SA: UJ Arts and Culture to host jazz celebration in Joburg

The event is part of the Music In Africa Live (MIALive) project, which is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office, Siemens Stiftung and Goethe-Institute. It will feature panel discussions, workshops and performances from musician Zoë Modiga and jazz flautist and harmonica player Abbey Cindi.

“UJ Arts and Culture is delighted to bring this robust range of partners together with the shared goal of offering an exciting intergenerational cultural experience in celebration of Heritage Month,” UJ Arts and Culture head Pieter Jacobs said. “In addition to the arts playing a role in the preservation of our rich history and heritage, it has the potential to transcend generational gaps.”

What’s on the programme

The programme will kick off with a Jazz as Heritage panel discussion and an oral history performance on 2 September. The discussion, which will honour Cindi and keep the Malombo jazz heritage alive, is supported by the MIAF with support from Arts Research Africa at the Wits School of Arts. The event will be livestreamed on the UJ Arts and Culture’s Facebook page. Following this will be a discussion on jazz education by jazz pianist, composer and educator Neil Gonsalves. The two programme segments will be held from 11am to 1pm. 

There will be a free physical session at the Tunkie Studio at Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre on 2 September from 2pm to 3.30pm. Titled My Early Jazz Education (And the One I Want for My Students), the workshop will feature Gonsalves who will detail his first year of study in the jazz studies programme founded by Prof Darius Brubeck at the University of Natal in 1989.

The organisers will host another free physical workshop called Understanding the Funding Landscape at Tunkie Studio on 3 September. Presented by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, in partnership with UJ Arts and Culture and the Wits School of Arts, the session will feature Centre for Creative Arts director Ismail Mahomed and the centre’s senior administrator and programmes co-curator, Siphindile Hlongwa, who will discuss the elements of fundraising and effective proposal writing.

Live jazz experience

Music lovers will be treated to live music courtesy of Pretoria-based jazz appreciators, organisers and activists, the Cosmopolitan Collective, who will provide an authentic jazz experience with a collection of old-school jazz DJs and diga dancers at the Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre.

Cindi and Modiga will perform afterwards at the same venue from 5.30pm, with tickets to the event available for purchase here.

A living legend, Cindi is a founding member of the Malombo Jazz Makers and veteran cultural activist from Mamelodi. His set will include a musical dialogue with the award-winning a cappella ensemble No Limits.

Fresh from the North Sea Jazz Festival, Modiga’s performance will mark the end of the on-campus proceedings before audience members will be invited to join an afterparty at Chiesa in Melville. Modiga’s career took centre stage when she won the 2015 SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition for jazz.

She became a recording artist in 2017 after plying her trade as a performer for more than a decade. In 2018, she released her 23-track debut album Yellow: The Novel, which earned her two South African Music Award nominations for Best African Artist Album and Best Jazz Album. What followed was a series of performances at Aardklop festival, Artscape Youth Jazz Festival, UCT Jazz Festival, Joy of Jazz, and Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

In 2020, she released Inganekwane, an album that is a melting pot of West African rhythms, southern African sensibilities and heartfelt Zulu storytelling.

Visit the MIALive website for more details about scheduled activities. Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.