Windhoek Jazz Festival Returns With A Bang

They say good artists come and go ,but Jonathan Butler is simply the type of artist you never want to see go.

It has been exactly 46 years since the left-handed guitarist and singer first graced our shores as a supporting act for Richard Jon Smith during the 77 Roadshow in 1977. The roadshow also included the velvet-voiced Lionel ‘Mr Music’ Petersen, while South African supergroup The Rockets provided the back-up music.

Then just a teenager who thrilled South African music fans as Little Jonathan Butler – one half of the teen duet alongside the late Little Ronnie Joyce – there seems to be no end to the glittering music career of the Cape Town-born singer, now based in the United States.

He may have transformed into one of the world’s most recognisable jazz musicians, but the gifted singer will always be remembered by Namibians as the young singer who thrilled the audiences with hits like ‘Please Stay’, ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and ‘Fundamental Reggae’.

He rocked the South African music scene with ‘Please Stay’, a cover of the American group Drifters’ hit, and he once again stirred up emotions on Saturday night when he opened his gig with the same song during the Windhoek Jazz Festival at Vegkop Stadium.

Interestingly, Butler’s repertoire has an equal mixture of gospel, pop and jazz, something he has seemingly worked very hard to blend to perfection.

Backed by a group of gifted young musicians from Cape Town, Butler put up a stellar act that clearly proved why he is rated among top international jazz musicians.

A far cry from when he first toured South West Africa, when he mostly performed covers of top international acts often banned from touring South Africa because of the cultural boycott imposed on the country due to the apartheid laws of the time.

The stocky singer from Athlone was now belting out his own songs, including the masterful ‘Lies’ – arguably his biggest hit to date, which gained him worldwide recognition and a Grammy nomination in 1987.

The song, which also reached number 18 on the United Kingdom Official Singles Chart, spent 12 weeks in total in the top 100, no mean feat for an African-born musician at the time.

Another great Butler hit performed was ‘If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)’, his cover version of the Staple Singers song, which he performed with Ruby Turner.

He also treated the audience to his jazz version of ‘No Woman, No Cry’, which was a far cry from the exciting up-tempo pop version he belted out during his teen years in Cape Town.

Apart from showing off his prowess with his acoustic guitar during performances of oldies like ‘Crossroads’ and ‘7th Avenue’, Butler made sure to leave a lasting impression, cementing the fact that he remains one of the best voices in the business.

For sure, Little Maestro conquered the audience and proved why he is considered good enough to share the stage with world-renowned jazz musicians like Kirk Whalum, George Duke, Earl Klugh and Gerald Albright.

Namibian musicians like Esme Songbird and Erna Chimu didn’t trail too far behind Butler performance-wise, holding the large and lively crowd in thrall and shouting for more.

Backed by a lively band of gifted musicians, Esme opened her act with Letta Mbuli’s ‘Music In The Air’ before she added ‘Magic’ by Zamajobe to her repertoire.

The audience was warming up nicely to her when she added her own hit ‘Tarekhoe’, coming up with a nice medley before enacting Brenda Fassie’s superhit ‘Promises’ with a beautiful vocal range that may have left even hard-to-please MaBrrr smiling in the hereafter.

Then arrived the time for the masterful Chimu to wow the crowd, and boy did she pull out all the stops to present the sold-out Vegkop crowd with an energetic performance.

Chimu surely woke the crowd, who streamed to the front of the stage to watch her perform her own compositions with much vibrancy, proving why she was once named artist of the year at the Namibian Annual Music Awards.

The gifted singer received cheers throughout her performance, dishing out her own songs ‘//Ae Ta Mataha’, ‘Daniba Samre’, ‘Kudingani’, ‘Uprising’ and ‘Haiserute’, which she dedicated to president Hage Geingob.

Suzi Eises showed that not even a pregnancy could stop her from blowing her saxophone at the grand jazz event, while Savannah Afros also put up a high-octane performance.

The fast-raising jazz star Bongani Soul won the heart of the crowd, while young acts like Yesterdaye and Najah proved that they have the potential to turn into greats.

The Windhoek Jazz Festival lived up to expectations and we are hoping for a bigger and better event next year. Kudos to Fortune Nanus and her dynamic organising team.