It is expected that there will be a series of events that will precede the main event of the Gu Jazz Festival on June 27, this year.
The main event will be held at the Ugu Sports & Leisure Centre, Port Shepstone. This event, which returned last year with several programs, this year its organizers promised to return with a higher gear than usual after years of absence.
Siya Msomi of the Coolsounds Trading company, who is organizing this event in collaboration with the Ugu Municipality, revealed that they have already started the Offramp Experience, and will continue to hold events before the Ugu, which include prayers, mountain climbing, seeing tourist spots, accommodation ceremony and others.
“The Offramp Experience event will start with a gala dinner at the same venue on June 25, and others will follow. In this event, the Worship Experience will be held on June 26. There will also be different musicians that we will announce later. We are expecting 3,000 people and for the jazz event we are expecting 8,000 people. With all the events, we want people to come together and enjoy the music and everything that we will have. We have planned it. We say that the people who came out in large numbers will be happy with us. Likewise, we will not present all of them today. We plan to announce them later,” he explained.
The Mayor of Ugu Municipality, Mr. Sikhumbuzo Mqadi, said that through events like this, many people benefit and get job opportunities, not just musicians and owners of hotels and entertainment venues.
“You see, since the event has just been announced, we are going to go to the community to tell them about the job opportunities that will be available and we urge people to take the opportunities that arise. It will not end there, we had a lot of water problems in our area, all we can say is that problems like those are being solved so there are no problems that our guests will face,” he said.
At the jazz event, musicians including Naledi Aphiwe, Mawelele, Siphokazi, Mondli Ngcobo, Blaq Diamond group member Danya, jazz legend Don Laka, Ernie Smith, Bongani Nkwanyaka, Mnqobi Yazo, Olefied Khetha were arrested. DJ 101 and DJ Muntu are expected.