DISCLAIMER: This Article is adapted from the Cape Town Jazz Fest website, so please do not accuse me of Copy and paste as I do highlight that the words were adapted from the official website.12th Annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival
The Cape Town International Jazz Festival No.4 in the world, outshining events such as Switzerland's Montreaux Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland
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The festival’s brings more than 40 International and Local artists to perform over two days on five stages.
Known as Africa's Grandest Gathering, the festival which will be in its twelfth year when it takes place on Friday 25th and Saturday 26 March 2011 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Once again Cape Town International Jazz festival will thrill loyal and new fans with world class music.
The soothing tenor became popular in the country when the US vocalist was featured in the 1999 Dave Koz’ album, The Dance. BeBe is the lead vocalist in the title song that became an instant hit in the country. Other songs that BeBe is known for on this side of the Atlantic are “I Wanna Be” and “Love and Freedom”.
For anyone who doubts that Simphiwe Dana is the reigning queen of Afro-soul, must look at what the vocalist has achieved since the launch of her 2004 debut album, Zandisile. That CD not only went platinum, it won Dana the Best Newcomer and Best Jazz Vocal album prizes at that year’s South African Music Award (SAMA) ceremony. Her contemplative voice saw her walk away again with four SAMA awards for her 2006 The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street. For the same album Dana won a BBC Radio 3 award for the Best Artist in the category World Music – Africa in 2008. The achievements are consistent with the singer’s approach to life. “Everything eventually works when you follow your life passion. It will be difficult at first but everything eventually pans out well”, says the singer who describes her music as a natural progression from gospel.
With all the credentials, it is no surprise that Koz has a huge following in South Africa. His first appearance on our shores was in 2005; when he declared that his visit was “the first and definitely not the last”. He again appeared as a guest at the 10th anniversary of Cape Town International Jazz Festival in 2009 where he shared the stage with guitarist Jonathan Butler. During that visit a local branch of the recording company that he was with then presented Koz with a platinum album to celebrate over 100 000 sales of his 1999 recording, The Dance. The CD is the first recording by Koz to receive a platinum status outside of the US.
With the global hit single “7 Seconds”, Youssou achieved his goal of reaching out to the whole world. “It opened doors for me and for my music,” he smiles, “It was a magical opportunity.” But with the planet waiting for another “7 Seconds”, he turned his back on making pop records and drew his new audience into the world of traditional Senegalese music (on Nothing’s In Vain, released in 2002) and spirituality (on Egypt, a collaboration with the Fathy Salama Orchestra, released in 2004).
During the 1970s, a new brand of pop music was born - one that was steeped in African and African-American styles - particularly jazz and R&B but appealed to a broader cross-section of the listening public. As founder and leader of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, Maurice White not only embraced but also helped bring about this evolution of pop, which bridged the gap that has often separated the musical tastes of black and white America. It certainly was successful, as EWF combined high-caliber musicianship, wide-ranging musical genre eclecticism, and '70s multicultural spiritualism. "I wanted to do something that hadn't been done before," Maurice explains. "Although we were basically jazz musicians, we played soul, funk, gospel, blues, jazz, rock and dance music...which somehow ended up becoming pop. We were coming out of a decade of experimentation, mind expansion and cosmic awareness. I wanted our music to convey messages of universal love and harmony without force-feeding listeners' spiritual content."
Of Course this is just a tip of the iceberg there are many many more artists that will be featured. The festival takes place on the 25th and 26th March 2011 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.....