CT Jazz festival looking HOT HOT HOT
We’re just reminding you: 28 Jan 08. Looks like this year’s Cape Town International Jazz Festival is taking Jazz to a whole ‘nother level with international superstar Sergio Mendes joining the bash! Some other notables to catch are Belgian based Tutu Puoane and her band, Japanese Jazz pianist funky chicca Hiromi London’s MUST SEE The Bays and US group the Ananda Project … not to mention the good old Manhattans! mhmm ladies… you read right! Cape Town International Jazz Festival organisers could not wait to announce the performance of the award-winning Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes at next year’s festival scheduled for Friday 28 – Saturday 29 March 2008 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Having announced the initial 20-artists in November, the plan was to release the next batch of names at the end of January 2008. “With a musician like Sérgio Mendes we couldn’t wait until January to announce his name. Given Mendes’s calibre, we know that people that were doubtful about their attendance next year will now think twice. It’s a coup for the festival and we thought it fair to make the announcement now”, says festival director Rashid Lombard. More than any other Brazilian musician, Mendes has taken samba and bossa nova to the rest of the world. Tunes like “Berimbau” and “Bananeira” are now part of the world’s musical pantheon because Mendes made them popular. “Mas Que Nada”, a tune that Mendes released with his Brasil’66 group was the first song sung in Portuguese to reach the top of Billboard charts. Since then, renowned artists such Oscar Petersen, Hugh Masekela and Al Jarreau have done their own renditions of Mendes’s signature tune. “I’ve always tried to promote the music of Brazil all over the world. There is something very special about Brazilian music – the melodies, the rhythms, the sensuality and the joy”, explained Mendes in a recent interview with Lexus Magazine Interactive. In the four decades that Mendes has been a professional artist, he has influenced different generations of musicians. Starting his career in Niterói in Brazil, the 66-year old composer, arranger and pianist grew up listening to jazz pianists such as Art Tatum, Bud Powell and Horace Silver. This is before Mendes linked up with the greatest Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim arranged most of Mendes’ earlier music. When he moved to the United States (US) in 1964, Mendes began his collaboration with musicians such as Herbie Mann, Stan Getz, Cannonball Adderley, Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder. Explaining his urge to explore Brazilian music, jazz pianist Kenny Barron who is also on the line-up for the 2008 Cape Town International Jazz...
New Venue in Durban: Jazzy Rainbow
Every city needs fresh venues especially those that cater for serious music-lovers who seek out intimate music-listening environments. New Durban venue with a colourful name “The Jazzy Rainbow” will be kicking off a series of live music gigs with the maestro Madala Kunene on the 27 March – sounds good: The Jazzy Rainbow is currently setting itself up to be one of eThekwini’s key music venues with a series of live music sessions at the venue called “Unplugged Repertoire”. As we will all agree; there is a desperate need for such venues to showcase Durban’s finest musical talents. These music sessions will be held regularly to encourage Durban’s socialites to endeavor into something different from the monotonous clubbing style of entertainment. In an effort to achieve this, Jazzy Rainbow through Slingshot Management will be presenting the legendary Madala Kunene on the 27th of March 2008 at this stylish venue. Known to many simply as Bafo, Madala Kunene has been proclaimed as the king of the Zulu guitar. He has performed worldwide and has collaborated with some of South Africa’s most influential musicians such as Busi Mhlongo & Sipho Gumede. His catalog of works also includes international names such Max Lasser & Airto Moreira. “Madala Kunene is the perfect candidate to initiate these music sessions at Jazzy Rainbow. He will compliment the venue very well with his enigmatic sounds. The venue has such a relaxed ambience which is ideal for Bafo’s acoustic sounds as his music soothes one’s mind after a hectic day” says Fezisa of Slingshot Productions. The event will start at 20h00 with a cover charge of R60.00. The venue takes about 100 people & adheres to a smart dress code. The Jazzy Rainbow is situated on 93 Goble Road, Morningside. For more information on the event, please contact Fezisa Mdibi on 031 312...
