Festival a foundation of West Coast community
WITH a staggering 20 000 people attending this year’s Jazz on the Rocks concert in Paternoster on the West Coast, the organisers said they were happy to contribute to the local economy, which is solely reliant on fishing.
Due to the dwindling number of fish, unemployment is high in Paternoster.
Clarence Ford, one of the founding members of Jazz on the Rocks (JOR), explained the musical festival grew from just 1 000 people attending it eight years ago to 20 000 this year. “According to recent statistics R800 million was spent in the West Coast last year and our festival contributed to that. During the four days we only have local people with food stalls.
“Every year people do not only come back to JOR, but also to visit the West Coast and towns like Paternoster. With JOR it is also exciting to see South Africans being tourists in their own country. This part of the country is very beautiful and in the middle of nature they are enjoying great music.
“This year we had people from the UK, US, Australia and Germany attending the festival,” he said.
Ford said JOR also has a development aspect to it. Young people from local communities received training in emergency medical services. The people with the food stalls attended a course at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Hotel School in food preparation.
Others underwent training in mapping which helped them to map the location of Jazz on the Rocks.
Included among the artists who performed over the weekend was saxophonist from Elsies River, Don Vino, who for the first time performed with the internationally acclaimed Andrew Young.
Young has performed with Dionne Warwick, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Jonathan Butler, Shakatak, Shirley Bassey, James Galway and Keith Washington.
He is from Austria and has been performing at the festival for the past eight years.
Other local artists who performed were Dr Victor and the Rasta Rebels, The Rockets, N2, Jarrad Ricketts and Lee Stagg.