Women take centre of Earthdance stage
A GLOBAL music and dance festival with world peace as its core focus will be held in the Bay next weekend and leading the festival’s theme – Year of The Woman – from the front will be local VuDu jazz band vocalist Sisanda Myataza.
The multi-talented singer will perform with VuDu Jazz in the Earthdance Nelson Mandela Bay festival which will feature 15 bands and nearly 50 DJs. They will appear on a number of stages set up at the Falcon Rock Country Restaurant at Van Stadens Gorge Road, Lady Slipper. The shows will be staged from 5pm on Friday September 21 to Sunday September 23.
At the concert, Myataza and VuDu will perform alongside internationally renowned artists and DJs like Rosa Ventura of Brazil – an opportunity that she said would give her band more exposure.
“I cannot tell you how excited I am. Earthdance is the best platform to get exposure. It represents a prayer for peace which we support and because it is an international event, it is a huge deal for us. The theme of the concert is also important for us,” Myataza said.
World Peace Day is on September 20, the day before Earthdance starts.
The band write their own music and plan to record an album. They are currently ranked the No 1 jazz band in Port Elizabeth and seventh in the country on international music website Reverbnation.
When she is not on stage, Myataza is a producer and presenter on local television station Bay TV’s current affairs programme, the Today Show. She says her roots in music are firmly embedded in her family’s past. “I have always had a love for jazz even though when I was younger I did not really know what it was. In 2009 VuDu had the opportunity to perform at Tabu Lounge during the opening of the Radisson Blu and that is how VuDu was formed.
“Before that I was a soloist and I have been singing since the age of 12 at church and at functions. Apparently my great-grandfather was a choral [music] composer so I do believe that the music runs in my veins,” she said.
Added to her schedule, Myataza is also part of entertainment production house Centrestage. She said her association with Centrestage started when she met owner Gary Hemmings.
“I only started working with Centrestage this year. I met Gary at Bay TV. He listened to VuDu at our performances and saw us at some gigs and invited me to join them. “Since then I have performed with them at corporate events.
“I would say more than anything I am a stage performer,” she said.