Mentoring through music: AfroFestSA chairman Jai Reddy

We managed to pin down the exceptionally busy man in charge during the festival, which ran from 15 to 23 December 2023, for a quick Q&A session.

MICHAEL BRITTON: We were unable to find anything specific about where and when the workshops will be held. We want to give feedback on the workshops and community development sessions, as we believe it is a vital part of community involvement. Can you update us on this, please?

JAI REDDY: George Werner is our workshop facilitator and will start with the youth and adult workshop programme once schools reopen in the new year. It is a logistical challenge to gather and bus youth to the respective venues during the school holidays, so we are planning to begin in March, 2024. This will be a series of multimedia workshops pertaining to music education, creating electronic press kits (EPKs), communication with media, online sales and streaming, amongst other topics. We will use experts in their respective fields to share information and also present their content. 

The Koena art exhibition was extraordinary and we were wondering how this was arranged to coincide with the festival. Was it planned, and where did the idea come from? Will it be a permanent part of the AfroFest SA programme?

Yes, it was planned. We decided about three months ago when Lukretia Booysen (of Koena Art Institute) heard that she had been given space at the Castle for an exhibition. I am assisting her, and she will also have jazz once a month at the gallery. We will definitely continue to work together wherever we can to push cultural music and arts programmes.

I would love to know more about what inspired and motivated you, Jai. What was the vision, what did you hope to achieve, and what kept you going when it all seemed hopeless? (Or did it all flow seamlessly and smoothly?)

After a social chat with Michael Stohr about the Canadian Afrofest festival, which he and a group of music lovers started 35 years ago, we decided to rename my festival after that one, and the AfrofestSA Music Festival was born. An NPO was registered and about four months ago work started in earnest. We have also cultivated a music exchange program between Toronto and Cape Town. For me, this festival is a continuation of a personal journey which started with a two-day festival at The 3 Arts Theatre in Plumstead in 1990. I have since coordinated festivals locally, owned jazz clubs and run projects locally and internationally, including the OBS Festival. My passion for high-quality music comes from a belief that it can serve as a socio-economic solution to poverty, especially in places like Cape Town, where gangsterism and drugs have taken hold. My business is also about putting money into musicians’ pockets, something I have been doing – through my jazz clubs, and through projects like orchestra development with Abdullah Ibrahim and Alvin Dyers, and through school tours which ran workshops for 10 000 to 12 000 youth annually.

Youth involvement and education fit in with my personal youth development programme. I teach kids to surf, paddleboard, make music and about plant medicine from the fynbos species. Steve Newman and Hilton Schilder assist with the music component. When we first started, and before his death, the late Errol Dyers also brought some love. No festival is seamless. It takes a certain kind of crazy to do it, and even crazier to do it with a young team who have no prior experience. In a very short time, they had to be informed, trained and assisted through the process. This is while dealing with a multitude of challenges. This magical team pulled off the very first AfrofestSA Music & Lifestyle Festival, and will be improving their skills with our ongoing projects.

The Castle as a venue seems to be perfect, an inspired idea that was referenced more than once by performers because of its brutal and repressive role in our past. It felt so much more relevant and meaningful than the soulless vibe of Cape Town International Convention Centre or many other potential venues. Will this become a standard venue?

After our post-production meetings this week, The Castle expressed their satisfaction with our conduct, and our business and our music model. They have invited us to continue to use the venue, which we think is a great idea. So 2024 will see us at this venue on multiple occasions, for our productions and also working with others.

Tell me more about the Afrofest Foundation.

The Afrofest Foundation is an independent NPO with no joint ownership by Afrofest Canada. Our relationship is a professional one, to create an artist exchange programme. This year saw Canadian-based African artists perform at the AfroFestSA Festival. We will nominate musicians from here to perform there in July 2024. We do receive some Canadian sponsorship, which helps take the pressure off. However, personal funds and private donor funds also helped this year’s festival. I want to make a special mention of the team that worked tirelessly in the background: the people who made the events appear seamless and effortless, deserve special recognition. Teaching and training them is all part of the AfroFestSA mentoring and education project. I celebrate our team of trainees and interns, including Celine Lincoln, Masii Funani, Cole Solomon, Ryan Lincoln, CJ Pietersen and Amber Clark. There is also Mpho Mohapi, in charge of logistics, and our MCs over the eight days, namely Koketso Sechane from SAFM, Saan Mohammed from Fine Music Radio (FMR) and Lord Veezus from Good Hope FM.