Topdog SA Gearing Up For Nama Jazz Series Iv At Baxter Theatre

Well known Cape Town based band, TopDog SA, will be taking patrons on an indigenous journey with their fourth instalment of Nama Jazz Series at Baxter Theatre from 04 to 06 July 2019.

The band, having successfully performed their first three instalments at Artscape Arena will be drawing music from the ancient well of African music and musical instruments, fusing it with modern Cape Jazz traditions and genres. This presentation, known as Nama Jazz Series IV will be underlined with the narrative - "WHO ARE WE" and "THIS IS WHO WE ARE".

Nama Jazz will also head into the show aiming to make a meaningful contribution to society, having recently adopted the under-resourced and underprivileged Dryden Street Primary School as the core focus of the show. Based in Salt River, the school of more than 120 years old caters for largely underprivileged communities from Khayelitsha, New Crossroads and Phillipi areas. It relies quite heavily on fundraising efforts to support its infrastructure requirements and daily school feeding needs.

Speaking on what audiences could expect, TopDog SA's Camillo Lombard said: "Nama Jazz IV will explore deeper into our indigenous roots, with the launching of our DVD. Our quest in pushing the indigenous envelope has led us to understanding our genealogical thread as African people, and in our case, the people from the Western !Xamka (Cape). People will experience musical stories of our journey endorsing our musical geniuses of the past, with fusion a modern jazz context influenced by our visit to the San Park on the West Coast Route !Khwa ttu".

In the show, TopDog SA will use Mouth Bows, the Boesmans Klavier (African piano), the Blik Kitaar, the talking drum, rice shakers - instruments used by the Cape Khoena. These instruments are the origins of their music which links these indigenous instruments to contemporary sound such as the Accordion, Banjo, Guitars, Melodica, Saxophone and Drums that will equally feature in the performance.

The band is composed of an all-star cast including Donveno Prins (Saxophone), Camillo Lombard (keyboard), Charlton Daniels (bass), Mornay Hoffmeester (drums) and Mark Williams (lead guitar).

TopDog SA was established six years ago and has already made a name for themselves as one of South Africa's premier jazz bands having performed with local and international legends such as Jonathan Butler, Karin White, All 4 One and Tevin Campbell amongst others.

Nama Jazz is a new term that has given their music unique style and is a fusion between indigenous melodies, rhythms and jazz chord progressions.

Their fans can expect to hear tunes such as Origins, Herrie, Krotoa se Hooglied and many more.

Tickets (from R150 per person) are available at www.webtickets.co.za