Mature jazz sounds lure youngsters
Dumisani Ncube | Thursday June 4, 2015 14:16
It is now a common sight to see young jazz enthusiasts flocking to jazz joints such as Millennium Restaurant and the Pavilion. Events such as Jazz X Change are no longer for the oldies. Ironically, even those hippy musicians seem to be ditching their urban sounds to venture into the laid back jazz tunes.
In the last two months, Botswana has seen world-renowned jazz heavyweights Hugh Masekela, Don Laka, Jimmy Dludlu and Salif Keita gracing our shores to much fanfare.
Interestingly, a large chunk of their audiences were young people in their 20s and 30s. The Jazz X Change event at President Hotel last week is a relevant case-in-point scenario of how youngsters have dearly taken to jazz music, both as fans and artistes. Youthful band, The Contrabanditz delivered a splendid live performance to a good number of young people in the crowd. But perhaps The Contrabanditz are just the latest addition to a growing list of young jazz entrants.
Former My Star competitors Motswafere, Amantle and Peach are some of the youngsters who are already making strides in the right direction of jazz.
Another enterprising young jazz band called Harmonic Angel is on the rise and while they are still to drop their first, album the band looks destined for great things.
Watching them on stage, there is no doubt about their pride in Setswana culture. From their dress code to the mastery of different Tswana dance styles by lead vocalist and dancer Mimi Moje, there is also talented female lead guitarist Bojosi Ntseane, adding a truly unique element.
But while it might be gratifying to see this interesting trend continue, one question left lingering is, are the urban sounds like R&B no longer attractive to young people? As for the artistes, is it because of the realisation that jazz musicians get more jobs, especially in the corporate market, unlike those in other genres like house, rap or kwaito?
Prior to recording his jazz single Paralle, Motswafere was doing pop music but with the release of the new single, he announced that he had matured as an artiste and he had found a “suitable mature sound”.
Samantha Mogwe is another of those fresh faced jazz debutantes showing amazing potential. Her debut album Transition, is an amazing piece of contemporary music. Her dominance around the corporate event circuit does not come as a surprise.