The meeting of musical minds
Young players chat to stars at Cape Town Jazz Festival master classes, writes Luke Folb
APACKED room of young musicians, writers and artists sat excitedly waiting for a master class with a British songstress who is an inspiration to many of them.
The Cape Town International Jazz Festival held master classes in the week leading up to the performances at which young musicians could interact with some of the artists at the festival.
It was an opportunity to learn about the artists’ song-writing process, their thinking and how they deal with the music industry.
The room fell silent as the words rang out: “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Corinne Bailey Rae.”
After rapturous applause, Bailey Rae stood timidly behind her microphone and announced that she did not have a speech to give, but would like to answer questions from the audience instead.
More than anything else audience members wanted to know how the Grammy award-winning artist goes about writing her songs.
“When I write I don’t have an idea of the overall picture. I don’t sit down and say I’m going to write a song about this or that. Most of the time it starts from a single thing like a sound, phrase or image.
“I just start with fragments and it’s up to me to solve the puzzle. The work starts when you figure out what the melody and chorus is and what the song means,” said Bailey Rae.
She reached for the guitar after apparently deciding to give a practical display of the process and proceeded to play and sing.
“I like chords that sort of go in a circle because you can go from the start to the finish. If I can listen to a song that goes round like that I know it works well for the audience,” she said.
The soft-spoken artist said that even though she had become an international star, she still had to deal with the challenges facing budding, young musicians. “I still get nervous before I do a performance, but it’s a combination of nerves and excitement.”
Bailey Rae gave a sing-along at the end of her master class, uniting the crowd with a rendition of her hit, Put Your Records On.
Zwide Ndwandwe, 21, attended most of the master classes and said it had broadened his understanding of music.
“It’s just amazing that we get to listen to people that have made it in their own way and find out that there is an option for me as an up-and-coming musician.
“One of the biggest things I learnt is that she (Bailey Rae) doesn’t know music theory. She goes by feeling because she doesn’t know the technical aspects.
“When she explained the meaning of her song, Like A Star, she said ‘I can’t tell you what the cords are’.
“That helps someone who fears they can’t do music because they don’t know theory,” he said.
Other master classes held over the course of the week involved artists Miles Mosley, Vijay Iyer, Louiz Banks, Nicholas Payton and Mulatu Astatke.
There were two workshops this year – at the Cape Music Institute in Athlone and Gugu S’thebe Theatre in Langa.