Ringo, Selota headline Francistown Jazz Festival
Spira Tlhankane | Wednesday August 23, 2017 15:55
The organisers of the first jazz festival of its kind in Francistown have promised a show that will captivate mature audience and musicians in becoming a highly anticipated happening within the Northern region.
The jazz festival will be a daylong celebration of regional and world-class music that celebrates the convergence of the most prominent region of Botswana being the north. This festival will be a landmark cultural exchange. Local acts will include Lister Boleseng, Shanti Lo, Moroka Moreri, Bana Ba Ntogwa, Sereetsi &The Natives, Amantle Brown and many more.
“We are bringing all these to the old stadium in Francistown. The festival will be steeped in the relaxing ambience of good music, great company, good food and beverages, colourful and meaningful sponsors. The event takes place on September 9 having been postponed before from its original date,” festival director Soares Katumbela said in a media brief recently. He said the preparations are going on very well and the Francistown Jazz Festival is celebrating 120 years of Francistown existence. The festival is scheduled to start at 11am, with kids’ playground and resume with the live bands at 2pm to 1am, then the DJ will drive with jazz and oldies until 6am.
“We will also engage Francistown based companies to get involved as far as practically possible. Examples of these are transportation, security and accommodation companies. Part of the proceeds from the Francistown Jazz Festival will go into the Mayor’s Charity Fund, hence we are still appealing to companies to purchase tickets for their staff/clients so that the mandate of the festival could be fulfilled.”
Local artists are to attend a music workshop facilitated by It Has To Be Jazz Playground as a social responsibility act by the artists through the festival. Only artists in Francistown and the surrounding areas will be invited to attend the workshop.
“With people showing great interest in the Francistown Jazz Festival we have decided that the standard tickets continue to be sold at P250 in advance and at the gate P350 and VIP tickets are at P750 (with no accommodation), P1,500 (accommodation for one person), P1,950 (accommodation for two people sharing),” Katumbela highlighted. Tickets can be purchased at Streethorn Music Café at Molapo Crossing, The Voice office in Francistown and at all WebTickets outlets i.e. Spar Supermarkets.