Jazz returns to a small South African town-sounds great | Art and Culture

Cape Town, South Africa – On Sunday afternoon, when the sun was shining in the backyard of Kwa Sec 52, wine glasses clinked and friends shared laughter.

As the noise subsided, McCoy Mrubata played a smooth saxophone solo, and then double bass and drums sounded a few bars later. There was a round of applause, and it didn’t take long before everyone in the front row got up and danced.

This is Jazz In The Native Yards (JitNY). This is a regular concert. Some of the best musicians in South Africa will perform in Gugulethu, one of the largest towns in Cape Town. After the severe COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa in the winter of June and July, the jazz event will resume on Sunday with local singer-songwriter Tankiso Mambolo.

At the same time, Mrubata had set off from Johannesburg in May to play in his home city. He grew up in Langa, the oldest town in Cape Town, just 6 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of Guguletu.

Some of the country’s top jazz musicians grew up in these areas, but before the advent of JitNY, it was not easy for people living here to come into contact with these music. Now, young local musicians are reusing this space and integrating themselves into the musical narrative of Cape Town, which has been tailored for the upper and middle classes for decades.

Before the coronavirus pandemic last year, the audience danced with the music of singer and guitarist Msaki at KwaSec in Gugulethu [Courtesy Jazz in the Native Yards/Luvuyo Kakaza]

In the age of apartheid, white and non-white South African citizens practiced an oppressive system of apartheid, and blacks were forced to relocate to the fringes of cities and to new settlements that would become towns.

As early as the 1960s, weekend impromptu jazz concerts in these communities were often held in people’s front halls and backyards. But playing under the apartheid system is challenging, and many South Africans cannot enter Cape Town’s music venues if they are not white.

Saxophonist Salim Washington performs at KwaSec in Guguletu as part of his love journey in Africa [Courtesy Jazz in the Native Yards/Luvuyo Kakaza]

“The musicians at the time were a big victim of the police. The 73-year-old Majaja Mdingi said: “The police raided them at night, picked them up and locked them up because they happened to be at 9 o’clock in the evening. Still in the city afterwards,” said 73-year-old Majaja Mdingi, who has watched live jazz performances for more than 50 years.

Born in 1973, Gloria Bosman (Gloria Bosman), a jazz and soul singer from Murflo, Johannesburg, was only three years old at the time. Soweto Uprising, A turning point in the struggle against apartheid. But she knew about the difficulties of black musicians through her father Fox, who performed on the underground jazz stage in Sophiatown, a suburb of Johannesburg in the 1960s.

“My family told stories about how difficult it is to enter the venue, and even use the venue for music, especially jazz,” said Bosman, who has performed at JitNY twice, including last month. “It was mainly underground, because most of the musicians at the forefront were in exile. So you can’t even let a lot of people create performance space there, because those who have the money to do it are in exile.”

The Ngcukana brothers and legend Abdullah Ibrahim from Gugulethu are among the musicians who often perform in Cape Town towns. These artists talked about this struggle. Although their music can resonate with the oppressed, it is often censored by the state.

Those in exile often worry about their safety and want to bring South African music to an international audience. Singers such as Thandi Klaasen and Dolly Rathebe remained in South Africa, while other great singers such as Ibrahim, Letta Mbulu, Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba went overseas.

When apartheid ended in the mid-1990s, many of the best jazz concerts moved from the township to the city center. But because the economic legacy of apartheid still exists, many black South Africans have fallen into poverty and marginalization. Due to the unaffordable transportation and performance tickets, these communities, especially in Cape Town, have seen fewer and fewer jazz concerts.

In 2013, Luvuyo Kakaza, who worked as a music reporter in Johannesburg, saw that jazz is more accessible there than in Cape Town. Kakaza and social entrepreneur Koko Nkalashe co-founded JitNY to bridge this gap and allow musicians from towns and villages to play for the people in their hometown in Cape Town. They first performed in Khayelitsha, the city’s largest town, and then performed in community centers and music venues such as Langa and Kwa Sec’s Guga S’Thebe.

“We kind of feel that everything is happening in the upper city. Musicians and audiences from the township have not really had the opportunity to perform in these venues. It is not cheap to buy tickets or spend the night in some venues. So our idea is to bring the music back. The town where it really started.”

JitNY has grown to organize performances in the city center and elsewhere in the Western Cape. These shows usually cost 120 South African rand ($8), half of the cost for students and pensioners, and bring people from all over Cape Town together with an international audience. Some South African towns have received negative news due to gang crimes, but Kakaza said that there has never been any criminal activity in these incidents.

Thembelihle Dunjana on the keyboard performed at KwaSec on June 16, commemorating the uprising of June 16, 1976, with the performance titled Iphuphu L’ka Biko (Steve Biko’s Dream) [Courtesy Jazz in the Native Yards/Luvuyo Kakaza]

In addition to South African musicians such as Bosman and Mrutata, JitNY also hosted international artists, including British saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and American pianist Nat Adderley Jr. During his May performance in Mrubata, he played with some of Cape Town’s most promising Musicians play together.

“We don’t have the budget for the entire band from Johannesburg to travel here, so we always encourage top musicians like McCoy to come to Cape Town to interact and play with young people, so that they can get exposure and return. The musicians play together,” Kakaza said.

When asked about the atmosphere of the event, Mrubata told Al Jazeera: “It’s very lively and reminds me of the early jazz era in Langa Hall, the community center and the stadium. The listeners in the township are very active—they sometimes even interact with the band.”

The saxophonist said that thanks to social media, seminars, and initiatives like JitNY, it is now easier for young musicians in towns and villages to connect with older musicians.

Mdingi said these young musicians have more resources at their disposal than ever before, and there are many concerts in Cape Town, Johannesburg and East London.

“In terms of exposure and personnel training, the number is much more than 30 years ago,” the sponsor said.

Responding to the coronavirus pandemic is a challenge for Kakaza, and he called for financial support for the arts.

“The more people get vaccinated, the less people panic. I think we should take jazz outside now. We should use our park,” he said.

“Art gives the city its identity through its people, not only through the musicians who perform, but also through the people who participate in these activities. This is a way for the city to create happiness, peace, and social cohesion through art and music.”

Audiences from all walks of life communicate easily with local jazz lovers and musicians from time to time and after the concert [Courtesy Jazz in the Native Yards/Luvuyo Kakaza]