CAPE JAZZ COMES TO GENTING
Cape Town, so named because it is located at the tip of the Cape of Good Hope, has the third highest population count in South Africa. The city is dominated by the sheer cliffs of Table Mountain towering over it, while the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean flank it on two sides.
It has a colourful history and went through some really bad times under the apartheid regime.
During this time, jazz music was one of the items listed as banned. Police would raid jazz clubs regularly. To be found carrying music albums on the “illegal” list would lead to arrest.
Many musicians left for Europe or the Americas because of a blackout on the radio stations and police restrictions. But a handful stayed behind.
Early Cape Town’s jazz scene started flourishing through influence of films and tapes, and also largely because it was a busy port with lots of American sailors and ships stopping by. Local musicians imbibed all these foreign sounds of smooth American swing and jazz, and added in their own improvisations like the khoi and the vastraap .
Crowds of carnival revelers called Klopse or Coons paraded through the streets on the 2nd of January – also known as Tweede Nure Jaar. Cape folk songs were played and competitions held around it.
The first internationally recognized musician of this genre was Abdullah Ibrahim, also known as Dollar Brand and he made a successful recording of it in the 1970s.
Other musicians like Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen rose to fame playing this music. Robbie, with his band, Sons Of Table Mountain, has been called one of the living custodians of this form.
Robbie was self-taught. He started as a knitting mill mechanic and he also played as one of the star members in Abdullah Ibrahim’s band. Later, he and the late Basil Coetzee created the gouma sound which is typical in much of Cape Jazz and has a lot of similarities to the samba. It is a much dancier version of the American jazz form. This is the music you will hear at carnival time or the music you will dance to at nightclubs in the city.
Most of the folk influence came from people who were descended from past slave communities known as the Cape Malays. Annual street carnivals like the Mardi Gras had parades and New Orleans’ type of fiesta painted faces and wild costumes. The word “goema” is actually taken from the name of a barrel shaped Asian drum that was used in these parades.
Now, a new project that has brought all the best musicians in Cape Town together has been born.
The CAPE JAZZ ALL STARS will make its debut at the Genting International Jazz Festival this June 8th – 9th. They are predicted to be a major sell out in Europe next year and so it is with great pride and delight that Genting is going to be able to say that they are the first one to have them live on their stage.
The band is reads like a Who’s Who cast from the elite musicians in Cape Town.
The repertoire of the music they will play will come from big household names in South Africa, past and present.
It is charming, laid back, tuneful yet physically inviting. Saxophones and piano, guitar and flutes – all of them improvising and soloistic and yet maintaining a clear and defined texture.
The Genting International Jazz Festival aims to bring in unique bands like this one to this annual event. Not just good music, but music with a whole lot of stories and emotional depth behind it. The GIJF is a part of a huge drive by Genting – the City of Entertainment, to raise the bar in the Performing Arts circle in Malaysia.
Tickets for a one day Adult pass is priced at RM100 while a 2-day pass is available at RM150.
They can be bought online at www.genting.com.my or call 03-2718 1118 from April onwards.
The website will also have information on packages that have been tailored for the event.
To truly know the rhythm of a nation, one needs to know the rhythm of its music. And in Cape Town, that means jazz.
