Alex Dodd
Now here’s something worth downing a couple of Red Bulls for. A jazz gig with one of the hottest line-ups imaginable that will, unlike any other official jazz circuit gig to date, go on through the night. Jazz till dawn in a pleasure resort – a night to make Kippie smile.
Headlined Jazz Under the Morula Tree, the concert has been put together by one of the smartest-thinking organisers in town in the person of one Bruce Kgapane, head of Ziyaphenduka Promotions. The gig will be kicking off at 12 noon on Sunday April 4 (Monday is Family Day) at the Morula Sun Garden Terrace (in Mabopane just outside of Pretoria).
Expect to be bowled over by the talents of Winston “Mankunku” Ngozi, Zim Ngqawana, Moses Molelekwa, Sipho Gumede, Jimmy DluDlu, McCoy Mrubata and Friends, Basadi Women of Jazz, Jazz Unlimited and Four Sounds plus Three.
The last concert staged by Kgapane at the Morula Sun in December last year was a runaway success with around 10 000 jazz lovers in attendance. “The hotel was fully booked. The in-house Wimpy outlet and the hotel bar were sold out,” beams Kgapane.
“The line-ups I’ve come up with since I startedare to give the people real contemporary jazz,” he says. “Not jazz one second, traditional music the next. I want to create a pure jazz platform and it took about three years of research. I’ve attended jazz concerts staged by the opposition to learn. You go there wanting to listen to jazz and end up hearing gospel or mbaqanga or reggae. That will never happen on my jazz circuit.”
Tickets cost R50 at the gate. There will be ample parking and security will be tight. (“Police and army on site,” says Kgapane, “so you can feel at home.” Now that’s sunny SA for you!)