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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

IN a bid to revive Jazz music in Bulawayo, there will be a commemoration of the genre at Queens Sports Club tomorrow.

International Jazz Day will be celebrated on Tuesday but the Bulawayo festivities will start this afternoon.

Event coordinator, Prince Tshabalala through his Big Scale promotions company, said they do not want the jazz genre to die in the city. 

“We want to bring people together and form a Jazz club in Bulawayo. We’ll hold a meeting with the people who’ll attend the Saturday show and come up with a committee from there. 

“This committee will determine how much it’ll cost to join the Jazz club as well as the benefits of being a member,” said Tshabalala.

He said he was pleased to note that there were other efforts to revive jazz in the city.

“There’s something that’s happening (Jazz and Soul Sundae) at Green Gardens with regards to jazz which is pleasing as this will certainly keep the genre alive.”

Tshabalala said today there is no live band performing but DJs will play strictly jazz music to entertain the people.

“No band will perform tomorrow but we’ll be playing jazz music. There’s also a segment of the show where we shall play music from Zimbabwe, particularly Bulawayo,” said Tshabalala.

Bulawayo once had a vibrant jazz scene that had the likes of Cool Crooners, Jazz Impacto and Submarine Band who used to perform around the city. Cape to Cairo and Club Alabama were the venues for jazz shows during the late 90s. 

Bulawayo still has many groups and individuals that play jazz music but they are probably failing to secure venues for shows.

Last year, Ammara Brown headlined a jazz festival in the city and there were many artistes such as Thandi Dhlana, Prosper Tshuma & The Smart Birds, Ramsy K who performed on the night showing that jazz musicians are there but probably to not have the platform to showcase their talent.