Cultures Collide At The Jazz Fest

Previous page 1st July 2009

In the true spirit of fusion, musicians from the US, Norway, Swedan, Israel, Switzerland, Holland, Australia, Mozambique and South Africa will join forces in Grahamstown from 2 to 11 July to present a Standard Band Jazz Festival programme as diverse as the genre itself.

Inset: Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz 2009: drummer Kesivan Naidoo (Photo: National Arts Festival)

This annual celebration of jazz at the National Arts Festival is jam-packed with Big Band bashes, cutting-edge Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners, and also showcases the talents of the 300 plus rising stars that take part in the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival.

National Arts Festival, Grahamstown The Jazz Festival once again brings to the stage exciting collaborations between international and homegrown jazz-legends – including Simphiwe Dana, Victor Masondo and the popular Freshlyground.
Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz

Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz for 2009 is phenomenal young drummer Kesivan Naidoo, who has made his presence felt strongly in South Africa over the past decade and has begun to carve himself an international reputation. Naidoo brings to the stage "Kesivan & The Lights", a fusion of musicians who have influenced him in past years, drawing from them their "musical light" to achieve a common goal on stage.

Joining Naidoo is the virtuosic alto saxophonist from Stockholm, Johan Hörlén; Australian trombonist Adrian Mears, a leading light in the European avant garde; Reza Khota, steeped in Indian and Classical guitar; adventurous Cape Town pianist Andre Petersen; and one of Europe's busiest bass players, Swede Martin Sjöstedt.

Six of the winners from the list of musical luminaries who have won the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award will perform together this year in celebration of 25 years of Standard Bank's sponsorship of the award.

Shannon Mowday, South Africa's package of saxophone dynamite, Mark Fransman, visionary on both piano and saxophone, Concord Nkabinde, who has blurred the restrictions of musical boundaries, and drummer Kesivan Naidoo, who will light a fire under any musician, come together as a quartet forging a new direction in music.

Joining the quartet as guests are the 2005 winner for Jazz Andile Yenana (piano), and 2008 Music winner, opera star Zanne Stapelberg.
International collaborations

Opening night reverbs with a Vocal Celebration by Norwegian singer Guro Gravem Johansen and Cape Town songbird Melanie Scholtz. Joining them is the lyrical trumpet of Brian Thusi, the top-class rhythm section of Melvin Peters (piano), Marc Duby (bass), and Mozambican drummer extraordinaire Frank Paco.

Pianist Andre Petersen, firmly established on the Cape Town scene performs regularly with Winston "Mankunku" Ngozi, Robbie Jansen, Errol Dyers and many others. Petersen has spent much time in the past couple of years collaborating with Norwegian musicians such as Andreas Bye (drums), who joins him in Grahamstown with Israeli trombonist Avi Lebovich. Performing with them on bass is a master musician from Sweden, Martin Sjöstedt.

A Dutch flute player from Surinam, a Norwegian percussionist enamored with traditional African rhythms and a Khoi descendent proud of his musical heritage, which he presents on the European jazz circuit will come together for an Intergalactic Rhythm Exchange.

Ronald Snijders (flute) returns to Grahamstown to join pianist Hilton Schilder, who is equally comfortable on piano, the traditional Khoi mouth bow or hip-hop rapping.

Norwegian drummer/percussionist Ottar Nesje has performed on over 100 professional recordings, and rates as a highlight his work in Namibia's Kalahari Desert, collaborating with traditional Kalahari musicians.

Smoothing this extreme mix are Johannesburg trumpeter Prince Lengoasa and Cape Town jazz professor Mike Campbell.

Israeli-born pianist Micu Narunsky brings his musical partnership with woodwind specialist Michael J Rossi, professor of Jazz at UCT, to the stage.

One of Cape Town's busiest young musicians, Shaun Johannes, plays bass and drummer Frank Paco, originally from Maputo and now in great demand on the Cape Town jazz circuit, completes the ensemble. Two guests add to this fascinating collaboration: New York's Salim Washington (sax), professor at Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, and Oslo's Guro Gravem Johansen (vocals).

Guitarist Tommy Lakso lives and performs in Malmberget. To this is added the fireworks of South Africa's most exciting and energetic young drummer, Kesivan Naidoo, and the fire and ice that results from the North-South interaction will result in Arctic Circle Fireworks.

Swedish bassist Martin Sjöstedt, no stranger to South Africa, melds the two together, and additional sparks are added by two of Scandinavia's most impressive saxophonists, Karl-Martin Almqvist and Johan Hörlén.

Ronald Snijders (flute) meets up with master tenor saxophonist, composer, and jazz educator Salim Washington, one of the fastest rising stars on the New York Jazz scene today. On piano is Hotep Idris Galeta, one of South Africa's jazz legends who spent 30 years in exile in the US. Marc Duby, professor of Music at Rhodes, is on bass and Kesivan Naidoo is on drums.

For the first Jazz Double Bill session, the Petter Olofsson Quartet from Sweden joins with the local Chris Hani Ensemble. Jazz Double Bill II sees the UKZN Jazz Band perform with the OR Tambo Ensemble.
Standard Bank National Young Jazz Festival

Three hundred students and 50 teachers gather for the National Young Jazz Festival (NYJF), keen to interact with the 80 musicians invited as performers and teachers. These performers come from nine countries and represent some of the hippest directions being taken in jazz around the world.

