Kiffness, festinoes find groove

TEENS and some oldies rocked Saturday night away to the unique crossover electro-jazz sound of The Kiffness as the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown found its groove.

Amid weather which alternated from being warm outdoors to chilly in venues, crowds have still come to see the art in all its many forms despite fears of a tough economy.

There is a sense of doing more with less, and while the loss of the daily Cue paper, which has gone online, has definitely created a gap in the festivities, festinoes turned up in numbers at the venues.

They are here for the arts and with a huge programme still to come, National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester was confident the Eastern Cape’s phenomenal arts treasure was headed for another success.

In general, shows have been well attended, the Village Green craft, food and art market was buzzing on Saturday, and at midnight, artists were seen quaffing specially brewed National Arts Festival ales, with names like the Bell Ringer, at the Long Table in High Street.

Returning to Grahamstown for one night after playing to a packed-out show last year, The Kiffness, known for their electropop music, thanked the Standard Bank Jazz Festival for allowing them to play some of their “jazzier” music.

Their brass trumpet and saxophone and driving, looping electronic base and other bells and whistles created a sound which united traditional jazz with 70s Commodores groove, Deep Purplerock keyboard, trance and futuristic electronic pop.

The sound was universally accessible, and now that the Standard Bank Jazz Festival, under the directorship of East London deputy principal Alan Webster, has removed a large strip of chairs from the centre of the DSG hall venue, the young crowd were able to jive, bop, jol and mosh.

Invited vocalist Matthew Gold provided the hunk factor, but the guts and genius came from The Kiffness duo – DJ David Scott on trumpet, keyboard and computer, and Raiven Hansmann on sax and keyboard. Both occasionally played all their instruments at once! —