Jazz is the gem of the festival for those who don’t mind enduring a little jealousy while watching the pros at play.
But if you’re keen to get in on the fun — and feeling gutsy — you can get involved at the after hours Jazz Jam, where National Youth Jazz Festival goers and local musicians are invited on stage for spontaneous collaborations.
Last night, while watching the Festival debut of Bokani Dyer, one of this year’s Standard Bank Young Artists, and his ragtag crew of jazz imperials, I couldn’t help but think this genre was a perfect metaphor for life: at times it feels cluttered and nonsensical while at other times there’s a rhythm you can jive to. But despite its unpredictability, the sounds are forever moving forward and always inviting us to go with the flow.
And flow it did, through young Bokani’s own compositions, Kalagahari, Mind Travel
and Zim Zim. From raucous and rambunctious to sultry and smooth, the variety of
sounds was a journey through the shifting tides of human emotion.
If only life were more like jazz. This genre is capable of holding together what we typically consider wildly different and diffuse. Though things collide and clank, they’re threaded together by a knowing hand. Somehow this motley crew — the lanky lizard Buddy Wells, the dimpled bullfrog Marcus Wyatt, the small but nimble-fingered bass-romancer Shane Cooper, the ever-cool daddy drummer Ayanda Sikade, the subtly smooth guitar rover Angelo Syster, the feverish fro-haloed saxist Chris Engel and, of course, the masterful hand behind it all, Bokani Dyer — played together with effortless nonchalance.
Tingling all over
If only the world were run by jazz musicians. There would be room enough for everyone’s talent, interpretation, impulsive contribution. We’d embrace variation and adapt to one another with ease. Egos would diminish and we’d all just get on with the main business of making wonderful music.
As I was leaving the Jazz Festival, I caught the conversation of three high school students. “I’m tingling all over!” said one. “I loved it, but I couldn’t tell you why,” said another.
Another thing occurred to me: listening to jazz doesn’t require that you know what you’re hearing, or that you can articulate it coherently. But it does require that you be OK with strange juxtapositions and be able to be present.
For more from the National Arts Festival, see our special report.