They take part in the popular United Nations of Grahamstown, an eclectic mix of musicians gathering together for a week, teaching at the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival (NYJF) by day and performing on the main jazz stage at night.

The school/youth bands sessions will also bring to the stage young musicians from across the country.

The popular Jazz Jams are also back. The nightly NYJF jam session includes professionals from the main jazz stage in spontaneous collaboration, musicians attending the NYJF, or locals eager to play.

The Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band is this year led by one of South Africa's leading trumpeters, Feya Faku, who will put a small elite combo of the nation's best young players under the age of 26 through their paces.

A number of past members of this band are featured on the main jazz stage of the National Arts Festival this year, having made the step up from being talented students to seasoned performers in a demanding industry.
Homegrown legends

The vibrant, danceable rhythms and unmistakably African joie de vivre of Freshlyground will be at the festival with two performances this year, performing on the same night as Soul songstress Simphiwe Dana

Bassist extraordinaire Victor Masondo, Standard Bank Young Artist in 1996, makes a welcome return to Grahamstown in an intimate quintet. He meets up in Grahamstown with Darius Brubeck, Melvin Peters (piano) and Kevin Gibson (drums).

Added to this superb rhythm section is the excitement of two outstanding saxophonists, Shannon Mowday and Karl-Martin Almqvist, the highly acclaimed lead tenor from the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra who has been described as "one of Sweden's most lyrical tenor saxophone players".

Melanie Scholtz, one of South Africa's rapidly rising musical stars, is a vocalist grounded in the down-to-earthness of the blues, R&B and legendary jazz singers. Accompanying her on piano is Durban maestro Melvin Peters, who returns to Grahamstown for the first time since 1993. On drums is South Africa's premier jazz drummer, Kevin Gibson, and saxophonist Shannon Mowday joins the group for a guest spot.

The Eastern Cape has a long jazz tradition, and as part of the provincial government's art development programme, the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture presents the Nelson Mandela District Ensemble, the Amathole Ensemble and the Cacadu Ensemble.

Vivid Africa is a music project firmly rooted in the soil of our African continent, bringing together a varied group of musicians: McCoy Mrubata (sax, flute); Greg Georgiades (vocals, oud, flamenco guitar); Siya Makuzeni (trombone, vocals), a dynamic young musician from the Eastern Cape; Mlungisi Gegana, also from the Eastern Cape and a bass player with a refreshingly funky approach; Wynand van der Walt (drums); and Ashish Joshi (tabla, darbuka, djembe, dhol), who brings to the musical table his years of diligent study of classical Indian music.

Guitarist Jonathan Crossley has become known for his use of textured guitar-scapes and effects, and his influences are funk, blues and soul with a very modern edge. The band this time is fully South African, with Janus van der Merwe (sax, keyboard), Martin Wolfaardt (piano), Paul Gibbings (bass) and Jonathan Sweetman (drums). One of South Africa's best-known trumpeters, Marcus Wyatt, joins the band for a special guest spot.

The Offshore Jazz Ensemble, comprising Martin Wolfaardt (piano), Paul Gibbings (bass) and Jonathan Sweetman (drums), has emerged from the seclusion of Knysna onto the national jazz stage, drawing deserved accolades. The band's sound is eclectic and sophisticated, deeply based in the jazz tradition, with fusions of world music, funk and reggae.
Big Band bashes

One of the sell-out trademarks of the Jazz Festival in Grahamstown is the Awesome Big Band. This year's band pays tribute to Duke Ellington's music in arrangements written by Victor Masondo.

The band consists of Johan Hörlén (Sweden), Francois le Roux, Karl-Martin Almqvist (Sweden), Salim Washington (US) and Chris Engel on sax; Fredrik Norén (Sweden), Prince Lengoasa, Sydney Mavundla and Lee Thomson on trumpet; Adrian Mears (Australia), Samuel Blaser (Switzerland) and John Davies on trombone; Jason Reolon on piano; Victor Masondo on bass; and Kevin Gibson on drums.

For years, Norwegian trumpeter Arne Hiorth has been promoting musical contact between South Africa and Norway, particularly through his innovative combination of professionals and students in the North Sea Big Band, drawing on compositions and arrangements from both countries. The band alternates between performances in Oslo and Cape Town, and this year comes to Grahamstown for the first time.

The Standard Bank National Schools' Big Band will also showcase the strides being made in the jazz education programmes in high schools around South Africa. The band brings together the best young school players in the country under the guidance of Felicia Lesch, an experienced music educator who ran the Heathfield High School Jazz Band in Cape Town for many years and is now co-ordinator of the Jazz Certificate Programme at Stellenbosch University.

Now in its 35th year, South Africa's National Arts Festival is one of the leading arts festivals in southern Africa.

The National Arts Festival is supported by Standard Bank, the Eastern Cape Government, the National Arts Council, the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and The Sunday Independent.

For more information, visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za.