CAPE TOWN JAZZ FESTIVAL
Cape Town is a city that defies homogeneity. It doesn't matter if it's language, nightlife, music, food, or culture: the Mother City can’t help but eschew uniformity in favor of vibrancy. Nowhere is this multiplicity better displayed than at the annual Cape Town Jazz Festival, where style and music seem to influence each other in an effortless symbiosis.
The festival has gained international notoriety in its 15 year run with major African, American, and European acts clamouring to grace one of the event’s five stages. Despite warmly welcoming Erykah Badu as this year’s headliner, locals remain loyal to their home-grown talent; roughly half of the festival’s 40 acts were proudly South African. The two day lineup ranges from the radio-popular house sounds of Mi Casa and Black Coffee to the more classical jazz acts like Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet and Ological Studies.
Like the genre of jazz itself, the sartorial look of the festival is hard to define. A mixture of African, hipster, European and urban looks flooded the gates on Friday night—all punctuated by the ever-present Capetonian flair for colour. As one festival-goer put it: “The diversity of jazz is like the diversity South Africa: It defines us.”
The festival has gained international notoriety in its 15 year run with major African, American, and European acts clamouring to grace one of the event’s five stages. Despite warmly welcoming Erykah Badu as this year’s headliner, locals remain loyal to their home-grown talent; roughly half of the festival’s 40 acts were proudly South African. The two day lineup ranges from the radio-popular house sounds of Mi Casa and Black Coffee to the more classical jazz acts like Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet and Ological Studies.
Like the genre of jazz itself, the sartorial look of the festival is hard to define. A mixture of African, hipster, European and urban looks flooded the gates on Friday night—all punctuated by the ever-present Capetonian flair for colour. As one festival-goer put it: “The diversity of jazz is like the diversity South Africa: It defines us.”
No comments:
Post a Comment