Preserving the legacy
The Jazz Foundation of South Africa is an organization dedicated to the creation, presentation and preservation of local Jazz and other related creative music. Individuals who realised the glaring need for an appreciation of Jazz formed the Jazz Foundation in April 1983. The rationale behind the organisation’s existence is the glaring evidence of commercial as well as parastatal structures prejudices against Jazz.
The recording industry did not see or make it easy for jazz as a type or stream of music as well.
The motivating belief behind the Foundation is that Jazz should not be allowed to operate from the fringes, it is too meaningful to be marginalised.
The Foundation’s existence was necessitated by the general apathy and lack of concern and support for such music.
Our Vision
The JAZZ FOUNDATION shall continue to be the market leader in the creation, presentation and preservation of jazz and creative music and is based on the belief that jazz is an integral part of our culture.
We are committed to facilitating the development and enhancement of public awareness of the importance of Jazz as an African art form by providing a supportive structure to our Jazz musicians. We are committed to providing the highest possible commitment and standard presentation of Jazz as an art form.
Our Mission
We are committed to facilitating the development and enhancement of public awareness on the importance of Jazz as an African art form by providing a supportive structure to our Jazz musicians. We are committed to the provision of the highest possible commitment and standard presentation of Jazz as an art form.
History
During South Africa’s tumultuous history, when the world only saw negative images of this beautiful land, many special artistic and innovative ambassadors passionately presented South African society in a different light. Musicians who were positively representing our culture, spreading the vital energy, colour and texture that makes this land the unique spiritual and cultural tapestry it is. These living legends gave the world our ancient sounds and dances.
Undoubtedly, this type of music enjoys little recognition from structures such as the government, recording houses, radio and television. It is viewed as music appealing only to a coterie of vanishing appreciators; in the absence of amenable alternative channels, music as an expression of sound has suffered untold distortion to the eclipse of the emancipatory value systems befitting a society changing. While creative music operates under the strain of prejudices, it still has to contend with the whims of promoters and producers whose commercial emphasis treats it with contempt.
This tends to reinforce the denial facing creative music, leaving our artists with no option but to find self-wasting comfort in the kind of music that affords them fortune and fame to the debasement of their creative aptitudes, which are left idle. The public is hoodwinked into believing that what is good sells most. Such music delivers no sense or imagery, nor does it yield any feeling or tone. Those failing to conform are sidelined.
The appalling effect of this alienation is disappointing in the kind of music in which no nation resolved to transform its value system can take pride. This discriminatory and divisive policy to cultural expression, as well as the compulsion of commercial factors to create music, reduces our artists from persons to things, objects of what is desirous in the market through which to produce. Music regarded as nation-building must be characterised by everything needed to build a nation musically, i.e. inspiration, feeling and thoughts. One must not lose track of the fact that this music has survived the slavery era, has gone through human emancipation and two world wars, and defies apartheid.
Jazz is music borne out of human misery. It has transformed into a most challenging performance art form because of the discipline and feeling entwined in it. One may argue that this creative music, as it is today in Africa, does not project the image of difficulty; it is more of a sensual, joyous and thoughtful image. But doesn’t this variation from a geographical point of view project it as an unpredictable art form depending on where you hear it from?
Few African artists have enjoyed cult status internationally through this type of music. Suppose jazz is a reaction against the arrogant sloth and snarling decadence that faces us all, threatening to devour all craft and purity and push human beings into the hopper of hysteria, where they will be stripped of all but obvious response. In that case, it needs all the encouragement, support and promotional doses we can administer.
Event Management and Promotions
The Foundation is also an event management and promotions organization specializing in the music and related industry. With a unique combination of skills amounting to more than 23 years experience, the organisation offers innovative packages to fully fit the specifications and bugdet guidelines of an event, irrespective of its scale, nature, theme or purpose.
