Rhodes University/Mellon Jazz Heritage Project Launch - Photographic Exhibition and Presentation by Lindelwa Dalamba
Venue: Beethoven Room, Rhodes Department of Music & Musicology
Date: Tuesday 07/06/2011
Time: 17h30
Price: Free
The Rhodes University/Mellon Jazz Heritage Project will be launched with a special multi-media event at the Beethoven Room on Tuesday, 7 June.
Spearheaded by a cross-departmental group of jazz enthusiasts and academics lead by Dr Jeff Brukman (HOD Music), Dr Nishlyn Ramanna (academic specialist in jazz studies) and Prof Robert van Niekerk (Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research), the three year project will explore the Eastern Cape's extraordinary contribution to South Africa's jazz heritage by digitizing and archiving near forgotten local recordings from the 1950s through to the 80s, and conducting oral history research with veteran musicians who kept the jazz flame burning during the dark years of grand apartheid.
Tuesday's function will see the unveiling of six never before seen photographs of the acclaimed Blue Notes' at their first ever gig while in exile in London in 1965. Comprising Chris McGregor (piano), Mongezi Feza (trumpet), Dudu Pukwana (sax), Johnny Dyani (bass), and Louis Moholo (drums) the quintet (all from the old Cape Province) played a uniquely "Afro-modernist" jazz that took the London jazz scene by storm. The photographs were taken by an as yet unidentified photographer working for the Daily Worker newspaper and their negatives lay forgotten in the UK Communist Party archives until Robert van Niekerk recently discovered them on an online website dedicated to ephemera from political struggles between the 1950's and 1980's. Thanks to the wizardry of retired RU technician John Keulder who worked in the Geography Department's photo labs for some 30 years, the ageing negatives have been painstakingly brought to life in a darkroom. These non-digitised photographs are thus one of the most authentic representations of the original 45 year old negatives. The photographs will be placed on permanent exhibition in the Beethoven Room.
Tony McGregor - brother of the late Chris McGregor - is the evening's honoured guest. He will speak briefly about the photographs and the Blue Notes' legacy. Thereafter Lindelwa Dalamba - a Rhodes Music graduate currently completing her doctorate on the Blue Notes at St John's College, Cambridge - will present a brief academic paper on the impact the Blue Notes had on the British jazz scene. The evening will conclude with the playing of a selection of seminal Blue Notes tracks from Van Niekerk's personal collection of their original vinyl releases.
Book Launch
The main focus of the launch will be the Institute of Social & Economic Research's "The Fate of the Eastern Cape: History, Politics and Social Policy" which was published earlier this year.
Date: Wednesday 8th June 2011
Time: 17h00
Venue: Senior Common Room, Admin Building
