Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2007

If music were sex then we had exhibitionist pornstars from all over the world and this was their orgy.
***
Tickets for the two-day Cape Town International Jazz Fest were sold out! Fortunately we were staying at the same hotel as the artists and we got invited to the free after-party.

The festival itself was just foreplay and this jamming session was the real deal. It began to build up at 1 am to its climax at 4am and wound down just before six.

Just like the best sex, this was much more personal, much more spontaneous, unscripted and full of improvisation. Artists would just come up to the stage, plug in their instrument and started playing. When he got tired and stepped down, someone would nonchalantly fill up his place.

The first couple of hours were dominated by the horns. (Could it be described as horny then?) Trumpets, saxophones, a French horn, wicked electric pianos. There was a rousing Mas Que Nada, a rapper, some lounge singers...

And when the drummers came the audience were voyeurs no more.

They pounded rhythmically, loud, raw muscles on drum skin. It was repetitive, hypnotic and coupled with the chanting and yelling I'd say this was almost spiritual.

Conclusion:4/5
This was my first South African festival (would that make me a Jazz Fest virgin?) and I was duly impressed. Four pawikan points. Plus points to the young trumpeteer who looked like Harry Potter.