Nthatuoa Koeshe
ALLIANCE Française de Maseru together with the Lesotho National Commission for UNESCO, United States Embassy and Letofe will on 6 May host the jazz duo of Florence Chitacumbi and Mino Cinélu at Alliance Française in celebration of the International Jazz Day Music Festival.
The duo’s visit to Lesotho is part of their 2019 SA Reunion Tour which will also see them perform in Durban, Cape Town and Bloemfontein from late April to early May 2019 accompanied by guitarist Christophe Bovet.
The festival will also have performances from local jazz artistes like Tsitso G-man Matsipa and Mystic Margin.
Alliance Française’s Director, R?mi Beghin, told the Weekender in a recent interview that although this will be the first time they celebrate the International Jazz Day, they are happy to host the event since the genre is one of the most celebrated forms of music in the country.
He said the celebration will be part of the International Jazz Exhibition which started on 23 April 2019 at Alliance Française de Maseru where boards were displayed with details of the history of jazz in the country.
“The exhibition portrays the jazz scene in Lesotho during the 1960S, 70s to the 80s and what people may remember about jazz in Lesotho,” Beghin said.
He said the exhibition would run until the 6th of May.
For her part, Chitacumbi said the tour is about breaking boundaries.
“I am thrilled to come back to South Africa to share music. For me the SA Reunion Tour is about breaking boundaries in order to exchange and to generate artistic collaboration,” Chitacumbi said.
The Lesotho National Commission for UNESCO, the US Embassy and Alliance Française de Maseru also held a discussion under the topic: “has there been jazz in Lesotho?” at the UNESCO Maseru offices on Friday.
The speakers were Morabo Morojele, Tau Malebo, Thomas Monese, Lengosa Lengosa and Phehello Mofokeng
The International Jazz Day was declared by UNESCO in 2011 “to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe”.