Winter Jazz Festival

The Winter Jazz Festival is a jazz show held annually in Zimbabwe. The aim of the event is to promote let alone develop jazz music in the country. The event was established by Thamie Msimanga, Sam Mataure and Josh Hozheri in 1999 at Sports Diner International before moving to Jazz 105. The thrust of the event is to bring the jazz artists and the experts together, develop artists and the genre in general. Since its establishment in 1999, the event has been run under many themes. The themes were designed to capture important aspects in the country’s jazz music. Some of the themes include ‘Celebrating Our Own Jazz’, ‘Jazz is Not a State of Mind’, It is a Fact of Life’ and ‘Back to Township Jazz’.

Prominent local artists like Oliver Mtukudzi, Prudence Katomeni Mbofana, Dudu Manhenga have also become regular crowd pullers to the event. Jah Prayzah, Winky D and Sulumani Chimbetu are some of artists who also perform at the festival.

The festival has been very successful in helping budding artistes to launch their careers. It is also a platform from which artists can interact with other players in the industry both from within and outside Africa. The event has also been linked with school jazz bands in which the participating schools such as the Prince Edward Jazz band and Churchill Boys High. The school bands have become regular performers at the annual event. This has allowed aspiring young jazz artists to nature their talents on renowned platforms like the Winter Jazz Festival.