There is a palpable buzz every March in Cape Town when the Good Hope Centre opens for the annual Cape Town North Sea Jazz Festival (NSJF). Strange messages are left on the voice mail, sometimes from acquaintances you have not seen for years. They think you may somehow know how to wangle a last-minute complimentary. And as last year’s ”house full” signs attest, it’s not that easy to get one’s hands on tickets after a certain point. Last year’s festival, sporting its tag ”Africa’s Grandest Gathering”, saw a 10% increase in ticket sales and was running at full capacity in its third edition.Jazz meets Art meets Politics meets Corporate Capital, meets The People. While the festival, and its founders ESP Afrika headed by Rashid Lombard, has since its inception invited all sorts of public comment from detractors and supporters alike, the event is, of course, a first, forged out of cultural experimentation in the very young new South Africa (the first festival was launched in 2000). The preamble to the official evaluation of the 2002 festival quotes from Nicanor Perlas’s Shaping Globalisation: Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding: ”… The cultural sphere has the right to the surplus wealth of the economic sector, it is not just the passive recipient of gifts.” It then cites impressive statistics about the 2002 event. Apart from running at capacity, Corporate Hospitality demand exceeded availability in excess of 110%; media value figures exceeded the 2001 festival by a massive 232%; travel and accommodation realised more than R6-million and there was a marked increase in recorded foreign visitors as well as attendance by Cape Town residents. In addition there was value realisation to the tune of R650 000 for vendors at the festival and a further R2,2-million for other services. Lombard has won several managerial and arts administrative awards, having literally placed South Africa on the international festival calendar for the first time. This is a long way in a very short time from what he calls the previous ”struggle management” of the arts.Speaking to people like Lombard and reading the festival literature, you will come across phrases that remind you of the NSJF’s struggle origins, such as ”Music can heal wounds caused by our past”, ”Jazz is freedom”, ”Music crosses cultural boundaries” and so on. In fact, Theo van den Hoek, of founding partner Mojo Concerts of Holland, says: ”The NSJF in The Hague has always staged South African artists, who for a long, long time were forced to live in exile.”The voice of oppressed South Africa could be heard on our stages near the North Sea shoreline ever since the first edition of our jazz festival in 1976. I am very pleased to know these voices have found their way home.” Yet there have been detractors who have dismissed the event as nothing but a glitzy elitist sell-out, especially as a disservice to local artists who have suffered for so long and do not perceive any benefits from the festival.Elsewhere the event attracts dissatisfaction for its content. Purists believe it has too little true jazz, the hip say it’s just not cutting edge enough, and the list goes on. Lombard and his staff are willing to address these complexities and explain the festival, especially to the press.Moving away from the economics of the festival’s success and dismissing the charge that it does not cater to the needs of local artists, Lombard will counter by saying he is more than aware of the charge, but that South Africans are not accustomed to the scale and complexities of an event of this sort. In fact, the exposure of local music is the raison d’etre of the festival. This year 16 local and 16 international acts are lined up. This does not include items where a South African artist makes a guest appearance in an international act — such as Winston Mankunku, who is scheduled to appear with Bheki Mseleku this year. In addition to classics such as Philip Tabane and stalwarts like Bayete, there are new artists such as Andile Yenana, Marcus Wyatt, Moses Khumalo and Allou April, who have all enjoyed critical recording successes in the past year. Three of these artists will have the privilege of performing at the NSJF in Holland later this year as part of the exchange deal.Then there are the Cape Town NSJF’s genuine outreach initiatives. The traditional two-day, free music workshops hosted by Artscape have been extended to a full five-day event. Instructors include international artists who will appear at the festival and local music experts.Another new feature is the music writers’ workshop. Facilitated by experienced music journalist Gwen Ansell, it will consist of interactive sessions aimed at aspirant arts and music journalists. Applicants may apply for a bursary to cover the attendance fee and participants will also include cadet journalists from Independent Newspapers.”We do try very hard to ensure that there is also a chance for the person who would never be able to afford attending a festival of this nature,” says NSJF Cape Town publicist Marilyn Thompson, explaining the giveaways of tickets and merchandise through community radio stations and newspapers. There is also the traditional free concert, given on the evening before the opening of the festival, intended as compensation to those who cannot make it to the event. This year it moves from the Waterfront Amphitheatre to Greenmarket Square. It is here that music brings together big business and politics on a scale not previously seen in South Africa. It is the ultimate hob knobber’s paradise. The CEO of almost every top listed company attends and, according to Thompson, there is a huge waiting list for Corporate Hospitality Marquees in the Corporate Village. But what about the music? With the aid of South African Breweries research into the preferences and tastes of clientele at South Africa’s township taverns, ESP was able to locate and bring down the Memphis soul giant (also the irreverent voice of South Park‘s chef), Isaac Hayes for this year’s festival. Gleaned out of the same research was that Switzerland’s Andreas Vollenweider, who had a string of hits here in the 1980s, still retains widespread popularity. These two will be among a host of other musicians in the line-up, including Pieces of a Dream, John Scofield, Osibisa and Deodato (remember him?).I wonder aloud with Thompson if the event justifies its tag, ”Africa’s Grandest Gathering”. ”The real difference between this event and its counterpart in Holland,” she says, ”is that despite scale and professionalism, it just does not have our soul and feeling.”
The North Sea Jazz Festival takes place at the Good Hope Centre on March 28 and 29. See www.nsjf capetown.com or call Tel: 083 123 5299.