Lekopanye Mooketsi
2 December 2008
The Saturday jazz festival featuring legendary South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, was a huge disappointment all because of a faulty sound system.
However, the South African maestro did not disappoint the faithful as he demonstrated that despite his age, he has not gone over the hill yet.
But for the revellers and performers alike the nightmare started as our own Socca Moruakgomo was performing when the sound system cut off in the middle of the act. It was so embarrassing for Moruakgomo that when he tried to introduce his band, the sound system went dead.
It was shocking that such a poor sound system could be deployed on a festival of that magnitude. At times the stage would be plunged into total darkness.
Masekela played for an hour and as usual the South African star gave a splendid performance.
He belted out his favourite hits, like Khaulesa, Thanayi and Chileshe. But how can Bra Hugh leave the stage without rendering his signature tunes like Stimela and African Market Place? Even though age is catching up with him, Masekela is still fit on the stage.
He can still do "ma get down" as he showed the youngsters how it is done. Clad in his trademark African attire, the veteran muso was just doing his own thing in style. He was simply a marvel to watch on the stage.
Bra Hugh was clicking with the audience. Even after he had performed for an hour, it seemed it was too short as revellers still wanted more from him.He was also let down by the poor sound system. Masekela had saxophonist Khaya Mhlangu on his line-up. But missing on Masekela's ensemble, was local guitarist John Selolwane.
Selolwane said he has parted ways with the South African artiste after a long relationship.
Another disappointment was South African singer, Ntando, only came late and performed a few songs before the festival was closed at midnight. Ntando livened up the show but he came late. Had he turned up early, he could have given revellers value for their money.
Local artists who performed at the festival included Culture Spears, Citie Seetso, Mongwana, Moruakgomo and songbird, Nono Siile. Moruakgomo's band featured South African vocalist, Coyote and Nigerian guitarist, Kunle.
Some revellers also felt that they were ripped off because of the quality of the sound system. Sibanyola Nokhula said the festival was not worth the P150 that they parted with at the gates."We thought Hugh would perform for a long time. We came here to watch him," another reveller protested.
Festival organiser, Lemmy Masekela, said he was unhappy with "certain things". He was also not impressed with the sound system. He said there were also power failures.
Masekela said they were also delayed by the production people.
"Sometimes we had to improvise to get the show going," he said.He said there were also hiccups with some musicians. Masekela said Ntando came late because he was held up with interviews in Johannesburg.
As for the attendance, he feels that it was not too bad.
The festival was only good in terms of security.
There were no pickpockets and cell grabbing. People enjoyed themselves freely. Actually, the festival reflected a picnic spot as revellers relaxed on their camping chairs. Some of them had brought their braai packs.
The coolers were also allowed inside.The Fairgrounds venue proved ideal for such jazz shows.
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