Local jazz lovers are in for the treat of a lifetime as the First National Bank Botswana, in conjunction with Urban Motion and Street Horn “FNB All That’s Jazz” will be treating them to a two-day festival, featuring multiple Grammy award winner and contemporary jazz musician, David Sanborn, world leading pianist and composer Joe Sample, and our very own songbird, Shanti Lo, performing the opening act.
Sanborn is one of the most commercially successful American alto saxophonists, with six Grammy awards under his belt. He is also responsible for a number of motion picture soundtracks, including the soundtrack for the popular television hit series, LA Law.
During his illustrious career, Sanborn has also collaborated with other music legends like David Bowie, Kenny G and Carly Simon.
Alongside Sanborn will be pianist Joe Sample who, for the better part of his career, formed part of a trendy band known as ‘The Crusaders’. Sample was one of the pioneers of the electric keypad and used this innovation to lead his group to hit a ‘Commercial high water mark’ with their seventies hit single titled “Street Life.”
Local jazz star, Shanti Lo, will serenade the attendants of the festival opening the show on both nights and if any of his past performances, both locally and internationally, are anything to go by, the audience should expect nothing short of an impeccable performance.
The Operations Officer of Urban Promotions, Vince Mosimanewakgang, stated that they are primarily targeting FNB clients and Jazz enthusiasts and have so far realised that the show has generated a lot of interest more in the older generation than the younger one.
The festival is scheduled for July 6th 2012 and prior to this, there will be a mentoring workshop which will “see local musicians interacting with David Sanborn and Joe Sample”.
“This will be a platform for benchmarking and sharing best practices amongst local and international musicians,” said a media release.
Other stakeholders expected to take part in this workshop include the Department of Arts and Culture, Botswana Music Union (BOMU), Botswana Entertainment Promoters Association (BEPA) and the media.
“We are very excited to sponsor and host for the very first time in Botswana, the two world-renowned artists performing with our very own talented Shanti- Lo, another first by FNB,” said FNBB Chief Executive Officer, Lorato Boakgomo- Ntakhwana.
She explained the nature of their corporate responsibility acts and alluded to the prime time slot FNBB has on Botswana Television, which they do not use to advertise but rather to educate viewers on banking matters through their in-house produced show, “1st Issues”.
Mosimanewakgang gave the assurance that they have a backup plan to ensure that load shedding and power cuts do not disrupt the flow of the festival.
Tickets are priced at P950 and P700.
