Francistown Jazz festival postponed
Koketso Kgoboge | Thursday April 6, 2017 15:56
The festival, which was supposed to be headlined by South African Jazz legends Jonathan Gwangwa and Ringo Madlingozi, was billed for Saturday April 7 at the Francistown Old Stadium.
According to the festival director Soares Katumbela of Streethorn Music Promotions, the organisers of the festival, the event failed to gunner sponsors to cover costs hence the postponement. He said they would rather have the festival at a later date than compromise the quality of the festival.
“We have failed to secure a cash sponsor in time, therefore we could not manage to pay the full amount for the technical, sound, stage and the artists,” he said.
“Our tickets have been selling positively and we managed to make deposits from the sales, but from our experience a festival of this magnitude needs everything to be fully paid, so that we don’t compromise the quality of the output.
“It’s a first edition of the festival that we are planning to hold annually therefore we would rather postpone than have a mediocrity event that would kill the idea forever.”
Katumbela said the jazz music workshop that was scheduled for Friday at the Adansonia Hotel has also been postponed. He said people who bought tickets should hold on to them and those who won complimentary tickets should continue collecting their tickets in Francistown at The Voice offices until another date is announced.
“We will only be able to announce another date after somebody comes on board with cash sponsorship, we cannot tie a date and disappoint the jazz people again. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to all,” Katumbela said.
Alongside the two South African artists the line up of the festival included local crème of jazz, among others, Sereetsi and The Natives, Shanti Lo, Lister Boleseng and Amantle Brown.