Creative Cape Town

Cape Town International Jazz Festival , or just ‘jazz fest’ for short, is one of the largest entertainment events on Cape Town’s annual creative calendar. But it’s also a networker and a teacher in disguise…

Jazz fest gives music lovers of many tastes reason to pool at the Convention Centre once a year.  Its valuable contribution to brand Cape Town is indisputable, drawing both local legends and international entertainers onto its stages. This year sees the fine fingering of Dave Ledbetter and the Clearing, our new age diva Simphiwe Dana, the African continent’s darling, Youssou N’Dour, Hanjin from Singapore, The Flames official reunion, Wayne Shorter quartet and the elemental Earth, Wind and Fire. And that’s only a fraction of its 40+stars.

All that entertainment without context? Not with Rashid Lombard in charge.

Jazz fest has a strong educational and community focus, offering community concerts, master classes, music business info, gigs for kids, and this year, engaging in international affiliations  with Juliard School, New york, New York and Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.  It also offers a course dedicated to investing in the intelligent, integral coverage of music.

The Jazz Festival Arts Journalism Course is the only one of its kind in South Africa, SAQA recognised, small enough to ensure quality education, and dynamic. A week-long, full-time field course, it focuses effectively on both theory and practical techniques. Its students witness and cover concerts, workshops, master classes, conference and organization of the CTIJF to develop their reporting and writing. One such, Atiyyah Khan, had this to say about it.

Into the future, the festival, like most events, is taking financial strain in the wake of the World Cup. Potential investors, it seems, are keen to agree on the need for integrated education and entertainment after the spirit of football reinvigorated national pride, but are wary of putting their money where their mouth is. We cannot afford to lose the contributions made by jazz fest. Let’s support it any and every way we can.

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Find out more about Cape Town International Jazz Fest’s line-up, programmes and supporters
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