Latest news with #JoyofJazz
IOL News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Esperanza Spalding set to mesmerise Johannesburg jazz lovers at Joy of Jazz festival
Five-time Grammy award-winning jazz singer, bassist, songwriter, and composer, Esperanza Emily Spalding, set to wow Standardbank Joy of Jazz crowd with her music Image: X Five-time Grammy award-winning jazz singer, bassist, songwriter, and composer, Esperanza Emily Spalding, known to music fans as simply Esperanza Spalding, is poised to grace the stage at the 26th edition of the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival. This much-anticipated event will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre, showcasing over 50 acts over three days and celebrating a spirit of jazz that resonates deeply in South Africa. Spalding, whose latest collaboration with Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, titled Milton + esperanza, embodies the essence of friendship, is particularly excited about immersing herself in the vibrant Johannesburg music scene. "I have some dear friends and the arts community in Johannesburg. I have heard some beautiful things about the people of Johannesburg and their spirit of community," the artist remarked. "Coming to Johannesburg for the Joy of Jazz is like coming to meet a community that I do not know yet. For me, it is about sharing and creating beauty through our art form, and I am excited." Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Having previously performed for the Cape Town crowd in her last visit to South Africa, just over ten years ago, the 38-year-old muso says she cannot wait to meet a new community of music lovers in Johannesburg. "I have some dear friends and the arts community in Johannesburg. I have heard some beautiful things about the people of Johannesburg, about their spirit of community. So, coming to Johannesburg for the Joy of Jazz is like coming to meet a community that I do not know yet. For me, it is about sharing and creating the beauty through our art form, and I am excited," she said. Having won five Grammys since the start of her career, Spalding says, like her music, her life has also grown, which is something she looks forward to sharing with her new community of jazz fans when she takes to the Joy of Jazz stage later this year. "Even though Joburg is a different city from Cape Town, I look forward to sharing my music, which has grown over the past 15 years. I am excited to share what I have been building and what I have to offer. I am open and ready to meet Johannesburg and its people because you do not know a place until you get there and meet its people. The 11-time Grammy nominee has previously released eight full-length albums and, in addition to working with her heroes, including Nascimento and Shorter. She has also collaborated with Q-Tip, Janelle Monae, Robert Glasper, Terri Lyne Carrington, and many others. As a composer, her credits include writing the libretto for the opera Iphigenia with Wayne Shorter, which premiered in 2021, among many others. Having been born in Portland, Spalding reflects on her time growing up in a musical family and a deeply cultural neighbourhood, which gave her first shot at music through a communal and community-driven mentorship, allowing her to blossom early in her now illustrious career as a professional musician and teacher. "Growing up in Portland, the community realised that there was this gap, and learning about jazz music or contraband music, as it was called. There were music classes, and other elderly women ran a low-cost tuition for a string orchestra. It was a very big cultural mentorship program. Music was the first thing I knew growing up, and there was this association, and learning music became a thing that you could do at an early age, because grown-up people did and taught music to children, and my mother was also instrumental in teaching me,' she said.
Mail & Guardian
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mail & Guardian
Rakgadi of the rhythm: Mantwa Chinoamadi and the soul of jazz
Out of the blue: Producer of the annual Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival Mantwa Chinoamadi advises young women who aspire to succeed in the music industry to listen, learn and always be a student. 'Some call me 'Hahani', or even 'Dabawo', but I am mostly known as 'Rakgadi,'' says Mantwa Chinoamadi, producer of the renowned Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival. She says it not with pomp, not even with power, but with an ease — like it's not a title she carries but rather a truth that carries her. In our communities, titles are more than mere names — they are positions, placements, deeply woven into the fabric of black identity. Rakgadi is not just the aunt who brings sweets at family gatherings or calls to check in during exams. Rakgadi is the firm hand at a funeral, the voice that steadies a family during lobola negotiations, the woman who speaks with her eyes when elders are too weary to explain. To be called Rakgadi is not just to be known — it is to be trusted. When I first met Chinoamadi, it wasn't her CV or her reputation that walked into the room. It was her presence. Her words — 'Have you eaten?' 