No less than 35 of SA’s top artists and 17 international acts will take to four themed arena stages for the inaugural World Jam Music Festival on 6-7 December at Moses Mabhida Stadium. They will perform a cross section of music that holds appeal for all South Africans, both young to mature audiences, appealing to all communities and languages, before the closing performances on Saturday and Sunday nights where another 8 major acts will be added to the bill for the weekend.
Music award winning artist Kelis, Platinum selling album guitar band, The Kooks and the electrifying Bollywood Electro Dance Music extravaganza from the worldwide franchise BollyBoom headline the World Jam Music Festival. But it’s not just the magnitude of the festival that impresses, it is the quality of the music content, themed food experience and interactive lifestyle exhibitions that make this unique and an event not to be missed by any family or music fan!
“There are over sixty world class performances, where some musical styles and artists may be known and others will be something completely new to many. A varied “musical education” can be expected, which is exactly what we intend with this festival as we create a melting pot of cultural experiences. This is Durban, KwaZulu-Natal’s very own homebred event, and something that we will grow in years to come as an annual iconic event made posssible through local collaboration and partnerships,” says Craig Clay-Smith, of the Flagship Group and Communications Director for the festival.
Durban will get to see and hear, arguably the greatest and biggest line-up of South African talent combined across four themed arenas that will present a selection of genres including Rock and Blues, POP, Sounds from the Indian Ocean and West Indies, Smooth Jazz, the best of South Africa and contemporary, Hip Hop, Rap, Afrikaans Rock, and Bollywood Electro Dance Music from BollyBoom.
A Proudly South African line up includes Arno Carstens, Just Jinjer, Mango Groove, Prime Circle, Freshlyground, Jimmy Dludlu, Lira, Jeremy Loops, Khaya Mthethwa, Mandoza, Beatenberg, Shortstraw, Gangs of Ballet, Mathew Mole and a return to South Africa of The globally acclaimed Parlotones.
Come and see jazz and soul legends like Regina Bell, Najee and Alex Bujon in the New Orleans and Oceans arenas or Mango Groove and Kurt Darren in the Rainbow Arena complement newcomers like Lira, Mafikizolo, radio playlist leaders reggae group The Rudimentals, Durban’s own Natalie Rungan, plus Ernie Smith, Shortstraw, Jimmy Dludlu and The Meditators while Hip hop duo Locnville and Beatenberg up the tempo with their special POP, EDM and Rap.
When the arenas close down after 6pm on Saturday night, multi-music award winning Prime Circle, who has released five studio albums to date and achieved multi-platinum-selling status in South Africa, will open the bill in the main stadium for headline acts The Kooks and Kelis.
Striking up for the second major act of the evening is nothing less than quadruple-platinum selling album group, The Kooks who hail from Brighton in the UK. ‘Konk’, their 2008 sophomore album, entered the U.K. charts at number one. Their strong re-emerging in 2014 with’ Listen’ has all the elements of their fundamental classic British rock genre, but with a fresh twist: it engages with a fusion of soul, new wave and dance and has a very strong electronic flavor which brings this multi -award winning band way up to speed. Durban get ready to rock to a band who is currently experiencing their finest moment in the music industry!
American born Kelis who adds a special kind of girl power to the stage and will be able to quote the title of her fourth album by saying , ‘Kelis was here’ after she steps out on Saturday 6th. This chart topping, gold status singer, (‘Milkshake ‘ helped her third Album ‘Tasty’ to the top of the charts selling over 540,000 copies in the U.S in just two months) is a phenomenon. Many will remember Kelis for her debut album ‘Kaleidoscope’ which sold 290,000 copies in the US, but the debut single ‘ Caught out there,’ was an urban radio success, peaking at No.9 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart as well as becoming a video hit in America on BET and MTV. You don’t want to miss this powerhouse performance!
What better way to conclude the inaugural festival on Sunday night than with a four hour high energy EDM act never before seen in Africa. Durban! You have no idea what lies in store for you as BollyBoom presents an electrifying performance with state of the art technology, SFX, LEDS, lasers and a production which will make every inch of you move and shake! Hot, legendary names like Sonu Nigam, KK and rising star Benny Dayal as well as scintillating Anusha Mani and Joinita are amongst the star-studded lineup.
Beverley Theron, World Jam Music Festival Director says: “World Jam Music Festival is the perfect platform on which to launch this festival within a festival. EDM is a universal culture, which has true cross over appeal to all markets and demographics. It is a one in a million spectacle and we are very proud to be associated with this top billing for our Sunday program.”
Daily tickets are available at Computicket from Monday 20th October ranging from R300 – R950 and from R510 to R1615 for a two day pass. Hospitality and Exhibition space details are contained on the web site.
View the artist full line-up at www.http://www.worldjamdurban.com/
