12th Annual Cape Town Jazzathon

The longest running and biggest free music festival in South Africa is back in Cape Town from 10 to 13 January 2008

The Cape Town Jazzathon celebrates the 12th Annual Anniversary of the people's festival at the V&A Waterfront from Thursday 10th to the Sunday 13th of January 2008.

The festival is produced by JCQ Productions, and is the longest running, and largest, music festival in South Africa, featuring all South African artists.

The annual Cape Town Jazzathon at Cape Town’s V&A Watefront is free and open to the general public.

The Cape Town Jazzathon 2008 will go back to basics as the festival slowly moves towards a change in direction. All artists will be hosted at one (free to public) venue - the amphitheatre.

This year the emphasis is on undiscovered talent, focusing more on the developmental aspect of Cape Town musicians at the free concert at the V&A Waterfront. Then, later in 2008, some of the highlight performances will be held throughout Cape Town to showcase musicians in various live show extravaganza events.

"The Cape Town Jazzathon is currently the only, real link between music at grass roots level and international exposure", says Quinton Raaff of JCQ Productions. " …this is where promoters and fans are introduced to the rising stars in Cape Town and, hopefully, from here these artists will be discovered and marketed to other international markets".

The Cape Town Jazzathon has now successfully realised all the objectives as set-out by the producers of the festival, JCQ Productions, a decade ago. A new role-out plan and set of goals is currently envisioned for the next decade.

The Cape Town Jazzathon starts from 13h00 everyday until 21h00 in the evening.

This year the festival will feature more than 20 performances on the V&A amphitheatre, and the ever-popular jazz jam sessions will be held every evening, after the free concert.

Artists on the bill include young upcoming stars like SAMA Winner - Claire Phillips; Peter Ndlala, Sammy Webber and other top names in the music world like Tucan Tucan, VJR, Alvin Dyers, Camillo Lombard and a special project headed by Professor Hotep Idris Galeta, featuring the Mother City's musical melting pot to showcase a portrait of Cape Town as a home for all musicians.

The festival also highlights the new breed of Cape Town jazz muso with the likes of the very young and talented Jonathan Rubain, Little Giants, Emily Bruce and Chad Williams.

"This is the future of jazz in South Africa” says Craig Parks, of JCQ Productions, adding that “these young musicians have taken the lessons from their Cape Town music heroes and made South African jazz a force to be reckoned with."

The Cape Town Jazzathon is proud to be associated with the many musicians who are committed and poised to design the future of Cape Jazz.

By showcasing young and upcoming musicians, the Cape Town Jazzathon creates a platform for a Cape Flavored jazz and music identity.

Every evening for the duration of the festival, there will be a jazz jam and after-party at Manenberg's Jazz Café at the Clocktower Precinct at the V&A Waterfront.

The hugely popular form of the Cape Town jazz dancing will be highlighted on Saturday 12th Jan at the fest and all participants are guaranteed to learn this amazing form of dance within 30 minutes.

Read more about the 2009 Cape Town Jazzathon.

Make sure you have a listen South African Music in our music section.

Molo Says: "Find the 2008 Jazzathon Programme in our Cape Town Events section".

For more information on great events and things to do day and things to do night in Cape Town, subscribe to our free popular monthly Editor’s Picks Newsletter and stay informed.