A Genre-Fluid Mini Music Festival Lands in Cape Town This Human Rights Weekend
On Sunday, 22 March, a bold new “mini” music festival titled What Is Jazz? arrives at Texas, a multi-purpose courtyard space in the heart of District Six.
Brought to you by Heineken, powered by FNB Speed Point and supported by the City of Cape Town and the Goethe Institut, the event playfully and provocatively poses a question to purists and newcomers alike: What is jazz?
As the city enters what many now refer to as “Jazz Week,” with an influx of jazz tourists and a flurry of programming, What Is Jazz? offers an alternative exploration—one rooted not in rigid genre definitions, but in spirit. The title functions as a rhetorical question, challenging notions of what qualifies as “jazz” and who gets to define it.
Jazz, after all, is as much a state of mind as it is a musical form. It is freedom of expression. Improvisation. Experimentation. A conversation between past and future. That ethos shapes this genre-fluid lineup—four boundary-pushing artists whose work draws from a jazz consciousness while moving seamlessly across folk, indigenous music, alternative soundscapes, and spiritual performance.
The Lineup
Desire Marea
The genre-defying, multi-disciplinary artist and sangoma from KwaZulu-Natal returns to Cape Town for the first time in over a year. Known for transcendent live performances that blur the lines between ritual, avant-garde pop, and spiritual jazz expression, Desire Marea embodies the freedom at the heart of this festival.
Muneyi
Hailing from Venda, Muneyi’s angelic voice and poetic folk storytelling evoke ancestral memory and emotional depth. His sound is intimate yet expansive—rooted in tradition, yet resonant with contemporary jazz sensibility.
Mishy Kope
An emerging star on the alternative folk scene, Mishy Kope brings textured songwriting and an arresting stage presence that speaks to a new generation of sonic explorers.
Sky Dladla
A master percussionist and indigenous music practitioner, Sky Dladla delves deep into her Xhosa roots. Her rhythmic storytelling channels heritage, healing, and improvisation—core tenets of jazz in its purest form.
