It’s the sweetest note on which to end November.
Finally, after a two-year absence, the Joburg Jazz festival is back at the Sandton Convention Centre this weekend (25-26 November 2022).
“We see this as the year of recovery for us as a festival, but also for the whole local music ecosystem. The industry has been under severe strain for the past two years,” said festival producer, Mantwa Chinoamadi-Mutsinya, announcing some of the artists performing at the 23rd instalment of the Joy of Jazz in September.
The traditionally spring-time jazz festival, which could not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 lockdown, was moved to November this year and takes place on three stages: Dinaledi, Conga and Mbira.
Don’t let the conference feel put you off.
The whole line-up is mouthwatering – a smorgasbord of uplifting, soulful and joyous jazz from legends and rising stars.
Read more | ‘To be honoured while I am alive at 61 is a very beautiful thing’ – SA music icon Jonathan Butler
Here are some of the acts to look forward to on the line-up.
BOKANI DYER
Performance date: 25 November 2022
Stage: Dinaledi
LINDA SIKHAKHANE
Performance date: 25 November 2022
Stage: Dinaledi
GLORA BOSMAN'S ALL-FEMALE BAND
Performance date: 26 November 2022
Stage: Dinaledi
SIPHO HOTSTIX MABUSE
Performance date: 26 November 2022
Stage: Dinaledi
THANDISWA MAZWAI
Performance date: 26 November 2022
Stage: Mbira
DR SELLO GALANE: PRESENTING PULA FEST
Performance date: 26 November 2022
Stage: Conga
ZAMA JOBE
Performance date: 26 November 2022
Stage: Mbira
BRENDA MTAMBO PERFORMING WITH THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF JOHANNESBURG
Performance date: 26 November 2022
Stage: Mbira
JIMMY DLUDLU
Performance date: 26 November 2022
Stage: Conga
SIYA MAKUZENI
Mahube music from Southern Africa, featuring Siya Makuzeni, Muneyi Masibigiri, Hope Masike and Xixel Langa.
Performance date: 26 November 2022
Stage: Conga
Drum catches up with legendary jazz singer, writer, and composer Gloria Bosman ahead of the much anticipated Joy of Jazz return.
Gloria has been working on new music and is also going to pay tribute to her mentor Sibongile Khumalo at the 23rd Joy of Jazz.
She's picked an all-female band because she wants the tribute to be special.
“Doing a tribute for the late Sibongile Khumalo was an agreed-upon discussion because we always wanted to make sure that we do not forget the legends who came before us. That is why there have been trumpeters who have been doing the late Bra Hugh’s covers, just to keep his work alive. I am doing the tribute because everyone knows my sentiments when it comes to Sibongile as a mentor who has been in my life. I always felt that it is important that whenever there’s an opportunity to give her some respect then that should happen,” she says.
What she cherishes mostly about the late jazz singer is how supportive she was of her.
"She was the type of person who would come to every performance and whenever I am on stage and lift my head, I would see her in the audience, she was the kind of person who always showed up and that was special for me," Gloria says.
She says after having a tough time during Covid-19, she also learned how to play the piano and guitar.
"I did that because when we rise from this dark moment we must at least have a new skill that we have, and I focused on that.”
Gloria will be performing alongside an all-female band featuring the likes of Ausi Tebza, Titi Luzipho, and others.
"To have women doing a beautiful, and flaunting how gorgeous they are on stage and brilliant as musicians will bring the element of power to their craft.
“We will not only be singing Mama Sibongile’s music but we will add our music also. I have soloists in the band who have recordings of their own, so I will respect their music too. It is going to be a jam-packed performance from us.”
When the country was in lockdown, Gloria says she had to find ways to keep sane.
So she went to Cape Town and started living between two cities. She was doing a jazz course at the University of Cape Town for a year.
You never stop learning, she says.
Gloria says when you love something you need to always learn something new about it, which is why she chose to study jazz during lockdown.
“It was very exciting because I believe that one’s eagerness to learn shouldn’t stop, and we should remain a scholar, that’s what helps us not to die, be stagnant, or fade out in the music scene. My other reason for studying is so that I reach my dream of becoming a musicologist. That’s what I’ve always wanted to become, hence I went back to school so that I can get the background of the music I want to write about,” she says.
The Amaqwathi singer says while doing the course she found out that she is not that well informed when it comes to jazz history.
"We have knowledge that we picked up from friends and reading all kinds of journals that we find but to get into the basics and going back into where it culminated, the people that inspired it, and the thought behind jazz I gained so much," she says.
“To learn about the journey that has been traveled by the previous musician, how we got where we are now, and how much growth is potentially out there in the jazz genre amongst jazz composers, and storytellers. We unpacked how it all from the begin, and that was fascinating for me to learn.
"I loved every moment of it.”
- If you purchase your ticket at Checkers, be sure to ask for the Black Friday discount – nearly R100 cheaper than the single day pass.
- Part of the experience includes dining out in the surrounding restaurants before walking across to the Convention Centre. Three restaurants to try are eDikeni, for some traditional South African cuisine with a twist, Pigalle, for classic fine dining, and The Grillhouse, for sumptuous steak and a great variety of South African wines.
- You can only purchase tickets for the Joburg Joy of Jazz on Computicket and at Checkers. “We urge all our festival lovers to purchase their tickets from our exclusively authorised ticketing partner – Computicket and its retail partners,” the festival organisers warned in a scam alert recently. “We are currently investigating this site, and request that should you find any fraudulent site, you flag it with our digital team: [email protected] or on our social media platforms.”
