MUST DO: Jazz lovers get to CTIJF
Jazzinista’s we hope you’re planning ahead to catch the broadly diverse line up at this year’s CTIJF taking place in less than 3 weeks! Ranging from some of SA’s hottest current bands like Goldfish, 340ml and Siphokazi, then showcasing some of the less commercial but deeply intriguing South African jazz cats like Carlo Mombelli & The Prisoners of Strange and McCoy Mrubata… through to two of our favourite international bands – acid jazz group Incognito from the 90s (still a friend of mine!) and the AMAZING Congo-Belgian all-girl group Zap Mamas (call me!) – And smoothly topped off with an edgy hiphp touch – Mos Def feat The Robert Glasper Experiment (to name but a few), it’s gonna be shaking in Cape Town! Surely this range of talent must put the festival on the global lists of ‘must attend’ jazz festivals. Here is the full line-up. Just added to this list is the young and fabulous Zaki Ibrahim, read all about it below: 340ml; Carlo Mombelli & The Prisoners of Strange; Goldfish; Kyle Shepherd Quartet; Magic Malik Orchestra Napalma; Ndumiso Nyovane; Pete Philly & Perquisite; The Robert Glasper Experiment; Shakatak; Siphokazi; South Paw; Stewart Sekuma; Al Foster Quartet; Arturo Lledo; Dave Liebman Quartet; Dianne Reeves; Emily Bruce; Freshlyground; Hugh Masekela; Incognito; Jonathan Rubain; Kyle Eastwood Band; Loading Zone; Maceo Parker; Maurice Gawronsky feat. Feya Faku; New York Voices; Peter White; Ringo Madlingozi; Rus Nerwich’s collective imagination; The Stylistics; Zap Mama; Jonathan Butler with special guest Dave Koz; Dr. Malombo Philip Tabane, “Opera Meets Jazz” Mike Del Ferro, Sibongile Khumalo, and Shannon Mowday; Abigail Kubeka, Cape Town Jazz Orchestra, McCoy Mrubata and Special Friends and Mos Def feat The Robert Glasper Experiment. To complete this year’s lineup, organisers of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival revealed that Zaki Ibrahim will join the other thirty-nine acts that appear on 03-04 April at Africa’s Grandest Gathering. While she refuses to categorise her music, what Zaki dishes out is a fusion of hip-hop, earthy soul, deep house, broken electro-acoustic beats and jazz-inflected vocal intonations. Still in her 20’s, the Toronto-based South African singer has taken up as her mission, the creation of smooth hip-hop. Born to an exiled South African father and Scottish mother, Zaki spent her early years shuttling between Cape Town and the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island in British Columbia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia> , Canada. She was drawn to hip-hop at early age and started to perform when she moved to British Columbia ’s largest city, Vancouver. Explaining the pull of hip-hop on her, the singer who has been living in Toronto since 2001 describes how as a child he listened...
UJU live at House of Nsako this Friday
It’s been a long time since we’ve hear the sweet rocking soulful sounds of UJU… here’s your chance to catch them live in Brixton, Jozi this Friday at the House of Nsako . Friday 13th March 09 8pm 101 High Street, Brixton, Jozi Town. Take the Smit Str offramp from the N1 south. Turn right at the T-junction. Drive past the Garden City Hospital and the Brixton Fire Department. Just past the Pick and Pay Centre look out for ABSA on the lft and the house is on the right. Call 072 2232 648 for more...
Al Prodgers in the Eastern Cape
Al Prodgers takes to the stage at the Barnyard Theatres in Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay on the 3rd and 4th of April to open his national Comedy Trek, but also returning to the area where his ancestor first set foot on the African continent generations ago. Genealogists suggest that in the 19th century a Prodgers, making his way from Britain to India ended up in Africa, setting the standard of navigation that is still a hallmark of the family. Clan legend has it that he heard of the discovery of gold in Knysna and jumped ship to seek his fortune. Although he was still wet behind the ears, and everywhere else because he should have waited till the ship docked before jumping, he fell in love with a Boer woman. Young Prodgers must have carried the comedy gene, because history records that her first words upon meeting this “soutie” were, “Is this some kind of joke?” They married, and it’s fairly certain that they had a tempestuous relationship, since their descendants fought on opposite sides of the Anglo-Boer War. Maybe they were just lost again. Thanks to satellite navigation and the participation of myweek magazine, Al Prodgers, descendant of this quirky crowd is on a Comedy Trek with Melt Sieberhagen, a rising star of alternative Afrikaans stand-up. It’s a hilarious roadshow, exploring the funny side of being South African. The first leg of the Trek begins in the beautiful Garden Route, which is far enough away from Johannesburg to have finally left the scene of the crime. The Comedy Trek also features scenes on screen with fresh, improvised comedy shot daily in every destination and behind-the-scenes footage of the comedians and tour chaos filmed by their faithful roadie, Ettienne Shardlow. Language and themes are authentically South African too, so parental guidance is advised, but if you’re an adult who wants to celebrate the wacky side of life, come along for a laugh to the Al Prodgers myweek Comedy Trek at the Barnyard Theatres in Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay on the 3rd and 4th of...
