All That Jazz
Durban - Bringing jazz and rock to young people in the province, many of whom would never have the means to attend the National School Jazz Festival in Makhanda.
That’s the goal of the 3rd annual KZN Schools’ Jazz and Rock Musical Festival which starts on Friday and runs until Sunday at Seabrooke’s Theatre in Durban.
Director of the festival, jazz artist Natalie Rungan, said this week that the festival was an opportunity to grow young musical talent at KZN-based schools with industry professionals providing a platform.
“We want to hold a local festival along the same lines as the National Youth School’s Jazz Festival held in Makhanda and we want it to be inclusive and remove the stumbling blocks. Many of these kids can’t go to the national festival because it’s too expensive and too far.
“Jazz as an umbrella embraces all different styles of music under it and we have such a melting pot of music styles in KZN.
“We also want to show the viability of jazz as a career and that the arts has a place as an industry. Music is a multibillion-dollar industry,” she said.
The first festival was launched online in 2020 because of Covid and along with last year’s students, the two years have featured some great home grown talent. This year will see the launch of the first KZN School’s Jazz band led by bassist, composer, arranger and producer Shaun Johannes, who conducted the National Youth School’s Jazz Band in 2021.
Rungan said schools had been invited to submit online applications for the jazz band which were selected before the start of the festival.
They start practising on Friday and will showcase on Sunday.
“We are very excited for this festival. There is some misapprehension in that jazz is seen to be difficult, but this event will help open the minds of students to this type of music. It’s going to be a great vibe,” she said.
Made possible through funding from the National Arts Council, the festival line-up includes the KZN Youth orchestra who have sponsored their performance on the Friday at 5pm which will officially open the festival.
Multi-faceted bass player, musician, producer, and DJ, Prince Bulo follows this with an exhilarating multimedia musical performance in Seabrooke’s Theatre at 6.30pm.
Acoustics guitarist Guy Buttery takes to the stage at 5.30pm on Saturday followed by Shaun Johannes at 7.30pm, who will be accompanied by Mark Royeppen and Bruce Baker, featuring Natalie Rungan.
The festival ends on Sunday with performances by the DHS Jazz band, the debut performance of the KZN School’s Jazz Band at 3pm, culminating in what promises to be a spectacular performance at 5pm by Sibusiso Mashiloane, who will perform songs from his new album.
Limited space is available so book early to avoid disappointment. For more information and tickets email nabakarts@gmail.com
Independent on Saturday