SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition Laureates To Perform At Online World Jazz Conference

The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) Foundation has announced the names of five local Jazz laureates that will be presented to the Jazz world at the Online World Jazz Conference on Saturday this week.

The laureates to perform include Linda Sikhakhane – who coincidentally is being highlighted on Apple Music this month, Ntando Ngcapu who is presently studying with Berklee College of Music, in Boston USA, bassist Benjamin Jephta, and singers Keorapetse Kolwane, and Daniella Hart.

After earning his diploma in jazz/contemporary music from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Sikhakhane moved to the music industry hub of Johannesburg, where he began making a name for himself as a saxophonist.

He was awarded the SAMRO overseas scholarship for best instrumentalist in 2016.

“SAMRO is pleased to see its social responsibility initiatives yield such high dividends,” says James French, manager of the SAMRO Foundation. French says SAMRO Foundation is the key vehicle for outreach and sponsorship of arts programmes.

“The Foundation’s main objective is to create and maintain an environment in which the arts in South Africa can flourish including support to composers, musicians, and arts organisations,” says French.

“Amersfoort Jazz was lucky to be the host of already several laureates from South Africa,” says Alexander Beets, Director of the Amersfoort Jazz Festival.

“They were all of superb quality and made big impressions on both the audiences as well as our fellow festival directors.”

Beets says many of them toured internationally as a result of their Amersfoort Jazz performance. It’s a unique opportunity to play at such a big festival while at the same time presenting yourself to a worldwide network.

French notes that: “This year, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no festival, but we are still taking the opportunity to present our Jazz laureates to the global Jazz community.

He says the World Jazz Conference and the Amersfoort Jazz Festival have been valuable in helping SAMRO and the SAMRO Foundation maintain relationships with European partners.

“For each of the past six years, we were able to support and showcase our overseas scholarship competition laureates as part of the Amersfoort Jazz Festival who could perform in front of venue owners, and publicists from around the world,” says French.

Laureates who have attended the Amersfoort Jazz Festival include leading Jazz musicians Darren English (Trumpet 2012), Bokani Dyer (Keyboards 2014), and Zoë Modiga (Voice 2015).

“The opportunity has great dividends for them,” says French.

“For example, in 2016 Bokani Dyer met Paul Pace, the booking coordinator for the revered Ronnie Scots Jazz Club in the UK, and as a result performed there in 2019.”

French says on 21 November, SAMRO’s recent winners, Sikhakhane (Saxophone 2016), Ngcapu (Piano 2017), Jephta (Bass 2016), and Kolwane (Voice 2018) and Hart (Voice 2018) will “strut their stuff online at the JazzNL World Jazz Conference and show the world how South Africans groove”.

Participation at the conference is free and those interested can register for Friday 20 and Saturday 21 November on https://jazznl.com/.

“We are proud that many of our competition laureates have become ambassadors of South Africa’s musical talent and skill, and are well known both locally and overseas,” says French.