Joy of Jazz fest promises fireworks

“I’ve performed at the Joy of Jazz for a very long time. I hope that we local artistes will be treated the same way as international artists. The country’s own must be appreciated too.”
With more than 600 musicians and 2 000 other people involved in the festival, the Joy of Jazz is sure doing its bit for job creation.
With new partnerships and an all-star line-up, this festival has grown from strength to strength.
“We strive to improve the festival by introducing innovations all the time,” Peter Tladi, the festival’s executive producer, said.
“Together with the Department of Education, we have created jazz camps, where established local jazz artistes develop the unpolished talents of young, aspiring jazz artists.
“International artistes also have workshops for 300 youngsters every year,” he said.
He said they also looked after the elderly and the physically challenged with their Jazz Cares concerts. This year this concert is at the Vaal Showgrounds in Vereeniging, Gauteng.
Gauteng MEC for sports recreation arts and culture Lebo Maile said the government and business are working together to fund projects to empower gifted youths.
The department’s chief operations officer, Veliswa Budaza, said their Mzansi Golden Economy plan would help create employment in the arts sector.
“We will be promoting festivals throughout the country. We have identified at least one festival for each province, which will create a lot of job opportunities,” Budaza said.
Asked why the department sponsored the festival, Budaza said: “It is in line with the department’s strategy and also it promotes a certain genre of music, in this case jazz.”
There will be five stages this year to entertain jazz lovers at Newtown: the Dinaledi, Mbira, Conga, Bassline and the Market Theatre. — Sowetan.