Peter Makurube Live in Johannesburg
The annual Jazz on the Lake festival is back and the organisers are hoping to beat their own record of 30E0000 revellers. Too bad, however, because the park is becoming too small for people to enjoy music. The public toilets can’t cope. The music comes first and the audience prefers to listen in comfort. This year seems to be headed for another massive crowd – last year’s downpour failed to keep the multitudes away.
The lineup for this weekend’s gig has a heavy dose of South African jazz, as it should do. The inclusion of the band Hit It Agenda is a good sign. For a long time some of the best musicians in the country have been ignored. This band has been around for a long time, mostly as backing for sax player Zim Ngqawana.
They’ve also had a long season at The Bassline on Sundays. The band is pianist Andile Yenana, bassist, Herbie Tshoaeli, drummer Morabo Morojele, trumpeter, Marcus Wyatt and saxophonist, Sidney Mnisi.
As usual, Arts Alive has invited international acts, as they have previously. This time round the Danish are bringing master hornman Michael Nielsen and the Fulanis.
Nielsen is no stranger to South Africa and its music. He met exiled South African musicians more than two decades ago and fell in love with our unique brand of jazz. As a young musician, he was adopted by Julian Bahula and has been close to our music ever since. Among others he played with are Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo.
His current band comprises some of the finest exponents of the jazz tradition in South Africa. They are Bheki Khoza, the mesmerising left-handed guitar dynamo, drummer Lulu Gontsana and bassist Andr Abrahamse.
The little known Drums Across, also Danish, plays a mixture of West African rhythms. They met in 1996 and all the musicians are highly skilled instrumentalists who should leave their mark. Collectively they’ve ammassed a lot of experience. Some of the names they’ve brushed shoulders with are Wynton Marsalis, James Moody, Duke Jordan and Lee Kornitz. Not a bunch of chancers by any means.
At Mega Music Warehouse, jazz finds another platform with the appearance of Julian Joseph, a brilliant pianist whose biography lists the who’s who of the art form. His band is equally gifted.
The emergence of the band, Iconoclast, is like a sneak nuclear test – only this one is musical and therefore life- affirming.
This band is a class act in the true South African tradition. All the members of the band are excellent individual players and national icons in their own right. They will be making their first major public appearance at the Lake.
The inspirational force behind the band is pianist, Hilton Schilder. It was while gigging on Robben Island, backing poets from around Europe and South Africa in a show called Echoes, that the idea formed in his head. The band gelled and that sparked a desire to continue with the combination. ” Bra Vic and I decided to take the idea of a band beyond the poetry tour,” says Schilder.
The band’s first vocalist was Gloria Bosman. However as Ntoni explains, “she still needs to experiment with different styles of music and learn more”. Swazi jazz singer, Sani, has filled that role well.
The return of bassist and arranger supreme Victor Mhleli Ntoni to active performance is a good omen for the embattled creative music scene in particular, and music in general.
Almost all the members of Iconoclast have at one time or another been to his in-depth workshops and lectures. He staged a national tour showcasing new talent. The Castle Lager Jazz Roadshow became a hit with jazz fans countrywide. His big band presentations at Sun City and at the 1994 Arts Alive festival endeared him to both his peers and the public. He featured on many of Abdullah Ibrahim’s albums, and with the late Dudu Pukwana and pianist Tete Mbambisa. Kaya Mahlangu is one of Soweto’s most beloved sons. His distinctive sound on the horn is as much a part of the rambling neighbourhood as Madiba’s old house. You can’t miss it!
He’s been part of the very best bands in the country, including Sakhile, all of which made waves and more. They changed the course of music for the better. They were musical revolutionaries. He describes Iconoclast as “high up there musically”. “We are honoured to play with bra Victor Ntoni. He is an asset.”
Pianist Hilton Schilder virtually sucked the music from the bosom of family. When he was only four years old he would sit under the piano while dad, Tony, jammed with the cream of Cape Town’s jazz fraternity. He became a founding member of the dynamic foursome, The Genuines, a radical group in the radical Eighties. They gave prominence and respectability to the Cape goema sound.
The name Vusi Khumalo has been part of the creative music scene for a long time. His growth as a drummer earned him the respect of many top musicians like Miriam Makeba and Dizzy Gillespie with whom he toured in 1991. Khumalo’s debut album, Follow Your Dreams, is doing well and his video has been nominated for a Kora Award.
This year’s Jazz On The Lake is a mouth- watering musical dish and will be served by highly talented musicians to an appreciative collection of connoisseurs. The annual pilgrimage of jazz leads to Zoo Lake – go dig the jazz!
Jazz on the Lake is part of the Arts Alive festival and will take place on Sunday September 6