Recipe for Heating up a Cold Jozi Night
Thanks to Heather for her tips on how to stay warm this winter but still get out on the town:
After hibernating for the past couple of months, I decided to break the cycle on one of the coldest weeks Jozi has had so far! But I think I got it right…. A romantic dinner for two, some red hot jazz and drinks with friends AND I managed to do it all in one place!
Yes, I would say that the most important ingredient for this recipe is The Market Theatre. That old lady is like going home to Mom’s cooking, and she’s made foie gras.
Gramadoelas welcomed, with their buffet and red wine to warm the senses. How fabulous to roll out of the restaurant at 19h58 and walk over to the theatre and seated by 20h00. Currently on at The Market Theatre is the Total MIAGI festival 2007. No MIAGI is not a Japanese Karate Master, MIAGI stands for Music Is A Good Investment. Indeed. On until the 27th of May – all around Jozi Last night we caught all female Jazz Quartet (but there were only three – best I get Nancy Drew on this). Think Erikah Badu, crossed with Cassandra Wilson and through in a bit of Billy Holiday and you kinda get what I’m talking about.
They were supported, and I mean supported, by their band. You really go the feeling the band enjoyed making music with them, they had a lovely rapport.
Melanie, Denys and Mandisa each took their turn to shine on the stage graced with rose-petals. There were a couple of technical hitches – the techie on stage adjusting microphones and a bit of confusion as to the playlist, but somehow it didn’t bother me. It seemed charming and gave insight into them as people. I think they love what they do.
After a quick wine during the interval, the extremely talented Jonathan Crossley was on with his band of merry men from Knysna. Now this is someone who plays the guitar as if he was making love to it. He seems to enter a state of transcendence when he plays and up to a point if felt almost voyeuristic watching him.
This performance was hampered by what seemed like quite a big technical glitch, in that (and please forgive my basic music knowledge) something came loose on the amplifier so as the band was really getting into their session, there was an irritating thumping from the amp. It was very distracting, and marred some fabulous piano work by Martin Wolfaard.
You could see this was almost painful to Jonathan. The tension was broken by J.C. playing his version of De La Rey – no seriously! This is definitely someone to keep your ears open for. The highlight of the performance was their take on Sting’s Fragile – bet the big man himself would love it.
The evening was finished off with drinks at the Moyo’s bar – try the delicious hot chocolate! I would say this was a perfect recipe for Heating up a Cold Jozi Night!
The MIAGI festival is on until the 27th of May, for more information contact Simone Heradien, 012 320 5154. Tickets from Computicket.
