One of the headline acts is Paul Hanmer along with guitarist and singer Neo Muyanga in conversation. They will present brand new material written especially for this festival.
Muyanga is a composer, sound artist and librettist.
His work traverses new opera, jazz improv and African idiomatic songs. He learned indigenous African song in the school choir in Soweto in the 1980s and he sang madrigals while studying in Italy in the ‘90s.
In 1996, he co-founded, with Masauko Chipembere, the duo, Blk Sonshine. In 2008, he co-founded, with Ntone Edjabe, the Pan-African Space Station - a platform for cutting-edge Pan-African music and sound art on the internet.
He has released nine recorded albums to date - his latest, the oratorio MAKEdbA (2019), explores the status of exile as core to the human condition in the 21st century.
Muyanga tours widely as a solo performer, bandleader and choral conductor.
I caught up with him last week.
More people wide-eyed, mystified by reality.
Apples.
A simple gift.
Resolving persistent consonance.
Absolutely - when I forget my own lyrics.
My time.
The vine of truth.
I lean towards the left.
s.s.q.l.
Plant a garden.
I am so very slow
Perhaps.
A Batman suit.
Ga se mo statse mo! (This is not the States!)
The fact that I fail to shut up more.
Running out of sleep.
Sleeping.
Try to be a plant - stand still and reach towards heaven.
I am in my rightful place.
I wish for world peace. Really I do!
Tickets to the 2020 Jazz and Classical Encounters Festival Vol 2 at Spier Amphitheatre can be purchased via Quicket.