Review: Cape Town International Jazz Festival
Our new Cape Town writer Yumna gets familiar with Jazz at last weekend’s Cape Town Jazz Festival and finds that she’s entranced. She also got a little more info for us on Kwani Experience…. you know we love them! Thanks Yumna!
In those shiny, Hollywood wedding movies there is usually the cake tasting scene, where the happy couple eats a bit of a fabulous looking and tasting…
wedding cake and then swiftly moves along to the next one. That was the 2006 Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
With over 40 jazz acts and five stages competing for attention, there was more then enough to bite off and for your taste buds to salivate.
Although it would disappoint many having to pay an extra R25 to get into Rosies, especially being a struggling student with bank statements that read: TRANSACTION FAILED. The acts that took place on the other four stages were enough to keep me satisfied.
Getting into the mood on Friday 31st, I swiftly moved through the largest venue, Klippies, into the outside stage, Basil “Manenberg” Coetzee, which was worth braving the early evening chill as Thandiswa Mazwai moved all our rears into action with her gospel, traditional, Afro pop beats, spreading smiles across the audience’s faces.
After catching a quick breath of ‘fresh air’, I quickly slipped into Baseline, the stage which would become my home for the next few hours and the next day, and prepared myself for the act I had been waiting for, Relax, the Dutch hip hop/jazz/rock/funk/ I could go on forever group. As they strutted onto the stage, showered in blue light, in their matching black suits and white shirts with eerie piano music slipping through the crowds, I politely put away my pen and notepad and began to roar and jump up and down like the true closet groupie I am!
I rested my poor feet before readying myself for the group that had so much hype around them I was almost sure that the balloon would deflate. But fear not, Kwani Experience were there to impress. With a few disappointed patrons, the thrashing dreadlocks and hypnotic back and forth movements of the audience rang the bell for the end of my night as I then decided to fatten myself up with the perks of having a press pass. [SEE REVIEW ON KWANI BELOW]
The next day I felt as if I hadn’t even left the festival, arriving just in time to catch Chouchou Valdes. I looked up at the big screen with my mouth open watching the living legend mix jazz, Cuban and classical music at the same time as getting the crowd to clap in-between his beats!
With a crowd bigger then the night before I ended up either waiting in lines or just getting the end of performances. But I was determined to see Mama Africa at the age of 78 get down on stage, and get down she did. That night I learnt why Miriam Makeba is the Mama of Africa as young and old faces sang and jived to her every beat.
The Forgotten Free-Quencies took the crowd way back as they remixed songs like Ma Brrr’s “Weekend Special” into a hip hop, jazz, funk extravaganza, with one of the crowd members shouting, “This is definitely the forgotten frequencies!”. I mustered up the strength and managed to shake my boodie to the housey jazz sounds of Louie Vega which brought the 2006 Cape Town International Jazz Festival to an end.
And as the last note left my ear I could safely say that I had fallen in love with jazz.
KWANI EXPERIENCE
A Military jacket, an African Queen, thrashing dreadlocks, a naked torso, fat, dark sunglasses, a shaven polite look, the yappy getup and barefoot innocence; these are the eight pieces of the puzzle that make up Kwani Experience.
“The reason why the music is the way it is, is because of the way we are together”, this is the mantra of their ‘Experience’. Bassist, Frank Magongwa puts it like this, “A taxi is not a taxi without the passengers, just like we wouldn’t be the Kwani Experience without one of us”.
Coming together and integrating their different emotions, African cultures and sub cultures in the city of Jo’burg, where everyone is searching for their piece of gold. Kwani Experience formed something more precious, in 2004, they gathered the eclectic sound of a young generation, bringing all ages, knowledge and skills into the same space, jiving to the same vibrations.
And that is exactly what they did at this year’s Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
An innocent ululation slowly crept through the audience. All our eyes trying to find the source and landing on Bafana Nhlapo (Ike da Spike), the industrial percussionist, surrounded by his make-shift tin cups and bowls whose sound resonates through you.
