CT International Jazz Festival – AWESOME!
Thanks to PANDA who outdid herself and attended nearly every live performance at the 2007 Cape Town International Jazz Festival on behalf of Represent. Gel you know you rock! See her stunning pics of the festival in our photoblog here. In a nutshell, she rated Leela James, Lira and HHP as her highlights… we LOVE them all and wish we could have been there! Read all about it here:
Jazz is an almost useless term to describe the variety of music at this gathering of musicians, producers, media and enthusiasts from all over the world. If music was as popular as cricket, I can guarantee, South Africans would be sitting in bars all over South Africa celebrating the success of our local artists, dissecting each composition and the Cape Town International Jazz Festival would be one of the many music festival events populating everyone’s social calendars. We’d be spared Guns & Roses and the rest of the B-list international acts that come out here, in favour of only the best current and most inspirational music. They’d have to hold all events in stadiums and sell season tickets, and broadcast live for days on our national channels and our musicians will get the attention they deserve. African music has inspired jazz, rock and roll, hip hop and R&B across the world. We have every reason to be proud.
I can’t think of anything better than sitting on a fold up chair in the autumnal Cape sun watching the artful string pickings and soulful trumpetings of our countrymen and other international stars sipping on a something something and watching the beautiful people stroll serenely by.
The festival kicked off with Concord Nkabinde on the big stage, a difficult thing to do but with his beautiful strong voice and big stage presence, he did a great job. Last time I went to the jazz festival I nearly did myself in trying to see everything. Ladies, a tip, don’t wear heels if you can possibly help it, I saw many a footsore woman walking around later in the evening, stilettos in hand.
I saw Ester Miller featuring Jeremy Pelt next, a beautiful voice from PE, now living in the UK. Alongside her was a very debonair Mr Pelt. The MC announced that all the beautiful ladies should check out his website and let him know if they’re available – and there were very many beautiful ladies, beautifully dressed. The CTIJF has become as much as a social and fashion event as a celebration of music.
The Rosies stage kicked off with Vivid Africa, they’ve found a lot of success in the “world music” genre with their elegant soundscapes. Pamela de Menzes has an incredibly powerful voice, I’ve had their melodies going around in my head ever since I heard it.
Taking Friday night into full swing, the Rudimentals rocked the Bassline stage next with their blasting trumpets and infectious beat. Teboho Maidza, their bouncing front man soon got every ass in the crowd wriggling and bouncing.
When I got back to the main stage to see the Jo Sample Trio feat. Randy Crawford, the crowd was enormous and excited. Randy Crawford did not disappoint. She is lovely in the most lovely way, smiling and humbled by the large crowd, her voice cut powerfully through the night like silk. They’ve just produced a new album so if you’re a fan, look out for it.
Simultaneously, Shannon Mowday was on the Basil “Manenberg” Coetzee stage, winner of the Standard Bank Young Jazz Artist Award for 2007 – a well deserved title from what I saw – and Closet Snare were on at the Bassline. These diverse and talented young musicians used samplers, trumpets, guitar, decks, bass, drums and visuals to create a pleasing and unique performance. They started off with a very small audience but by the end, I could hardly move through the enthusiastic crowd.
Following Shannon Mowday, Yehya Khalil & his Egyptian Jazz Fusion took to the stage, eleven of them, with their strange instruments, skillfully creating incredibly intricate and enjoyable music. They were, for many aficionados, a highlight of the event. Inside on the main stage, Ladysmith Black Mambaza had the crowd happily singing ululating and mimicking their choreography. I’m glad the world has woken up to their talent.
Feeling my age, I happily sank into a chair at Rosies to hear Themba Mkhize and his artful soothing brand of jazz soundscapes. I looked in on Average White Band (introduced with tongue in cheek as the AWB) and not knowing the first thing about their music, I took one look at the middle aged fans swaying and spilling their pilsener on each other and decided against it.
I ended off Friday night watching world class trombonist and vocalist Nils Landgren & Funk Unit all the way from “very f’n cold Sweden” as he put it, integrating funk jazz and rap. I was honoured to find myself standing next to him later at Hip Hop Panstula, he was loving every minute and thrilled to be at the festival.
The weather was perfect again on Saturday and the festival got off the ground with the Standard Bank Youth Band (which I missed because of the horrendous parking situation). At five o’ clock, a crowd had already gathered to catch Stimela. This band, controversial in the 80’s, clearly has a big following and it wasn’t long before they were all giggling and singing at the top of their voices “no condom no thola”. It’s seems silly but awareness is key to our survival as a nation and respect to any artist who uses their voice. It’s better than any print campaign I’ve seen and probably more effective.
Next up, Lira. This phenomenal singer has all the makings of a diva. Stylish and beautiful with a powerful voice, this is definitely an artist to watch. Taking things up a notch Tucan Tucan were starting to heat up the Bassline stage. With three stunning ladies dancing in the front, this fun vibrant band put on a great show.
As far as headline acts go, my absolute favorite was Leela James. She burst onto the stage with such incredible energy, the audience was screaming in minutes. She makes Beyonce look like a high school cheerleader. Her high heels lasted about two minutes – she didn’t want to give any less than 100% to us and being distracted by sore feet for the sake of fashion wasn’t worth it. She’s real and she’s soulful and it was a real privilege to see her live.
We were so spoilt for choice, Jack DeJohnette & Sibongile Khumalo “Intercontinental” was playing at the same time as Leela James as well as Fethi Tabet, an accomplished French speaking Algerian musician playing an interesting set of melodic and upbeat North African jazz compositions and I only managed to catch snippets of their shows.
Later, in the spotlight on the main stage, Ismael Lo, all in yellow with his band in matching green and gold and yellow and orange suits was treating the huge audience to his gorgeous deep resonant voice but the younger crowd was heading for the Bassline where Hip Hop Pantsula were about to come on. Eventually, they had to close off the first floor to stop people from coming in and I escaped to the relative calm of Madala Kunene’s South African jazz and his lovely dancing girls.
Seeking a quieter spot, I headed for the Moses Molelekwa stage again, to watch The Stoner. I was a little skeptical, but realised you can’t judge a band by it’s name. These four Swedish guys compose brilliant intricate and melodic moody music. It’s apparently called “new jazz”. It’s like sound design.
Happy but tired, I decided to look in on the Saskia Laroo Band and ended up dancing wildly. This fantastic eclectic group from Holland produce the most amazing music and featured a rapper who can only be described as a human beat box.
Because Hip Hop Pantsula had been so full earlier, the organisers of the festival allowed them to play on a bigger stage at the end of the night. Jabulani Tsambo was looking incredulously at the huge crowd, shouting, “I can’t believe the energy you guys have! It’s one o clock in the morning!”. And the crowd roared.
A great end, to a great festival. If you ever get the chance and you’re prepared to believe that jazz isn’t only for the music nerds, do yourself a favour and get down to Cape Town for the next one. Who knows, perhaps one day music will be more popular than cricket. I’m holding thumbs.
