Cape Town to be lit up with free concert

IF YOU missed the chance to buy Cape Town International Jazz Festival tickets, worry not, because the pre-festival Free Community concert is set to wow with acclaimed local and international acts.

The annual free concert takes place on Wednesday in the heart of the city, in Greenmarket Square with a stellar line-up of artists.

Some of the artists on the line-up include: En Vogue (US), Mango Groove (SA) Moreira Chonguica (Moz), VuDu (SA), school bands from the Training and Development Programmes and other big acts.

Festival director of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival Billy Domingo said the concert is the festival’s way of showing appreciation to the people of Cape Town, giving them a taste of world-class performances, often drawing thousands of music lovers into the city.

“We always want to give Cape Town at least one of the international acts,” he said, referring to American R&B/ pop vocal group, En Vogue, known for their hit single Don’t Let Go from the movie Set It Off.

“The reason we do the show annually, is so people do not have to look through the fences when there are music events going on. Not everyone has enough money to afford a ticket for the big shows that Cape Town produces,” he said.

Domingo did not disclose the cost of hosting the concert but divulged that it involved a substantial amount of money.

“The whole thing about the Cape Town International Jazz Festival is that it has always been a legacy programme and if it was just to make money, we would never have succeeded. It’s about giving something back to the people.

“It is one of the productions that is unique in Africa, where we actually have such a huge festival and we come back and give people a free show, something that they can also share.”

According to the festival’s 2016 financial report, 13 500 people attended the free concert, 24 300 public and 8 800 corporate tickets were sold. A total of 3 542 jobs were created in 2016 in events surrounding JazzFest.