Foreign touch influences

Cape Town’s Melanie Scholtz mixing up her jazz sounds with Norwegian singer Guro Grave Johansen, gives one some idea of just how spectacular it is to hear singers from different cultures coming together.

Melanie, dressed like an exotic bird with her words softly tumbling out to the beat of the jazz band, like melted dark chocolate; Guro, like a purple butterfly, with eyes closed fluttered her voice in time to the music. The result? Two voices flowing like single malt whisky, smoothly sliding into the audience and seducing them into a hypnotic jazz state.

Vocal Celebrations is just one of the many jazz shows featuring South African musicians collaborating with foreign artists at the Festival. Partnering across cultural borders, however, is not new and has been happening at the jazz festival for some years.

Alan Webster, Jazz festival director,says that collaborations such as Vocal Celebrations work because they have “certain commonalities and certain divisions”. He says that while Scholtz and Johansen are both jazz singers, their different backgrounds give them their own interpretations.

Webster, who visits abroad regularly, is the puppeteer behind the strings, mixing and matching artists across national borders. He speaks to jazz musicians from around the world, putting them in contact with South Africans he feels have similar directions in music.

The foreign taste
South African drummer Kesivan Naidoo, Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz, will be performing with overseas artists during the jazz festival. He says, “It’s a privilege to be collaborating with foreign artists. When you’re with people who want to be at their highest level, it brings out the best. I’m very excited.”

“It’s an exchange,” Webster says. It is often difficult for South African musicians to find funding to travel, so he feels that having music collaborations in South Africa with foreigners “benefits everyone.” The overseas musicians give South Africans a chance to learn, because many students and teachers come together for the festival to interact with 80 musicians who both perform and teach.

Jazz is not the only music genre to be played at the Festival which gives us tasty sound bites from all over the world. This year’s classical music audiences will see East Meets West, where Indian classical music is combined with more traditional western instru-ments. Indian instruments include the sitar, sarod and tabla and are played in conjunction with the cello and saxophone. Vevek Ram, sitar player for the show, says that the cross-cultural interaction “uses the most appropriate elements of each individual system to produce something unique and beautiful.” He also says that “it breathes new life into what is becoming stale.”

Intersections: Swiss/Africa will also showcase Xhosa traditional musicians playing with avant-garde Swiss ensemBle baBel. Instruments used by the ensemBle baBel include the saxophone, cello, percussion and the keyboard, which is combined with the Xhosa uhadi.

To bear witness to these fascinating and proud partnerships, see the Jazz and Classical music guides for daily shows. Ram concludes, “Most forms of fusion are a manifestation of globalisation of which South Africa is a part.”

Jazz collaborations
(Venue DSG Hall except where indicated)
Jazz Double Bill 1: Nombulelo Hall, Rhini, today at 2pm.
North Sea Big Band: Today at 5pm.
Awesome Big Band: Today at 7.30pm.
Standard Bank Young Artist Babu: Today at 10pm.
Jazz Double Bill II: UKZN Jazz band and O R Tambo Ensemble Nombulelo Hall, Rhini: Tomorrow at 2pm.
Arctic Circle Fireworks: Tomorrow at 9pm.
Songs for the North: Tomorrow at 5pm.
Salim Washington and
Ronald Snijders: Monday 6 July at 5pm.