UKZN Centre for Jazz and Popular Music presents the UKZN Big Band and jazz ensembles picnic at the Durban Botanic Gardens amphitheatre on Tuesday, May 1st, 2018.
The Centre for Jazz and Popular Music has been celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month with a series of school visits to increase the awareness of jazz as a fun way to make music, effective way to communicate, and great way to make friends and get hip! This activity will culminate in a free concert at the Durban Botanic Gardens amphitheatre on Tuesday, May 1st which is a public holiday that marks Worker’s day.
The concert celebrates jazz in all its diversity and our talented young musicians in the jazz and popular music program at the University of KwaZulu Natal(UKZN). The concert will also feature ensembles and soloists from the amazing pool of talent we have encountered during our school visits.
The headline act for the day is the UKZN Big Band which features a program that ranges from classic swing arrangements of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, great arrangements of tunes by local jazz luminaries such as Hugh Masekela and Ndiko Xaba, the funk music of Earth, Wind and Fire and student arrangements of house music stars such as Micasa and Davido. The concert will also feature the fantastic young talent in our smaller jazz ensembles.
In an exciting development in our outreach events, Casio Musical Instruments (SA) has come on board as a product sponsor in our #15minuteChallenge where learners were invited to spontaneously create, and experience music making through improvisation – as is often the case in jazz. With just 15 minutes to check out all the features on the keyboard, learners were encouraged to create dance tracks especially for our competition. The winners of this competition will be announced and prizes will be awarded at the event.
Patrons are encouraged to bring along their picnic baskets as no refreshments will be on sale at the concert.
The concert is scheduled to begin at 2pm and ends at 5pm, and in the event of rain we have the hall at the Botanic Gardens as a contingency plan.
Please contact Thulile Zama at the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music for enquiries: zamat1@ukzn.ac.za or 031 260 3385.
