Arts festival to cater for various tastes
WHEN it comes to music at this year’s edition of the National Arts Festival (NAF) there is something for everyone. From jazz to rock, choral and cabarets, whatever your taste, you are sure to find something that tickles your fancy.
Festival goers can look forward to performances by Judith Sephuma, Zenzi Makeba Lee, Goodluck, Seba Kaapstad and many more.
After performing to a soldout DSG Hall last year, Cape Town duo The Kiffness has been invited back to the NAF. David Scott, who plays the keyboard and trumpet, along with Raiven Hansmann, who plays the saxophone, will be joined by vocalist Matthew Gold.
The Kiffness have rapidly become one of South Africa’s favourite live electronic acts, producing jazzy, groovy house music and an exciting live show with a mix of uninhibited dancing, skilled live instrumentation and deep grooving house beats.
Another crowd-puller is bound to be The Soil. Their music is defined as “kasi soul”, and features, in a contemporary township style of course, an eclectic mix of genres such as jazz, hip hop, Afro-pop and Afro-soul. They have performed on many international stages, including the Apollo Theater in the US, the Edinburgh and Afro Vibes festivals in the UK and even the Woman Festival in Chile. The band is made up of Buhle Mda, Luphindo Ngxanga and Ntsika Ngxanga.
They will be performing some fan favourites from their previous albums and also some songs off their new album, Echoes of Kofifi.
The Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band is also something to look forward to. This band presents a selection of the top young jazz musicians in the country between the ages of 19 and 25.
R&B singer Jimmy Nevis, who is known for hits like Heart Boxing and 7764, will bring his unique mix of pop and R&B stylings to the arts festival stage, along with his full touring band, which includes Anzio Sauls, Revan October and Ruben Crowie.
For a cultural experience, festival goers will be treated to performances by local Eastern Cape dancers and musicians. In 2015 and 2016, the Eastern Cape indigenous music and dance ensemble presented We Salute Madiba, in honour of Nelson Mandela.
The cast of men and women will explore the various dance forms from the province and how these influenced the lives of these great leaders.
Political activism is at the centre of the narrator’s story in this performance.
Also, for the first time in six years, South Africa’s oldest orchestra, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, is back at the NAF. The CPO, which was established in 1914, will play under the direction of principal guest conductor Bernhard Gueller, whose last appearance at the festival was in 2015.
The CPO will play the overture to The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart and the Franck Symphony in D Minor, while Luis Magalhães, a Portuguese-born South African pianist, will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3.
The cast of will explore different dance forms