Must-attend: Fashion Battle in Jozi
What a fascinating concept, for anyone interested in fashion and culture, don’t miss this Fash-off. It started with people dressing up in Kinshasa… In January 2007, French artist Jean Christophe Lanquetin staged an exhibition of portraits photographed over a period of two years in the streets of Lingwala, Kinshasa (DRC). The images captured the legendary ‘Sapeurs’, documenting a practice that primarily revolves around street fashion and haute couture, the competitive rituals and performance of dressing up. Implicitly, the practice of ‘sape’ raises arguments around ‘body politics’ and its agency: how to claim one’s own, ‘clean’ and exclusive space in contrast to a disintegrating city and world at large? ‘100 Year War’ is the name of one of the ‘sapeurs’ gangs in Kinshasa and references the extended series of wars that started in France in the 14th Century. The practice of competing in the streets against other groups, such as the ‘Japanese’, to show off the most expensive clothes and ingenious poses, styles and dances, is a highly popular tradition in Kin’. Each ‘sapeur’ challenges the other’s territory – the codes of display, resistance and aspiration towards all that ‘Europe’ represents for them: colonialism, globalism, an affluent world of choices… And in Johannesburg: Continuing with this theme, Lanquetin is collaborating with Joburg designer and artist Athi-Patra on a series of public interventions that aim to explore the local geographies of ‘body politics’, as they are taken up by the Congolese Sapeurs in Yeoville, the Emo-kids and NuKool skool of Melville to Pantsulas and Swankers of Jozi. Leading up to the event on the 30th, the artists stage performances that include the posting of large prints of the ‘Sapeurs’ on the walls of the Fashion District, Yeoville, the Zone and the Drill Hall. This project developed out of the Artist-in-Residency programme facilitated by the Joubert Park Project at the Drill Hall and supported by the French Institute of South Africa in the framework of EUNIC projects, and the National Arts Council of South Africa. With thanks to: Nadine Hutton, Mbuso Kagebe, Lolo Veleko, Ra Ngoato and the Kelektla! Team, Vuyo Gope, Djoca Paulo, Frans Radebe, Tau Skosana and Sakhlie Madi, Adam Levine, Cleo-Patra, Laurent Clavel and the IFAS team, the sapeurs of Kinshasa and all particpants. A project developed by artist-in-residency JEAN-CHRISTOPHE LANQUETIN & ATHI-PATRA RUGA & the Joubert Park Project in association with the French Institute of South Africa WEDNESDAY 30 APRIL, 6:30pm till late Drill Hall, Corner Twist and Plein Street, Joubert Park Opposite Noord Street Taxies /Shell Garage Free Entrance, Secure Parking & Cash...
CT Theatre of Magic coming to Jozi
You know how we occasionally ponder over why CT’s venues, experiences and general taste can outdo Jozi’s time and again? It’s our pondering and we’re sticking with it. Anyway, moan no more. Cape Town brings us the much desired Madame Zingara’s Spiegelpaleis tent and all the bells and whistles as the “Theatre of dreams” slides into Jozi – and it’s yours for the taking! It’s apparently a fantastical, magical, experiential break from the norm…we’ll be at opening night and let you know if the hype is on point. Events companies take note ! 🙂 New venue! Bookings open today. We decided to see what CT bloggers had to say about it, here’s PurpleRonnies take: The tent itself is something amazing to behold. It is huge. It seats around the outside of it in excess of 300 people. It has a stage at the back, a dj, a dance floor/stage in the middle and stained glass windows made in the 1920s and imported specially. The atmosphere was one of excitement and fun and not a little bit of silliness. The waiters and waitresses were all also dressed in various fun, silly or sexy outfits and this just really added to the whole effect. The performances were incredible and the highlight of my evening. The hostess was wonderfully funny, charming and sexy; and had a sultry, silky singing voice. We saw clowns, jugglers, singers, dancers and the like. But the amazing part consisted of three performers who I still drop my jaw at when I picture it in my mind. They suspended themselves from the ceiling using rings, ropes and other dangerously exciting things and suspended and contorted themselves in the most unimaginable ways….. And the official PR: The Theatre Of Dreams comes to The City Of Gold There is a legend that dates back to 1920, one of such grandeur and splendour that she will enchant all who pass through her seductive doors. The Theatre of Dreams is one of only a handful left in the world today. Like every old theatre, her spirit travels with her, woven into ballooning velvet canopies, merry go round dance floors and stained cut-glass windows. Her intimate booths, ornate bar and bevelled mirror columns hold a million secrets, while her glorious chandeliers hang above. The history of these Spiegelpaleis tents dates back to the 1920s when the tents were built to entertain patrons after WWI and were designed to travel across Europe to small villages where no entertainment was available. They have immense history, mystique and beauty to them and hold myriads of secrets in the mirrors and wood walls. Sell out shows across the world bear testament to their...
We will be back!
