Jazz duo set for SA Afro-soul reunion tour

A MUSICAL reunion by two renowned jazz musicians comes just in time for the International Jazz Day in May.

Florence Chitacumbi and Mino Cinélu will perform in the country over a six-day period, with two performances in the city.

“I am thrilled to come back to South Africa to share music. For me the reunion tour is about breaking boundaries and to encounter ‘the other’ and their culture in order to exchange and to generate artistic collaboration,” said Chitacumbi.

Paris-born Cinélu grew up with the jazz genre and followed his father and brothers, who were professional musicians, to concert halls around France.

This is where his inspiration for jazz, soul and charm of Egyptian chants and Romani music grew but as he grew older, Cinélu expanded his palette to include African genres, Fado and Asian music.

The tour will feature original compositions that highlight Chitacumbi’s strong roots in jazz and Afro-soul, and Cinélu’s gift of rhythmic invention – which, in the words of his late friend Miles Davis, “can make any music swing!”

This tour will see them perform in Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Lesotho. They will perform as a trio, accompanied by guitarist Christophe Bovet (Bee Bee Honey, Tiza Brown) and will invite a few local top musicians to join them, notably the multi award-winning Nduduzo Makhathini, who will guest on their final Cape Town concert on May 4.

Chitacumbi and Cinélu have enjoyed a 15-year-long friendship born out of the recording of Chitacumbi’s Regards Croisés album. After her first album release in 1995 (titled Uniq), it was in Paris that she found her inspiration.

She then joined a community of eclectic artists building bridges between Africa and Europe, with liaisons with the likes of Teri Moise and Julien Clerc.

Their first show in the city will be on Sunday at Guga S’thebe, Langa, presented by Jazz in the Native Yards, Cape Town. Tickets, available via Quicket and at the door, cost R120, and R70 for students and pensioners.