Mzoo Spot

This year's Joy of Jazz was dripping with quality. Unlike with the Cape Town International Jazz it is not possible to access all the venues during the Joy of Jazz. I was only limited to one stage a day. On its opening day I was at Dinaledi where Eddie Palmeiri, Manu Katche and Earl Klugh were performing.                                                                   Eddie Palmeiri Manu Katche Before this Joy of Jazz I have scarcely heard the music of Manu. In fact I only saw him as drummer in the Peter Gabriel band. It is quite rare to see a drummer lead a band of his own.  Earl Klugh Earl sprang a lovely surprise by playing with Nelson Rangell, a long time smooth jazz campaigner and one of my favourite saxophonist.  The biggest artist at the Market Theatre was without doubt L...

I had no idea that the annual winter National Arts Festival held in Grahamstown was started in 1974. I was born in 1974. My first interest  and curiosity about this festival was in 1999. Then venues and audience numbers were quite small. I recall then that the jazz festival was held at a small hotel room in the CBD. Now it has moved to a bigger hall at Diocesan School for Girls (DSG).  But what of this festival really? The programme had over 250 pages, and so finding what to watch could be daunting for a novice. Of course there was a bewildering array of things to see, ranging from theatre, dance, exhibitions,cultural tours, music (jazz, contemporary, traditional...etc), films, "Thinkfest". Thinkfest is part of the festival that showcases discussions on topical issues like, politics, arts, environment, media...etc. It take the form of panel discussions and lectures series. When I am at the festival, I make it a point to check the work of Paul Mpumelelo Grootboom. H...

Quite by chance, while rummaging Youtube for the music of Maysa, I saw Gregory Porter. His voice and sound immediately stroke a chord with me. His voice effortlessly traverses jazz, soul and swing. I discovered that he has 2 CDs out already. I quickly rushed to my trusted record store in Braamfontein, and of course they knew him, but there was no CD left! Unexpectedly, the less fancied Top CD store in Menlyn had his latest CD, Be Good, the last one on stock! I am now a proud owner and admirer of Gregory Porter's music.

In the last 10 years I have developed a keen interest in African music. Before, we had limited exposure to broader sounds of the African continent. My early recollections are those of Nigeria's legendary Fela Kuti with his iconic Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, a magical AfroBeat incantation that goes on for more than 30 minutes. South African radio later dabbled with music of Burundian Kadja Nin and Benin's  Angélique Kidjo. There was a limited airplay for Cameroon's Manu Dibango. In actual fact SA radio did us a very big disservice by not exposing DRC's Franco Luambo Makiadi, simply called Franco. Franco was very popular in sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of South Africa. In Mobutu sese Seko's DRC Franco was so revered, so much so that when he died in 1989 Mobutu declared 3 days of national mourning, in which only the music of Franco will be heard on radio. It is said that during this time, not a single song was repeated on the national radio.  ........