If you wanted to let your hair loose and dance, the Mbira Stage was your place.
Malian singer-songwriter and multiple Grammy Award nominee, Fatoumata Diawara, perfoms at Mbira Stage during the 25th Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival at the Sandton Convention Centre, 27 September 2024, in Sandton. Picture; Nigel Sibanda/The Citizen
While the two-day Standard Bank Joy of Jazz offered a superb entertainment to fans who thronged the Sandton Convention Centre over the weekend, the Dinaledi Stage emerged as the place to be for true jazz disciples.
From Chucho Valdes, Feya Faku, Chris Botti, Sibongile Mngoma, Matthew Halsall, Darren English and Victor Masondo, Dinaledi became a place to be for the grey-hair like myself.
If you wanted to let your hair loose and dance, the Mbira Stage was your place.
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Fans praise diverse jazz offerings
Arthur Williams, who travelled all the way from Cape Town, said: “Earlier I had a misconception about jazz, thinking it was monotonous, monotone and continuously the same in notes.
“In the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, I have now been reintroduced to jazz – like a rebirth.
“Now I have got to understand that there are different jazz genres – something for everyone in jazz.
“You can create your own story in jazz and your own interpretation – finding your own meaning and rhythm to your own tune.” Nkululeko Mabandla said: “The Standard Bank Joy of Jazz is one of the biggest festivals in the country.
“I saw the great Chucho Valdez and enjoyed him. With intelligence and a sense of humour, he played some Bargh song and jazzified it – quite humorous to see his interpretation of it.
“You could tell this is a guy who has been around.”
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