Organizers and the local music industry are calling itthe "mother of all celebrations." South Africa's 10 Annual CapeTown International Jazz Festival kicks off today, April 3rd. In its first year ? 2000 -- the two-day eventattracted 15,000 jazz lovers to Cape Town's Goodhope Center. The numbers havesince grown and last year the festival attracted over twice as many people.
TheCape Town International Jazz Festival has become an important event on theworld music calendar. In 2006, MelodyTrip ? an international music festivalwebsite - ranked it the 4 best annual jazz festival in the world.
Thisyear 40 bands ? 20 from Africa and 20 from overseas? will perform on five stages over two days. The music extends beyond jazz andencompasses elements of Afro-pop, soul, funk, blues, Latin and hip-hop. Among the artists scheduled to perform are bassistKyle Eastwood, son of movie star ClintEastwood. Also the UK-based acid-jazzgroup Incognito, the British jazz-funk band Shakatak and Mos Def of theUnited States -- a multi-award nominee in the field of hip hop.
Onthe local front are acts such as Freshlyground, Ringo Madlingozi, Sibongile Khumalo and the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra. Also to be featuredis one of South Africa'slegendary trumpeters, Hugh Masekela,who will be celebrating his 70 birthday on stage at the festival. Alsocelebrating at this year's Jazz Festival ? the Latin-beat group Loading Zone,based in Cape Town, which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary.
Thosewho prefer straight jazz sounds can look forward to John Coltrane's disciple Dave Liebman, Miles Davis' drummer Al Foster, an acappella group called New York Voices, local veteran drummerMaurice Gawronsky and the Quartet andmany more
Overthe years, the festival has become more than a musical event. Organizersincorporate music workshops, clinics and community outreach concerts. A studyby the Center for Tourism Research in Africa, based in Cape Town, found that closeto half the audience that attended the festival in 2007 came from outside South Africa.
This year the Cape Town Jazz Festival is takingplace April 3 and 4 with weekend admission costingabout $50.
Therewas also a free community band concert for area music fans that were not ableto attend the main festival, held Wednesday, April 1st.