THE Cape Town International Jazz Festival came to a soulful climax early Sunday with the organisers and thousands of the concertgoers already looking forward to the 14th edition of "Africa's Grandest Gathering" in 2014.
About 41 artistes – 20 on day one and 21 on day two – were scheduled to play in the two-day festival.
The 'Kippies' stage, one of the five venues for the fiesta, featured Africa's greatest and oldest jazzist, Hugh Masekela, whose show was billed to herald the last act, Lauryn Hill of the United States.
However, Masekela, dedicating the night to the memory of 'Mama Africa', Mariam Makeba, literally closed the festival with his sensational singing and dancing quartet.
The totally-involved spectators kept calling for a repeat performance of every act until Masekela declined their 'Oliver Twist' appetite for his Afro-jazz renditions.
Thus, when Ms Lauryn Hill, officially scheduled to close the concert on the particular arena came on stage and started off badly, the audience decided they have had enough and left in droves, abandoning the much-hyped Hill to her woeful appearance.
Meanwhile, the story was different on the 'Basil Coetzee' stage where Jamaica-based Third World worked up the audience with their famous Lagos Jump hit. And the crowd would not let them go until the wee hours of Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, some of the musicians/producers/singers, including Masekela, guitar hero, Marcus Miller, South African female sensation, Zahara and Jason Reolon fielded questions from journalists on their career, jazz and music-related issues in general.
The Guardian