MULTI-SKILLED PRODIGY SCHALK JOUBERT AT GENTING JAZZ FEST 2008 

He’s young, in demand and has a record of doing 32 gigs in a space of 7 days. Schalk Joubert, South African bassist extraordinaire, is coming to perform at the Genting International Jazz Festival with an amazing cast of musicians that he has specially selected from Europe, Australia and Africa.

Joubert has been arranging, composing and directing since he started his music career. His performance “Kayamandi” – also the name of his first album – won him the Kanna Award for Contemporary Music in 2007.

His arrangements for albums by other artistes have also won awards – one of them being multiple award-winner Anton Goosen’s “Vis in die Bos”.

The album he produced for Laurinda Hofmeyr became Number One on the South African Rock Digest charts. It was his very first album production.

He also won Best Producer 2003 at the SABC’s GERAAS Award.

The list goes on. And this is beside his getting a degree in Psychology and Physiology, graduating with an Advertising diploma after winning the Best Campaign of the Year award at the college, and winning a bursary to do classical music at the Conservatorium of Stellenbosch University.

Truly a multi-talented young man who also happens to look fantastic on stage!

Schalk Joubert comes to Malaysia for the first time with musicians from Norway, Sweden, South Africa and Australia to play jazz world fusion.

Sunil de Silva has established a formidable reputation as Australia’s premier hand percussionist in the last 25 years. He is in demand as both a freelance and session player and his talents have been heard in films such as "Strictly Ballroom" and "Crocodile Dundee". He has also performed live with INXS, James Morrison and Midnight Oil.

Saxophone player Shannon Mowday was just recently awarded the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz 2007 and recently recorded her debut CD, African Eyes (OZ ). It featuresher original compositionsaccompanied by virtuoso multi-instrumentalist James Morrison as well as the cream of Australian young jazz musicians.

Hildegunn Øiseth , trumpeter, graduated from the Swedish Academy of Music, Ingesund and toured and recorded with jazz ensemble Bohuslän Big Band for 10 years. She has just released  her first solo album where she creates a new landscape of musical textures by performing on a goat horn.
Karin Hammar on trombone has worked with most of the professional big bands in Sweden as well as the European EBU Big Band, the Scandinavian April Light Orchestra and the South African/Scandinavian World Music group Jazzmyne. In 2004, Karin Hammar was the first receiver ever of the prestigious Swedish Jazz Award in the singers Alice Babs´ name. Other awards received are  the Jazz Club Fasching Award, the culture prize of Stockholm City and an award in the memory of Swedish pianist Thore Swanerud.
Schalk Joubert and the Three Continents Sextet will be performing on the second night of the Genting International Jazz Festival with their flavourful amalgam of African and Western European harmonies.

The festival runs for 2 nights – April 4th and 5th 2008.

This is the 2nd year of the festival and 10 bands will be playing over the weekend.

Call  03-2718 1118 for more information. Information on packages, tickets, performers and the programme can also be found on the website www.gentingjazz.com.

Tickets will be sold at RM100 for each day or at RM150 for a 2-day package.

Schalk’s album “Kayamandi” will be on sale at the festival. Do try to get a copy as it has been hailed as an amazingly mature album for an artiste of his age. Although of course, it doesn’t beat seeing him live on stage in Genting!

Yeoh Jun Lin
Artistic Director
Genting International Jazz Festival