The rural areas of the Western Cape are full of wonders and beauty and are drawing South Africans from all over the country to settle there, setting up cottage businesses and drawing tourists with their festivals and arts and crafts.
One such town is Prince Albert on the R303 in the Warm Bokkeveld, as you leave the Koue Bokkeveld town of Ceres. Here a Jazz festival has sprung up and is now in its second year.
Called The Journey to Jazz festival it is so much more than music. It is a celebration of the human spirit and cultural delights and offers locals and visitors to Prince Albert a wide range of extended events and activities to fill their days and nights, in addition to the incredible performances on offer from a world-class line-up of artists appearing between May 1 and 5. There’s something for everyone…
Journey to Jazz (J2J) is an event created by the Prince Albert Community Trust (PACT), an NPO that designs and delivers impactful programmes aimed at upskilling and developing Prince Albert’s youth along with those from the surrounding areas.
The festival is staged over multiple days and multiple venues throughout the town and welcomes jazz artists from South Africa and abroad, as well as a discerning audience from around the country and further afield.
Jazz music is not a well-known genre in the Karoo, and the past two years have been a revelation for the surrounding residents. Thus, the festival organisers, together with the festival’s creative director, Brenda Sisane, have originated the Karoo Jazz Project, which in 2024 is under the direction of Ramon Alexander.
This project is aimed at discovering talent in the communities in and around Prince Albert, of which Alexander has already identified an abundance.
This year, Journey to Jazz turns the spotlight on local resident and internationally acclaimed textile designer and entrepreneur Frances VH, who is the festival’s featured artist for 2024.
Frances and her studio have produced a collection specially curated for the festival called the “Voordeur Collection”, a woven textile fabrication that pays homage to the walls, doors, blooms and everyday happenings on Prince Albert’s Botterblom Straat.
Kim Winter, who is curating this year’s festival activities for Journey to Jazz, shares that Prince Alberters have a saying they live by – “Groet is ’n moet (greeting is a must), which is why we are one of the friendliest towns in South Africa and why we have designed our activities programme around welcoming our festival goers to make them feel at home while they are here.”
She also mentions that the town’s other ethos, stemming from one of its bygone residents, Outa Lappies, is to make something out of nothing. Wise words to live by.
To explore and expand the senses from within, the festival offers two hands-on artistic workshops; Connect with Clay and connect with yourself in the meditative practice of making pinch pots with Sue Savage or participate in an Embodied Drawing Workshop – Drawing with Mindfulness with Rebecca Haysom.
Both workshops emphasise play and process and are suitable for anyone with a bit of curiosity. All materials are provided.
Also on offer during the week will be the Prince Albert ‘Markie’, and outdoor space in which to gather, for a quick, light bite, shop local produce and arts and crafts.
You can experience the magic of the cosmos come to life with a special Night Sky Tour under the blanket of stars as the mysteries of the universe are unravelled.
The town’s Fransie Pienaar Museum will also open its doors for a magical evening for a Night at the Museum which involves a quintessential Karoo roosterkoek and witblitz (locally made moonshine), by the fire, and a look at the Outa Lappies exhibit for inspiration.
For those with an intrepid spirit, why not experience Prince Albert’s night-time Ghost Walk, including a visit to an unusual graveyard!
The Prince Albert Gallery is also set to host tours of its latest showings, which include Wehrner Lemmer’s sculptures The Glistening Earth and Johan Bloom’s abstract landscapes Landscape of Awe – The Swartberg Series, both a celebration of the natural world.
With nature very much in mind, local ecology expert Honorary Professor Sue Milton-Dean will guide walkers on a 2km trail with spectacular Karoo desert scenery and fascinating endemic succulent plants.
Getting into shape for any of the cultural activities on offer or just to keep up with the beat, Journey to Jazz offers festival goers the opportunity to kick-start their mornings with a fabulous mat Pilates session, to the tune of jazz music, or a Forrest, Yin or Kundalini Yoga session on Wednesday or Friday mornings during the festival.
How about the Prince Albert parkrun on Saturday, May 4, starting at 8am at the Odendaal Stadium? Mountain biking enthusiasts can join a social ride with young developmental cyclists to explore 42km on back roads and across private farms. Please note this is not technical – please bring your own bike and helmet.
Duration: about 2½ hours and all proceeds go to the Prince Albert cycling development project.
With so much to do and see, it’s no wonder that the festival has also arranged for tasty activities to whet the whistle, including koffie en beskuit at the Hope Warrior Coffee Shop at the PACT Centre in Botterblom Straat, and sublime wine tasting at Fernskloof Vineyard’s tasting room on Church Street.
Tickets and costs for all activities are available on Quicket.co.za along with tickets to the various music performances happening in venues across the town. For more information on artists, performances, or activities, please see www.journeytojazz.co.za
A small commission from the activity tickets goes towards supporting the Prince Albert Community Trust (PACT) whose work in upskilling and developing the town’s youth is exemplified in the staging of Journey to Jazz.