September 4, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
THE annual Jazz on the Lake concert at Zoo Lake on Sunday, 3 September once again proved its worth as one of the main attractions of the Arts Alive International Festival.
The day-long free concert featured a host of South Africa's finest established and emerging musicians, including McCoy Mrubata and his 14-piece big band ensemble, Brasskap, and Swedish band Daisy.
McCoy Mrubata and a Xhosa imbongi
The intersection at Jan Smuts Avenue and St Andrews Road in Parktown was a hive of activity as a contingent of police personnel manned the entrance to the concert grounds.
A queue of pedestrians, most carrying an assortment of picnic baskets, umbrellas and chairs, was carefully searched for weapons, alcohol and any "illegal substances" before being allowed through.
Some cars without access cards were turned back to park in the designated parking area at the Civic Theatre in Braamfontein. Shuttle buses were provided from the theatre.
Early arrivals set up camping chairs and spread rugs under the trees on the periphery of the concert grounds, while others began setting up braai stands and pitching umbrellas in anticipation of a scorching day.
The low-key start, set by the first trickle of people, soon changed as Mimi Ntenjwa got the crowd into festival mood at 10am. For an hour, the versatile Ntenjwa kept up a jazzy tempo befitting a laidback Sunday morning. With her powerful voice and great stage presences, she got the crowd swaying and singing along.
At 11am, Sylvester Mazinyane picked up the tempo, then, at around noon, as the sun began to beat down on the crowd, Masauko Chipembere and Neo Muyanga of Blk Sonshine took to the stage to cool the crowd off with their soothing rhythms.
The crowd, an interesting mix of children, youngsters and adults, was out for a day of enjoyment.
The colourful castle stand on the northern corner of the grounds was doing roaring business and on the eastern corner, set aside for braais, a tantalising smell of roasting wors and an assortment of meats wafted through the crowd.
By 1pm when the Swedish band, Daisy, made up of Joakim Rolandson on saxophone, Thommy Larsson on drums and Peter Janson on bass, took to the stage, the grounds were abuzz.
In addition to those imbibing the jazzy beats, an enterprising couple had dexterously pitched a hammock, and many children played ball, completely oblivious of crowd milling around them.
Vusi Khumalo's band
Any ideas of causing mayhem were thwarted by the presence of police, some on bikes and some patrolling on foot.
After Daisy, it was time for Vusi Khumalo to show the appreciative crowd his musical talents. For an hour, Khumalo and his band set the stage alight with songs from his hit album, Follow Your Dreams.
Nokonwaba Nododile had travelled from far to catch a glimpse of her favourite singer, Nokukhanya Dlamini, and she was not disappointed. Dlamini had the crowd on their feet with her rendition of Womack and Womack's Baby, I am scared of you.
"I am enjoying myself tremendously and I am delighted to finally see my favourite artist on stage," said Nododile.
McCoy Mrubata's big brass band kicked off at 4pm as late arrivals with picnic baskets trickled in.
An imbongi had people on their feet belting out complex Xhosa verses to background music and Mrubata and his band wrapped up the day's event with the crowd still in party mood.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
