Heels Over Head are, from left, Rebekah Pillay , Mandy Cobbing, Thulile Zama, Chillie Stent – Wardell, Nomkhosi Mazibuko.
The Centre for Jazz and Popular Music hosts a concert with Heels Over Head on Wednesday, August 26 at 6 pm as part of its women’s month shows. Continue reading
John Gay & Friends will be performing popular compositions with a jazz feeling at the Amber Valley Pub area in Howick at 2.30 pm on Sunday, August 30. The band includes Dave Marais on vocals, Jeff Judge on piano, John Gay on drums, Peter Bosse on bass guitar and Tom Hare on saxophone and fulgalhorn.Tickets are R60. Booking essential in order to gain entrance to Amber Valley. Phone John or Lynne at 033 239 5477 or 079 379 8192 with vehicle registration.
Debbie Mari.
The Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College campus in Durban is hosting a performance by jazz voice lecturer, Debbie Mari, on Wednesday, August 19 at 6 pm. Continue reading
Mike Rossi.
Music Revival presents a unique crossover concert with Mike Rossi (sax, flute) and Christopher Duigan (piano), at the Tatham Art Gallery, opposite the City Hall in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday, August 16 at 11.30 am. Continue reading
PINETOWN’S Rainbow Restaurant is hosting a performance by Pops Mohamed, South Africa’s leading indigenous-contemporary-crossover artist and Dave Reynolds, SA’s leading steelpan player on Sunday, July 26. Continue reading
Last week, SAMRO Foundation administrators and a panel of adjudicators completed an intensive selection process – narrowing a pool of 35 applicants to 12 semi-finalists.
On August 27 these talented South African vocalists – six in Western Art (“classical”) music and six in Jazz – will compete live during the intermediate round of the Foundation’s annual Overseas Scholarships Competition. One singer in each category will claim the ultimate prize: a R170 000 study award and the opportunity to accelerate their journey towards artistic and creative excellence.
The SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition has evolved much over 53 years. This evolution has followed South Africa’s compelling journey towards a unique cultural identity that reflects our history, our struggles, triumphs and visibility on the global stage.
“We are now starting to hear a truly South African sound,” says Andre Le Roux, managing director of the SAMRO Foundation. “This year, SAMRO Foundation administrators and adjudicators took note of and were impressed by several candidates who chose South African compositions for their competition repertoire.
“Compared to previous years, there seems to be increased appreciation of South African composition. For us as a Foundation within Africa’s largest music rights organisation and composers’ society, this is proof that we’re doing impactful work to preserve our rich heritage and shape the new inclusive voice of our country.”
All 12 semi-finalists are between 22 and 30 years of age and are pursuing their passion as top achievers in the music world. Many have already honed their musical prowess as professional performers.
This year’s top six in the Jazz music category are:
Amy Campbell (UCT)
Mikhaela Kruger (UCT)
Palesa Modiga (UCT)
Nelmarie Rabie (TUT and UP)
Kwena Ramahuta (UKZN)
Amy Walton (UCT)
The Western Art music category’s semi-finalists are:
Khanyiso Gwenxane (TUT and UCT)
Andiswa Makana (TUT)
Nombuso Ndlandla (NWU)
Levy Sekgapane (UCT)
Makudupanyane Senaoana (UCT)
Victoria Stevens (UCT)
Four finalists – two in each category – will compete for top prizes on August 29 at the Linder Auditorium. This thrilling final round is open to the public, features live accompaniment, special guests and performances of a selection of musical works including a South African composition specially commissioned for the occasion.
The SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition rotates every year between awards for vocalists (2011, 2015), instrumentalists (2012, 2016), keyboard players (2013, 2017) and composers (2014, 2018).
Three SAMRO Overseas Scholarship winners have been recognised as Standard Bank Young Artist Award recipients, and countless others have gone on to pursue successful professional careers as internationally renowned Western Art and Jazz musicians.
Every last Sunday of the month, Soweto Theatre brings you exciting and exclusive jazz sounds from the country’s top musicians to our stage.
On Sunday, June 28 Standard Bank`s young artist of the year for jazz winner, Nduduzo Makhathini and the extraordinary Thebe Lepere take their turn. Bra Thebe is an innovative experimenter and a master percussionist who has toured the world with renowned musicians, such as Louis Moholo and Loose Tubes to mention just a few.