As the beat tightened and Nosisi Ngakane (Blue child),the lead, vocalist gently swung her arms, Kwelagobe Sekele (Kwela/po) ,the lyricist, got into the rhythm, Siyolo Dazana (Jambo) closed his eyes and gave life to the saxophone, Mahlatse Riba (Ribatone), the pianist, slipped his fingers across the keys, Gontse Makhene (Fantastic), the percussionist, pound out his heart beat, Madite Moalusi (Madi Waters), the drummer, and Frank Magongwa (Franko Ting-Ting), the bassist, created enchanting chemistry.
The heads of the crowd began to move back and forth, without them even knowing, as Kwani became their experience.
And then the thought crept in. Now that they are getting recognized and have launched their debut album, “BIRTH OF THE MUDALAND FUNK” (which they admit is like having a pass in the music industry) will they lose their open rawness? But they fixedly reply no. All they are doing is pushing what they are into the mainstream.
This is the space which the eight ‘souls’ of Kwani Experience wish to nurture for you, a regeneration, direction, respect, getting back to the way we use to be as Africans – without losing sight of what the future can embrace.
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28 March
Oh yes this weekend is the CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL JAZZ festival, with awesome acts such as Thandiswa, Kwani, Sipho Hotstix Mabuse, Louie Vega, Miriam Makeba, Tlale Makhene and more more more…..
Here is the final list of everything you need to know about the CTIJF:
For the past six years, traditionally on the last weekend in March, the City and People of Cape Town have welcomed music lovers from all over the world to the annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
This year is no different, as the 7th staging of this prestigious and popular festival, now affectionately known as ‘Africa’s Grandest Gathering’, will once again take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on Friday 31 March and Saturday 1 April 2006, without doubt the two most exciting and important days on the South African Jazz calendar.
Tickets for the Festival have been selling as briskly as in previous years, with large numbers of jazz fans due to fly in to the Mother City from across Southern Africa and from countries around the world. espAfrika (Pty) Ltd, the organisers of the Festival, are once again anticipating a vibrant and dynamic Festival with full attendances on both nights. The venue has five stages, featuring 40 acts in total, comprising the traditional 50/50 split between African and International artists.
In addition to the main Festival, there will be a number of associated events organised by espAfrika (Pty) Ltd. There will be a series of Music Workshops at the Iziko Museum; there will also be a Jazz Photography Exhibition at the Duo-Tone Gallery featuring the work of Dr Peter Magubane, Fani Jason, and Mike Mzilene; and there will be the inaugural, one-day South Atlantic Jazz Music Conference, which will take place on the Thursday prior to the festival at the Cape Sun Hotel.
EspAfrika (Pty) Ltd will once again lay on the traditional Free Community Jazz Concert on Greenmarket Square, in the centre of the City, for the people of Cape Town on Thursday 30 March, the day before the Festival opens. This Community Concert is sponsored and staged by the festival organisers, and is aimed at giving many city music fans a taste of what is on offer at the Festival.
This well-attended Free Concert also acts as an appetiser for all those out-of-town visitors who are in Cape Town to attend the Festival. The concert will begin at 17H00 and will again draw many music fans to the city after hours to see acts like Dan Patlan & The New Orleans All Star Blues Band, Kani, Relax, Juan Carlos Romero Trio, Kwani Experience, and the University of Cape Town Big Band.
But it is the main event with its 40 International and African acts, spread over five stages that draws music lovers to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. Two years ago the Festival moved to its new home at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) and to mark the occasion, espAfrika (Pty) Ltd added an extra fifth stage to the venue and named it ‘Molelekwa’, in honour of Moses Taiwa Molelekwa, the much-missed South African jazz genius who died in tragic circumstances a few years ago.
The other four stages at the festival are traditionally named in honour of four of Cape Town’s premier Jazz Clubs of years gone by. They are ‘Kippies’, ‘Manenberg’, ‘Rosies’, and ‘Bassline’.
If you are a true music fan then there cannot be anywhere else you would want to be on that jazz lovers dream weekend at the end of March. For those who wouldn’t miss this Festival for the world as well as those who are interested in which artists will be appearing on which stages on which nights, click here to go to the site and see how the festival will be unfolding.
Now, knowing all that, where on earth would you rather be than at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on Friday 31 March and Saturday 1 April 2006?
Ticket prices for the 2005 festival have not been increased for the last two years and remain the same at R399 for a two-day pass and R260 for a one-day pass. Get your tickets from Computicket.
