Free Jazz Concert tonight
THE “way of jazz” is to mix things up, and that is the experience Billy Domingo, director of the 18th Cape Town International Jazz Festival, hopes festival-goers will have this weekend.
“People come to the jazz festival to escape, and I want it to be an experience of different sounds, different foods, people, cultures and religions. I want people to walk away saying it was an incredible experience,” said Domingo, the chief operating officer of espAfrica event management and production company.
Customer satisfaction is crucial to the success of the festival, so Domingo walks from stage to stage checking if everything is in order, from the queues at the toilets to whether the lighting is effective.
“I speak to the people, make a note of things. I ask what else there is that we could do better. It is what I am there for, to ensure that they get value for their hard-earned money,” said Domingo.
About their decision to include more dance bands in the line-up, Domingo said jazz was indescribable, as “it’s the rhythms that turn us on”, and that was why there was a dance called “the jazz” that was only danced in Cape Town.
“When Cape Town people come to the festival they want to hear the music they dance ‘the jazz’ to – Shakatak and George Benson. We try to get the sounds people can dance to. This year we have Mango Groove, a kwaito stage, a hip hop stage, an African music stage, and that is what makes the festival unique,” said Domingo.
As long as the festival existed, there would be a free concert where there will be an international, a national and an African act and up-and-coming young Cape Town musicians, so that “people can get a feel of what the festival is about”, he said.
The free concert takes place tonight on Greenmarket Square at 5pm, and people can expect to “dance, dance some more” with Mango Groove, En Vogue, All Star Band 2017, VuDu, the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union’s talent winner Danielle Jacobs, and Moreira Chonguica.