When all four band members wear shades on stage on a cold night in Makhanda, just know the performance is going to be a spectacle.
This is a discovery promptly made by the audience at the debut of Kids Love Jazz at the National Arts Festival on Tuesday.
Cognisant of their young audience, the band catered to their palate with an offering that plays around with up-and-down tempos.
But in all honesty, the crowd was as diverse in age as it was in ethnicity — testament to music’s power to unite people.
Drummer Tebogo Mosane, who is known in music circles as Amongst The People I Know (ATPIK), has unmistakable 1990s/early 2000s influences.
The response from the crowd when the musician politely requested to remove his jacket even suggested that these influences go deeper than music — artists back then never shied away from flexing their sex appeal.
“When you make music that doesn’t have lyrics, it makes it a bit hard to connect with your audience,” ATPIK asserted.
However, his statement was fiercely disputed by the bumping of heads and tapping of feet in the auditorium, suggesting that the absence of lyrics did not create any barriers whatsoever.
He shared with the audience the pleasant surprise of something he had created in his backyard, resonating with audiences in SA and beyond, acknowledging that his was a niche sound that people struggled to place.
He expanded on this comment in a later interview, saying live performances were the only time he got to share this sound with the public.
“It’s a kind of magic that you send something out into the universe,” he said.
“I’m grateful to be able to share this music on stage because even chefs don’t usually get to enjoy the food they create.
“It’s really affirming when my music is well-received because it also says that people are open to trying out new experiences.”
ATPIK invited a young pianist, The Snail Way, to the stage whose mellow musicality merged with the former’s highly energised drumming.
Together, they created a layered performance that emphasised the intergenerational appeal of Kids Love Jazz.
The kind of jazz that reverberated on stage left some audience members feeling like the genre had completely released its inhibitions.
The music almost serves as a reminder of last month’s interview with Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz winner Gabi Motuba, who asked, “What is jazz, especially in a South African context where things like history and the narrative of space and safety should be taken into account?”
Some of the younger KLJ members are still navigating student debt, while others often engage in “unpaid labour” in an attempt to solidify their music journeys.
“As a movement, we are not waiting for things to make sense before doing what we want to do,” ATPIK said.
“Even without a budget, with student debt, we see these ideas through.”
His respect for the younger members is unmistakable when he recalls how he did not have their courage when he was their age.
It’s impossible not to notice the absence of women in the band — something ATPIK says was not by design.
“There’s no omission of women per se; I just didn’t have a big enough pool of women to draw from.”
The final performance of Kids Love Jazz is on July 3 from 8.30pm to 9.30pm at the Beethoven Room.
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