'Did you get a drink?' 'Do you know where you're going?' — floated through the air like a melody, warm and anchoring. There was music in her care, rhythm in her hospitality. She moved with the kind of energy that doesn't need to be announced. It wraps around you, grounding you. That's what makes her powerful. That's what makes her Rakgadi. In many spaces, softness is seen as weakness. But in Chinoamadi's hands, it is strength, braided with intention, stitched into leadership. She commands not with ego but with empathy. In a male-dominated industry, where elbows are sharpened for boardroom battles, Chinoamadi walks in, not as 'the woman among men' but as the producer. The executive. The decision-maker. Titles she wears lightly, but roles she fulfils with precision and a maternal command. Chiawelo, Soweto. That's where the seeds were sown. The streets, filled with jazz on Sundays after church, gave her an early, unshakable rhythm. The township soundtrack was her first syllabus. 'My father loved music,' she says. 'He played jazz all the time — songs from Brook Benton and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few.' The music didn't just play — it lived. It spilled from windows, danced along pavements, curled under doors. Back then, Chinoamadi didn't know that music would become her path — she just knew it was there, part of her, like her surname or her skin. The funny thing is, she wanted to be a doctor. A science and maths whiz. And that's the beauty of it. We are never one thing. We are branches reaching in different directions, finding light in unexpected places. It was during a gap year that destiny knocked, softly at first. Computers had just become a thing and Chinoamadi signed up for computer science. But life or perhaps her ancestors had other plans. While waiting for her brother-in-law Peter Tladi in Auckland Park, she was asked to help around his company, T-Musicman. Simple tasks: filing, typing. But for her, no task is ever just that. She learned not by watching from afar but by rolling up her sleeves. 'I would sit and do enquiry forms for musicians such as Hugh Masekela, Tsepo Tsola and Jonas Gwangwa who were artists managed by the record label, and so I worked my way up from that moment on.' She says an industry like this can be intimidating but she chose not to operate on fear. 'I was scared,' she admits. 'I was scared of something I did not know.' But she looked across the room full of men and told herself, 'There is nothing to fear.' 'I let go of the thought of saying I am in a boardroom full of 23 men as a woman, instead, I walk into the room as a producer or executive and get rid of the title of female producer or female executive.' That quiet courage, that gentle assertion is the heartbeat of Rakgadi. The kind of power that doesn't roar, but makes the ground tremble all the same. Today, when young black girls ask how to thrive in the music industry, she says: 'Listen. Learn. Always be a student.' That humility isn't a performance — it's how she's built everything. 'When I was young, I used to do internships at festivals. I did New Orleans, I did one at the London Jazz Festival, just to be in the middle of the preparations to see how things work. 'I still go to festivals and you will never see me with the audience, I still go behind the scenes because I want to learn and see how I can make the work I do different back home.' That sense of eternal learning, of never being too grand to be a student, is what makes Chinoamadi rare. Her journey reminds us that leadership is not about hierarchy — it's about service. She doesn't mentor with authority; she mentors with presence. She doesn't lead with a loud voice; she leads with a full heart. At Joy of Jazz, her imprint is everywhere. Not just in the artist line-ups or production details, but in how people feel. Joy of Jazz isn't just a music festival. It's a gathering. A homecoming. And every home needs a Rakgadi — someone who makes sure you're fed, who shows you where to go, who welcomes you like she's known you forever. That's Chinoamadi. That's her gift. She takes care of the music and the people. What she's building is about legacy as much as jazz. She dreams of a world where young black girls from Soweto never doubt their brilliance. Where they don't shrink themselves in rooms filled with titles and tension. Where they see themselves — fully, fiercely, freely. And when that happens — when the next generation of Rakgadis rises — we will look back at Mantwa Chinoamadi and know: she was the bridge. She was the one who said, 'Come, sit here,' when others said, 'You don't belong.' She was the one who lifted, who built, who mothered dreams into motion. 'I wish to leave a legacy where a young black girl from Soweto doesn't think less of herself or sell herself short.'
