Media release: 12 August 2009
Jazz On The Lake spearheads stunning
Arts Alive music line-up
Music has always been intimately linked to the Arts Alive International Festival and in 2009 it again claims the festival spotlight.
For many Joburgers and outsiders the highlight of the music programme is undoubtedly Jazz On The Lake. The management are extremely up-beat about the exciting line-up which includes Senegal's legendary Omar Pene as the international headliner. Pene came to fame as the lead singer of Super Diamono, one of the longest running Senegalese popular bands: now a solo artist who is renowned for his sensitive and moving socially conscious lyrics atop of Mbalax rhythms, Pene still uses the iconic Super Diamono as his backing band.
Of course, Jazz on the Lake - which takes place on Sunday September 6th - is renowned for the platform it gives to South African artists and in 2009 the spotlight shines on Selaelo Selota, who is currently making waves in the US. Other top drawcards are conscious hip-hop flagbearer Zulu Boy and the Standard Bank Young Artists Jazz Trio of Concord Nkabinde, Kesivan Naidoo and Mark Fransmann.
The opening weekend also sees ARTS ALIVE partnering with MOSHITO on a breathtaking WORLD MUSIC CONCERT at the Baseline on September 5.
Jazz On The Lake is a free concert as is the Eldo's Jazz Festival, which provides a platform for aspiring jazz artists to share the stage with established artists. This community-based, family-friendly event takes place on September 27th, the closing day of Arts Alive.
An inspired addition to the 2009 Arts Alive International Festival is the African Connections event, which brings possibly the largest gathering of African musicians to Joburg to perform alongside their South African peers. In a lineup of unmitigated excellence, world music fans should look out for Tarika Be. This Madagascan group was voted one of the 10 best bands in the world by Time Magazine in 2001 and its music has been described as "brilliant". The African Connections event takes place over the weekend of September 25th and 26th.
Other must-see music events include the Austrian Embassy assisted showcase of Carlos Mombelli's Prisoners of Strange, Jazz For Juniors, and The South African Messiah, which is scheduled to reverberate around the City Hall on September 23.
Concluding the JOBURG ARTS ALIVE music line-up will be Dorothy Masuka & Friends at the Mandela at the Joburg Theatre on Sat 26 & Sun 27 September.
Paying tribute to living legends while paving the way for more to follow is the very ethos of Joburg ARTS ALIVE International Festival.
Note to editor:
The 2009 Arts Alive International Festival is a project of the City of Joburg's Arts, Culture and Heritage department and is being staged by Zanusi Brand Solutions. Festival partners are the SABC, the National Arts Council, Wits University (Department of Humanities), Royal Thai Embassy, Austrian Embassy, Indian Embassy, Alliance Francaise, Soweto Festival, Johannesburg Festival of Shopping.
