Lots to sample as South Africa hosts jazz festival

If the charged soccer atmosphere from the World Cup needed some mellowing, then jazz music came to the rescue.

The whole of last week, the deafening noise from the vuvuzela was replaced by the melodious tunes from saxophones as Johannesburg hosted the 10th edition of the Joy of Jazz Festival.

Celebrating a milestone 10 years since inception, more than 20,000 jazz lovers from across the world descended on ‘the golden city of Africa’ (Johannesburg) for musical nourishment that also helped seat this festival’s position as one of the top jazz festivals in the world.

The magnificently set-up Dinaledi Arena at the heart of Newton hosted the grand opening concert, where South Africa’s rising star, Brian Themba, wowed the crowd and in the process assured South Africans of a great musical future.

The 24-year-old, who has risen from being a back-up singer for Hugh Masekhela and Jonathan Butler, proved that he is all grown up now with great performances of the songs Don’t Let Me Fall and Show You.

He set the stage for US star Rahsaan Patterson. The singer and songwriter performed Where You Are and After Hours and deservedly received a standing ovation.

From then on there were more than five performances at any one time spread across six stages in Newton, a neighbourhood of Johannesburg.

When some were dancing at the Ambira stage to acapella group The Soil, others we humming to the soft jazz tunes of Stacey Kent, who has won the Best vocalist at the BBC Jazz Awards a number of times.

Hugh Masekhela’s absence this time was dully filled by the amazing Sipho Mabuse, nicknamed Hotstix, and who can play a dozen instruments.

Dressed in a black suit and a hat, he charmed jazz lovers before going traditional with Jive Soweto that ruled the 1980s.

“Can you imagine, that’s just our second sound check… we are yet to start,” Sipho screamed on the microphone sending the crowd wild in laughter and cheers.

South Africa may also have lost Brenda Fassie but Nhlanhla Nciza is fast filling that gap. The member of the Mafikizolo band famous for Ndihambanawe and Emlanjeni, electrocuted the audience at the Market Theatre with her energetic dance style that often resembled Lingala than kwaito.

But there is no jazz without a New Orleans touch to it, and that is where the legendary jazz quartet Fourplay came in. Their hour-long performance was worthy of a group that has 11 albums to their name in two decades, a Grammy Awards nomination and a Congressional Award.

Asked why there are a large number of non-jazz artistes at the festival, the Joy of Jazz founder Peter Tladi says that genres of music influence each other. “This is more than a jazz festival. This is a celebration of music,” he added.

Although there was no Kenyan artiste in the line-up, Tusker Project Fame winner Valerie Kimani and Eric Wainaina have performed at the Festival before.