësto is set to work with South African psych-rockers BLK JKS — named ‘Africa’s best new band’ by Rolling Stone magazine — for a unique collaboration and to bring his legendary live performance to the globally renowned series of original nightlife events, when Smirnoff Experience™ lands in Johannesburg.

As part of this collaboration, Tiësto and BLK JKS are currently in the studio creating an exclusive new track, which will only be available to Smirnoff fans on www.smirnoff.com and www.facebook.com/smirnoff, set to be released in April. The track will be premiered live to a worldwide audience in South Africa during Tiësto’s concert, on the night of May 15. Following the success of Tiësto’s recent genre-bending collaborations with Nelly Furtado, Three 6 Mafia, Calvin Harris, Tegan & Sara as well as remixes of MUSE, Bloc Party and Editors, the outcome of his sessions with BLK JKS will surely break new musical grounds for both acts.

Smirnoff Experience™ South Africa ‘Mashup Street’ is an event that celebrates the fusion of vibrant South African music and street cultures. Tiësto will preside over this one-of-a-kind experience as the headline talent. Mixing modern and classic genres of music, fashion art and mixology, ‘Mashup Street’ provides the ultimate canvas for Tiësto and BLK JKS to bring their creative vision to the world.

Tiësto comments:
“The concept of mixing and remixing music genres and cultures is something that continues to inspire me. The chance to collaborate with BLK JKS, the most exciting new band from South Africa, is something I might not have done were it not for not for Smirnoff asking me to be part of the Smirnoff Experience™ ‘Mashup Street’ in South Africa. I’m really excited to share the new track we’re making and the live show with the entire world.”

Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-GBs5-Y6SA

The Tiësto concert, his collaboration with BLK JKS and Smirnoff Experience™ ‘Mashup Street’ is the latest installment from Smirnoff’s BE THERE program—a rallying cry calling on others to create, seek out and participate in more one-of-a-kind experiences.

To find out different ways to BE THERE fans from around the world just need to go to www.smirnoff.com or www.facebook.com/smirnoff. Visitors to the Smirnoff Facebook page will also have access to exclusive downloads, posts and pictures including a special free video download of Tiësto’s experience in South Africa, as well as his latest collaboration with BLK JKS.

Want to BE THERE? Smirnoff fans in Ireland, Canada, Australia and Venezuela can enter for a chance to go to Smirnoff Experience™ South Africa and the rest of the world can BE THERE by experiencing it on www.facebook.com/smirnoff and www.smirnoff.com.

With stops in Moscow, Shanghai, Paris and New York, the Smirnoff Experience™ series continues its journey around the world landing in Berlin on 23rd April with headliner Simian Mobile Disco before heading to South Africa. The events celebrate originality in nightlife by bringing to life original concepts, forming one-off collaborations and championing original drinking experiences.

All applicants must be above legal drinking age.

Terms & Conditions apply

Celebrating life, every day, everywhere, responsibly.

About Tiësto

Tiësto is the world's largest DJ, whose musical achievements are unsurpassed.
Currently on his Kaleidoscope World Tour, which is the biggest DJ-only tour in history, Tiësto is playing a 14 month long schedule with over 150 dates across 6 continents to an unprecedented 1,000,000+ people.

Inspired by the likes of U2, his arena sized shows feature music which he writes and produces, including current hits with Nelly Furtado, Jónsi from Sigur Rós, Tegan & Sara, Three 6 Mafia and Calvin Harris. Also a renowned remixer, TIësto's touch has been demanded by the likes of Muse, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Goldfrapp. He has been nominated for a Grammy, performed at the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics with music he composed especially for the occasion, wowed the rock festival crowds at Coachella and Bonnaroo and currently has songs charting across the globe. He is, in short, the biggest DJ the world has ever seen.

About BLK JKS

BLK JKS defy description - with a wrecking crew rhythm section, debonair vocals, and guitar concoction of one part shred and two parts soul, BLK JKS shoot an African music sensibility through the tenets of rock. On the heels of a worldwide tour for the band's 2009 debut full-length "After Robots" (Secretly Canadian), BLK JKS are nominated for two South African Music Awards (SAMA) for ‘Best Album of the Year’ and ‘Best Alternative Album.’

The band's fresh, forward rhythm, layered harmony and elliptical guitar vernacular reveal the urban Zulu blues of mbaqanga that is the center of BLK JKS songwriting. Teaching themselves guitar on the same block where they both grew up, childhood friends Lindani Buthelezi and Mpumi Mcata formed the original alliance, and early BLK JKS shows garnered attention for their stacks of guitar drone and head-nodding beats.

After the band's current lineup took shape with the addition of bassist Molefi Makananise and drummer Tshepang Ramoba, both of Soweto, BLK JKS began work with a fresh approach and embarked on a heavy touring schedule throughout South Africa that earned them a national following. Breaking out to the US and Europe in 2008, the following year the band released 'After Robots'—described by Mail & Guardian as "probably the most important South African album to have appeared in the past 20 years"—to international fanfare and critical acclaim. BLK JKS will release an new EP in advance of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

http://www.smirnoff.com | http://www.facebook.com/Smirnoff

For more information:

Diageo Plc
Marisa Brickman, Global Head of PR Smirnoff
Marisa.Brickman@Diageo.com

Splendid Communications
Becca Graham
becca@splendidcommunications.com
+442073247200