Allez! Jazz at Kippies in Nov
You can count on the Alliance and IFAS to produce quality entertainment – bien sure – they’re going Jazzy in November at the famous Kippies venue in Newtown (well… the doppelganger). Catch Frenchie Sophie Alour with her “jazz straight-up” on the 20 November and Tunisian Dhafer Youssef “electric sufi jazz” on the 24 November. ALLEZ! Sophie Alour is an experienced French saxophonist and composer, who likes to push the boundaries to create an original sound while incorporating other genres. “Sophie Alour alternates electric and acoustic sounds, rock inspiration for its energy and jazz inspiration for its melodies … and its researched compositions…” (Telemara, April 2003) In 2000, she was involved in the creation of the Vintage Ochestra. She has performed alongside jazz greats such as Rhoda Scott and Wynton Marsalis. In 2004, Sophie Alour was the recipient of the Tremplin Jazz de Vannes and took part in the musical project of Aldo Romano. http://www.sophiealour.net/ Dhaffer Youssef is a notable oud player, composer and vocalist. The Tunisian born jazz musician is keen on collaborations with artists from different cultures and music traditions. His music draws from his Magrebian roots and incorporates contemporary music. Some of his collaborations contain interesting sufi sounds combined with electronic Nordic jazz to produce a powerful and compelling sound. Youssef will perform alongside Norwegian musicians including his creative partner Eivind Aarset (guitar and electronics), Audun Erlien (electric bass) and Rune Arnesen (drums). http://www.dhaferyoussef.com/ Sophie Allour 20 November 8pm R80 Dhaffer Youssef 24 November 8pm R80 Kippies cnr Carr & Quinn Str, Newtown Mimi 011 836 0561 ifas@ifas.org.za www.ifas.org.za/culture Marion 011 646 1169 culture.jhb@alliance.org.za...
Classique is back to warm you up
Every time I look out of the window I wonder if I have been teletransported to Europe during a dank Autumn. WTF is wrong with Jozi weather this October 07? Miserable. If it doesn’t give up and you stumble into the Classique party this Saturday (after we thrash those Brazilians of course) you would be forgiven for thinking you’d been teletransported to Cape Town on an ordinary grey mizzy weather day…this weather is just so CT! (OUCH) SO warm up your disappointing spring with some soulful jazzing and lots of fun ‘cos Classique is back for their Spring installment this Saturday 13 Oct 2007 – click on the flyer for more: To get you in the weekend mood, and wash away the Thursday rainy blues, here’s your party reminder about CLASSIQUE happening this Saturday 13 October @ ROKA, so best you polish that dancing shoes and ladies spoil yourself with a new outfit, because we about to turn the heat up on the Jo’burg party scene to show everyone how we do it CAPE TOWN STYLE!!!!!!!!! All the way from Cape Town we welcome back Dj Roger the dodger and new comer to CLASSIQUE but with no introductions needed, DENVER APOLLUS aka HECTIC D from Hanover Street fame and now ripping it up @ BUNKER 9 Cape Town. Doors open 8pm and cc is R50 ……..Come party in TRUE Cape Town style…. PS: Don’t forget to catch the fabulous Joe Barber 4 show starting this week at the Market Theater in Newtown. We caught the show last night at the media opening and BOETA GAMAT and BOETA JOE had the packed theater in stitches , watch out for Washilea she certainly stole the show for us J . And as our loyal CLASSIQUE friends we will be giving away tickets for you to see the show so be there Saturday night! …. Who knows it might be you sitting in the front row for the show. Regards and see you Saturday...
SA doccie on show in the Big Apple
Editorista remembers seeing Zim Ngqawana playing jazz in the Netherlands at a festival, it was a moment of such pride tempered with intense home sickness for home sweet Africa as Zim’s music washed over the room, captivating the audience. Any African’s or anyone interested in African Jazz and our stories in general in and around New York City, catch Zim live as he sets the tone for the SA jazz doccie entitled “Unyazi of the Bushveld” that’s showing at the “Columbia Harlem Festival of Global Jazz Documentary Film” festival: African Noise Foundation is proud to announce the selection of a South African documentary production for screening in the prestigious Columbia University Columbia Harlem Festival of Global Jazz Documentary Film. The 29 september screening will be preceded by a concert of the Zim Ngqawana Quartet on 28 september. “Unyazi of the Bushveld” (2007). Aryan Kaganof, director (South Africa). 45 min. The Zulu word “unyazi” can be translated into English as “lightning,” an apposite double image of rupture and new beginnings for UNYAZI 2005, Africa’s first festival of electronic music, the brainchild of new music composer Dimitri Voudouris. Aryan Kaganof’s documentary on this singular historical event is suitably non-linear in structure, as it explores the complex relationship, both assumed and actual, among technology, the African and Afrodiasporic worlds, and the multiculturalism that mediates them. We are presented with a vision freed from the romantically anti-technological stances of the early Nègritude movement (and that of 1960s American black cultural nationalisms), and the concomitant assumptions that nothing of a technological nature can emerge from a black-ruled world. But we are never far from South Africa’s recent history. Until this festival, jazz drummer Louis Moholo, exiled since the early 1960s, had never been on the campus of Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand–or rather, as he commented drily, “We came, but they chased us off with dogs. That was...
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