Founded in Frankfurt 1986, Jazz Against Apartheid remains a highly relevant movement in all aspects of social improvement including economic Emancipation, Rural Development and Cultural Tourism. 

Through the positive-sustainable impact of the international community there is growth of music and performance capacity through skill development, knowledge sharing/transfer, and training initiatives. 

• Creating the basis for an ongoing international cultural exchange around the compositions of exiled South African jazz musicians.

• Contributing to the living archive, and dynamic knowledge foundation for the cultural heritage and music of liberation of South African exiles, thereby furthering the cause of freedom, equality, social responsibility and humanity through Jazz.

• Shedding light on the immense importance and impact of  jazz music as a liberating art form.

• Bridging the gaps between geography, history and economy, through this direct meetings
between international and South African musicians to collaborate and grow together

Johannesburg is the continent’s largest travel hub, most powerful commercial centre and the biggest urban forest in the world.  The central role the city played in the anti-apartheid struggle is memorialised through Constitution Hill, the former Fort prison, now home of the Constitutional Court; the modern Apartheid Museum; Liliesleaf farm, once the nerve centre of the anti-apartheid struggle; Sophiatown and Fietas museums and Soweto’s Vilakazi Street memorials to Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Hector Pieterson.

The jazz capital of South Africa in the post WW2 period was Sophiatown (the little Paris of Johannesburg). This inner-city suburb was the epi-centre for the musical expression of a plethora of creatives including the Manhattan Brothers, Miriam Makeba, Dolly Rathebe and the Jazz Epistles. In Johannesburg centres such as Soweto kept the resistance to Apartheid growing through music and eventually broke the cultural boycott with the Graceland tour of 1986.

For JAA to play in Johannesburg is a significant step towards long-term collaboration between the two humanitarian hubs and centres of the anti-apartheid struggle – Frankfurt and Johannesburg.

These long-term goals of audience development and skills transfer through such an  international jazz collaboration in Gauteng can be achieved through an African festival model that uses the spaces of the location to give the audience a unique and transformative experience. By hosting the festival across multiple venues, it takes the music to the existing communities through partnerships with venues, audiences and initiatives. The event is further sustained as it builds multiple businesses across all levels of the production.

At its core Jazz Against Apartheid follows the principles of music education, skills transfer and economic stimulus or what is known in Germany as “Nachwuchsforderung” – the conscious policy and practice of transferring societal values, knowledge and skills to the next generation. Jazz Against Apartheid achieves this through international co-operation, music tuition, dialogue sessions and business seminars and on-the-job training, mentorship and facilitation.

Well-established and highly professional international musicians from Germany, London, Denmark and Canada bring valuable professional know-how to South Africa to work together with the youth to build a better future. The artistic heritage of South African jazz has been cultivated over decades in Europe and especially in Germany. Young Jazz musicians in South Africa will have the opportunity to encounter the contemporary influences of Europe in this music, as they are embodied and audible in the Jazz Against Apartheid project.

Eastern Cape Musicians include NeAtyah Mbuyazwe (voc), Sisonke Xonti (sax), Sakhile Simani (tp), Chester Summerton (p), Lex Futshane (b), Sakhi Nompozolo (dr) Retsi Pule (voc) Siphokazi Ngxokolo-Bili (voc) Mlungisi Gegana (bass)