Most of the concert will be mostly improvised, with a couple of themes from Makhathini’s bag, the idea is to tell the untold stories of Africa, its culture and its people through sound. “To do this we couldn’t pass the opportunity to invite these two musicians, Nduduzo Makhathini and Thebe Lepere to be on stage together,” said Khosi Hlatshwayo, community and audience development manager at Soweto Theatre.
Sun Jazz at the theatre sessions are designed to bridge the gap between non-established bands and student musicians with established musicians well on their way to becoming the next generation of musical legends. A relationship helping to preserve the craft. In addition to that audiences are awarded the opportunity to sponsor a child, contributing to the growth of the music tutorial programme.
Performances times: 6 pm for 6.30 pm. Tickets R100 at the box office. For bookings and more information, please contact box office 011 930 7461/2/3 or visit www.sowetotheatre.com
2015 Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz Nduduzo Makhathini.
This year’s Standard Bank Jazz Festival, Grahamstown as part of the National Arts Festival from Thursday, 2 July to Saturday, 11 July, will bring together the best of South African jazz today with some of the world’s most exhilarating contemporary jazz innovators.
The 2015 programme, which features more than 120 sought-after musicians, presents a solid mix of serious limit-shifting jazz as well as the freshest crossover sounds to appeal to music lovers across the spectrum.
Invited artists include the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, Dutch saxophonist Yuri Honing, Austrian pianist David Helbock, US-based guitarist Lionel Loueke, Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi, French drummer André Charlier, South Africans Kesivan Naidoo, Thandiswa Mazwai, Carlo Mombelli and Pops Mohammed, as well as Cape Town pop band Beatenburg and Joburg house band MiCasa. Ray Phiri will be in town for a one-night only solo gig.
“The Standard Bank Jazz Festival acts as a barometer of the South African jazz scene, reflecting our heritage as well as international trends, and opening up opportunities for networking and collaboration,” says Festival Director Alan Webster. “The festival is about acknowledging our roots as South Africans and inviting the world in. We’re not asking how to do it – but sharing experiences with musicians from all over the world to create something new.”
Webster, who has been responsible for putting the programme together since he took over as director in 2001, says the world’s musicians relish the opportunity to visit Grahamstown because of the festival’s high artistic credibility and aesthetic integrity. “It offers musicians 10 days to network, collaborate and learn from each other,” he says.
This collective improvisational energy will perhaps be best experienced this year in The Bjaerv Encounters and Kesivan & The Lights, which will see jazz superstar Kesivan Naidoo mixing it up with the Swedish musicians he met when he played the festival 10 years ago. “There’s no doubt that that experience was a key influence on what Kesivan has become,” says Webster. “It is Grahamstown that allowed that to happen – it’s the essence of what jazz is supposed to be.”
This year, Bokani Dyer, another former Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, will share the stage with four Swiss musicians he met during his residency in Basel. The Bokani Dyer Quintet will merge the vitality of contemporary South African Jazz with Swiss precision and musicianship.
In Listening to the Ground, this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist award winner pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini will perform with fellow South Africans Feya Faku, Ayanda Sikade and Nomagugu Makhathini as well as Swedish saxophone player Karl-Martin Almqvist and bassist Martin Sjöstedt to pay homage to the musical legends who have built the great legacy of South African jazz.
The festival also incorporates the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival, which exposes 350 of South Africa’s best young musicians to the best of jazz over six burning days spent with 50 teachers and 90 professional jazz musicians and educators in rehearsals, workshops, lectures and performances. The top jazz students in South Africa audition for places in the Standard Bank National Schools Big Band and the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band.
Need to know
Bookings can be made via the website: www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Ticketing call centre: 0860 002 004
Pick up a Festival programme and booking kit from selected Standard Bank and Exclusive Books branches from the end of April. The full programme will be online from 30 April at www.nationalartsfestival.co.za.
KEEP IN TOUCH
Standard Bank Jazz Festival
Website: www.youthjazz.co.za
Facebook: www.facebook.com/youthjazz
National Arts Festival
Website: www.nationalartsfestival.co.za and www.youthjazz.co.za
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nationalartsfestival
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artsfestival
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