PACIFIC Express and Prophets of Da City are among five local bands who will take to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival stage in March for the first time.
Heathfield High School Jazz Band, Jitsenic, Prophets Of Da City, Pacific Express and TheCITY were chosen for the coveted role of performing with the best national and international jazz bands.
Zayn Adam, from Pacific Express, said it was an honour for the group to be chosen.
The 70s and 80s music group Pacific Express reunited at last year’s Shack Summer Festival after a long hiatus.
“It is every South African musician’s dream to be chosen for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. I feel good about it. It is a world-recognised event.”
He said the band was rehearsing three times a week and would showcase their best work at the festival.
“We will be playing work from 1978 and incorporating it into 2015, with a wonderful new change,” he said referring to four “younger guys” who will join the team.
“We enjoy playing our stuff.
“In the ’70s we were way ahead musically, and these young guys are monsters on the stage.”
The young men include Didier Richard on horns; Mark Goliath on keyboards; Ibrahim Khalil Shihab, the creator of most of Pacific Express’s original work, on piano; and Bjorn Petersen on the drums.
Each year, the jazz festival grows in strength and popularity with a record sell-out of initial weekend pass tickets released in November last year.
Reddy D from Prophets of Da City, who made hip hop cool on the Cape Flats in the mid-80s, said it was overwhelming and exciting to perform at the festival this year. “We haven’t performed together as a group in such a long time. Some have relocated. It has been eight years since we performed together, and for original members 15 years. New members have since joined too.”
Prophets of Da City would probably be earmarked for a Bassline stage performance alongside new kids Jitsenic, who would never have thought to work in Afrikaans if it hadn’t been for Prophets of Da City.
Reddy D said people could expect to get the sound they were familiar with, but they would also be pushing the envelope.
“We are trying to be as creative as we can in hip hop, to embrace all elements. Jazz definitely influenced the culture of hip hop. We are urging people to come with an open mind.”
Cape Argus