THE International Jazz Day celebrated annually on April 30 will be held at the Zimbabwe German Society in Milton Park, Harare with performances from an array of local jazz artistes.
Jazz music was developed by African Americans and was influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms. It emerged from a blend of ragtime, marches, blues and other kinds of music.
To celebrate the genre’s milestones, local musicians, who include award-winning jazz musicians Josh Meck, Afro-jazz singer and songwriter Victor Kunonga, vibrant and sassy jazz songstress Prudence Katomeni Mbofana, multi-instrumentalist Clive Mono Mukundu, Afro-jazz sensation Ruth “Rute” Mbangwa, Nicholar and Dr Guramatunhu will converge at the Zimbabwe German Society for an event dubbed the International Jazz Day: A Century of Jazz on Tuesday.
Speaking to NewsDay Life & Style Meck said preparations for the event were proceeding well and applauded the artistes for participating in rehearsals, adding that the chemistry is good and they are looking forward to a great performance.
“We are approaching the concert with a difference so people should be ready for many surprises. We will be doing a lot of jazz songs that were influential in the 19th to 20th centuries, more like taking them through a journey,” he said.
He, however, expressed concern that a lot of people in the country have an affection for the genre, but radio stations were not giving much attention to it.
“The response that we have received from ticket purchases already gives us an insight into how much our people have an appreciation of the genre, that is why we are coming up with new festivals that present jazz music with a difference to market jazz to the masses as well.” he said.
He said he believed that as time went on the genre would get recognition in terms of airplay.
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Every year Jazz Day is celebrated in more than 190 countries across the world.
