This week, Jo’burg’s best music offerings are all about jazz.
? The State Theatre regularly hosts music nights themed around jazz and African music. Trumpeter and flugel horn player Feya Faku will kick off the venue’s June programme on Friday. He will be accompanied by the Heritage School of Music. The trumpeter released a CD, Hope and Honour, last year. His backing musicians are from a music school in the east of Pretoria, an institution at which students are taught jazz, classical and African music forms. It is fitting that the established and the fledgling play together.
Rendezvous, State Theatre Complex, Church Street, Pretoria. Tickets are R80 at Computicket and R100 at the door. Tel: 012 392 4000.
? South African icon Hugh Masekela, who turned 72 on April 4, will be in full force this weekend at Gold Reef City’s Lyric Theatre. Masekela has been furiously blowing the trumpet since he got it as a gift from anti-apartheid priest Trevor Huddleston when he was 14 years old. One of the country’s musical treasures, Masekela has melded jazz with mbaqanga and Afrobeat, winning acclaim from the genre’s critics and fans. Earlier this year he shared a stage with rock group U2.
The Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City, Ormonde, June 3 and 4 at 8.30pm. Tickets range from R212 to R365. Book at Computicket. Tel: 011 248 5000.
? Zimbabwe’s foremost cultural ambassador, Oliver Mtukudzi, is in Johannesburg in a show titled One Night In Africa. At the bia-
nnual event, Tuku, as he is known by fans, will be supported by the duo Jaziel Brothers and Afro soul crooner Asanda Bam. The show is a collaborative event hosted by DStv Compact and Kaya FM and is meant to showcase the best of performers from all corners of the continent. Tuku has been active since the 1970s and has released more than 50 albums. To get one of 10 double tickets, answer this simple question: In which Zimbabwean city was Mtukudzi born? Send answers to [email protected] or phone Dudu on 011 7943500.
Big Top Arena, Carnival City Casino and Entertainment World, Century Road, Van Dyk Park, Brakpan, on June 4 at 7pm.
? Before achieving mainstream success, vocal superstar Simphiwe Dana would perform at the Monday Blues in Yeoville, a platform initiated by Peter Makurube. Music promoter Mandisa Bardill-Kwebulana does something similar every second Wednesday at the Bassline. Dubbed Up & Coming, the project is meant to give exposure to young, interesting voices that are still to strike gold. On Wednesday, in its 9th edition, Up & Coming will feature Afro soul talent Sabelo, jazz troupe Africapella and Xhosa
R ‘n B crooner Hlubi.
Bassline, Henry Nxumalo Street, Newtown, on June 8 at 7.30pm. R60 gets you in. Tel: 011-838 9142.