The Citizen
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Jazz fans in for global musical journey at festival
The three-day Joy of Jazz festival will feature top talent from three continents, celebrating South Africa's rich jazz legacy. Musicians taking part in 26th Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival in September at the launch in Sandton yesterday. Picture: Nigel Sibanda From the inspiring isiXhosa sounds of jazz vocalist Nomfundo Xaluva, to popular American artist Jazzmeia Horn, music followers are in for a memorable treat at this year's three-day Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival. Unveiling a star-studded lineup yesterday in Joburg, organisers assured jazz fans of nights of live music, featuring more than 60 musicians from 15 countries and three continents – all performing at the Sandton International Convention Centre from 26 to 28 September. Mantwa Chinoamadi, CEO at T-Musicman and festival producer said: 'The line-up is focused on more than celebrating great music.' More than celebrating great jazz music 'We wanted to keep our eye on projecting and cementing the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Africa's premier jazz event, that is rooted in South Africa's undeniably rich and varied musical traditions – balancing the demands of jazz connoisseur patrons, while creating exciting entry points for the novice jazz lovers too.' Standard Bank head of brand experience Yolisa Koza said: 'While jazz will always pay homage to its roots, it is by its very nature, a music of innovation and forward momentum. ALSO READ: Joy of Jazz: The 'Black Jew' driving force behind music festival 'With over 40 years of championing the arts, we are thrilled by the 2025 Standard Bank Joy of Jazz line-up.' The festival will be held on the Dinaledi Stage and will start with strong female voices. Strong female voices The performers signed up for the festival include Grammy Award-winning American bassist and composer, Esperanza Spalding, whose latest record with Brazilian Milton Nascimento honours the spirit of friendship. Other artists are Thandi Ntuli, with Blk Elijah & The Children of Moroë – featuring special guests Sipho 'Hotstix' Mabuse and Alec Khaoli.
IOL News
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival returns with a global line-up to celebrate musical diversity
Artist Benjamin Jephta attended the launch of the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz in Sandton on Tuesday. Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers With four reputable stages including the Dinaledi, Conga, Diphala, and Mbira stages, the 26th edition of the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz (SBJOJ) festival is poised to shine the spotlight on various jazz-inspired musical styles cutting across a range of world musical cultures and heritage. The much-anticipated festival will be making its return to the Sandton Convention Centre from Friday, September 26 to Sunday, September 28. Among those enlisted in this year's stellar line-up of icons and innovators who embody the soul of jazz are Oumou Sangare (Senegal), Esparenza Spalding, Jose James, both from the USA, as well as local stars that include Thandi Ntuli, Andile Yenana, Gabi Motuba, Billy Monama, Vusi Mahlasela, Moss Mogale, and Muneyi. In total, SBJOJ will feature more than 50 world-class performers from more than 10 countries. For the 2025 SBJOJ, the curators are thought to be putting together a quarter-century instalment that includes lifestyle experiences and must-see musical acts. This year's stellar line-up was unveiled during an event held at the Artistry in Sandton on Tuesday. The festival aims to present a kaleidoscopic vision of jazz, reflecting influences from Africa, Europe, East Asia, and the Americas. Each of the four stages will serve as a unique thematic platform; the Mbira stage will showcase where heritage meets harmony, while the Conga stage will ignite traditions, innovation, and pure jazz. The Dinaledi stage has been curated to spotlight icons and innovators, promising a riveting display of musical excellence. Musician Elaine at the Joy of Jazz launch. Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers Jazz music fan, lover, and acclaimed broadcaster, Nothemba Madumo, visionary trumpeter Mandla Mlangeni, and jazz guitarist Monama, were some of the stars who attended the launch. As part of a special guitar-inspired performance, Monama is set to partner with guitar greats, Mahlasela and Moss Mogale under the collaborative under the banner "Guitar Convergence". "I am excited to bring music lovers a guitar convergence at this year's Joy of Jazz, and this year, I have invited great masters from the North, including Moss Mogale and Vusi Mahlasela," Monama quipped. In an intercontinental explorative collaboration that continues a heritage exchange between South Africa and the nordic world, Ababhemu Quartet (Sa/Den/Nor), made up of Swedish saxophonist Karl Martin Almqvist, pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, drummer Ayanda Sikadea, and Norwegian bassist Magne Thormodsaeter. Serving another durable Afro-European route, Swiss Big Band, and the Fischermanns Orchestra (Switzerland) bring their large open room sound to Jozi. Standard Bank's head of brand experience, Yolisa Kosa, said the three-day musical festival seeks to honour the young and the old with an exclusive musical experience. "While jazz will always pay homage to its roots, it is, by its very nature, a music of innovation and forward momentum. With over 40 years of championing the arts, we are thrilled by the 2025 Standard Bank Joy of Jazz line-up — a celebration of transcendent stars, legendary jazz greats, a vibrant showcase of Standard Bank Young Artist awardees, and a bold, eclectic mix of styles designed to resonate with diverse audiences. "This year, we're especially proud to honour the powerful and enduring contributions of women in jazz, whose voices and artistry continue to shape the story of this music. We hope jazz lovers and curious newcomers alike will be enchanted by the rich, generous, and soul-stirring offerings this year's festival promises,' said Koza. [email protected]
