The Cape Town Jazz Safari

andulela.com // For many safarigoers, Cape Town is just a brief stopover on their way to stalk lions. Staying just long enough to hike up Table Mountain, they decamp to Kruger National Park or other South African game reserves to get up close and personal with the Big Five.

Mac McKenzie, known as the King of Goema, the name for Cape Town music, plays during a stop on a jazz tour of the city. So perhaps it was a matter of time before the safari went urban. "They say that in Cape Town, there are 20 guitar players per square kilometer and saxophonists behind every bush," said Iain Harris, a music producer and journalist. Mr. Harris, after giving a radio interview about the rich local jazz scene, met Michael Wolf, who owns a small tour company called Andulela (27-21-790-2592; www.andulela.com).

A year ago, the two started the Cape Town Jazz Safari, a kind of expedition through the city's musical habitat. Led by Mr. Wolf and Mr. Harris, the guided tour lasts between three and four hours, offering a cheery mix of intimate recitals, backyard barbecues and jam sessions. It costs 395 rand a person, or $56.50, at 7.3 rand to the dollar, including dinner and drinks. The adventure begins most Monday nights at the District Six Cafe, a music hall and school where the jazz pioneer Abdullah Ibrahim teaches. (The name of the cafe refers to a fabled community of freed slaves, artists and immigrants called District Six that was designated whites-only in 1966 and effectively destroyed.) The performance changes weekly: one night it might be Hilton Schilder, a local keyboardist who plays solo, or Kyle Shepherd, a young pianist who pushes the boundaries of jazz.

The next stop is Bridgetown, one of Cape Town's first townships, and the modest home of Mac McKenzie, the city's reigning Goema king. Mr. Harris provides a music primer along the way: Goema, as Cape Town music is called, has its roots in indigenous Khoikhoi, a tribal blend of drums and trancelike chanting. It evolved over the decades, absorbing the sounds of American jazz, Brazilian samba and whatever culture sailed into port. The Goema King (or Mac, as everyone calls him) will greet you at the door himself, wearing his signature white button-down shirt and jaunty beige hat. His mother (Ma Mac) cheerfully attends to the grill out back, cooking up a tasty feast of snoek, a barracuda-like fish, for her guests. After popping open a few Black Label beers, Mac picks up his guitar and plays covers of jazz classics like Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia," and his own compositions, but with a South African twist. The scene suggests a dorm room, with friends poking their heads in throughout the night. Mac keeps strumming during dinner, as he regales visitors with funny and heartfelt stories about his band, the Goema Captains of Cape Town, and his dreams of opening a studio in his stamp-sized backyard.

The last stop is the township of Lansdowne, at the Capetonians Are Swingers Restaurant. The air is filled with smoke, laughter and the sweet sounds of homegrown groups like the Alvin Dyers Quartet. Although the touristy V & A Waterfront Complex can now claim places like Manenberg's Jazz Cafe, (27-21) 421-5639, they are empty of this gritty authenticity.

By midnight, after four hours of great jazz and a few drinks, the line between safarigoers and local music fans has blurred. Article by GISELA WILLIAMS for the NEW YORK TIMES

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Cape
• Town
• Jazz
• Safari
• tours
• nightlife
• entertainment
• south
• africa
• music
• day
• trip
• culture
• township
• Joe
• Mthimka
• Robbie
• Jansen

[balaphuge]

What is the name of the instrument the guy is playing around the 4:52 mark? I couldn't understand him.

[Andulela]

It's called "mouth bow" or "uhadi". I get a lot of references stating that this is a traditional Xhosa instrument. However, the priciple is so archetypical that one can assume it was used by other tribes as well, e.g. the Khoi-San as mentioned by Hilton Schilder. The instrument has obviously derived from a hunting bow. Would be interesting to hear from other sources if you find any.

[danburnfin]

...really authentic... tourist...shameless postcolonialism.... i bet its really real... did he get his mba at the university of chicago?...

ungh..

[Andulela]

Strong words. What's behind it. Don't really get your point. Please elaborate.

[funkatic]

ehh... it's not FDInteractive that is the idiot, it's unclebanana. Read again

[chellie91]

would just like 2 say to FDInteractive u r a closed minded idiot that is of typical AMERICAN STANDARD. u dont think outside ur country and think u r the best in everything, lucky 4 u there is betta jazz artists in CAPE TOWN AND SOUTH AFRICA and of much betta variety than ur shitty boring jazz!

[FDInteractive]

To get this right: Jazz musicians are ambassadors of cultural exchange. They were back then and the will always be. Do you really mean that Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Hotep Idris Galeta, Chris McGregor, Winston Mankunku Ngozi(...) are NO Jazz musicians? That they are fake?

[FDInteractive]

At no time the Jazz Safari video or the makers of the Jazz Safari claim that Jazz is an African concept. In fact the focus of the Cape Town Jazz Safari is Cape Town Jazz, which is a unique flavour of Jazz that evolved around influences of Traditional (khoi) music typical for the region, Cape Carnival Music (again influenced by American Minstrel music) and American Jazz. From the 1940s to today South African Jazz musicians are well connected world-wide.

[Andulela]

All the great Jazz musicians got ample inspiration and influence from places outside of America. As an example, in the 40s and 50s, from a "night in Tunisia" (Dizzy Gillespie) to "Sketches of Spain" (Miles Davis), American Jazz musicians were listening to and experimenting with Arabic tonalities or European classical composers such as Debussy or Rachmaninov.

[FDInteractive]

Fortunately, a new president may correct this view to what America really stands for: Openness. Openness in thought. Openness to let the world in. The latter has brought about art forms like Jazz, which is a hybrid of African rhythms and chants (yes, African!), brought to America through slaves from Africa, and European folk and classical music influences. Basically, if you would go back in time and erase these 2 influences, there would be no Jazz - and, no America.

[FDInteractive]

I'm not quite sure if you are serious about this. You're name suggests that you are some kind of comedian. Anyway, I will try to argue around your punch line: "There is only American jazz. Any other form of Jazz outside the US is a fake." This kind of "Island thinking" and cultural supremacy attitude is unfortunately the side of America that has dominated its world view and politics of the last decade.