Tonight - Abdullah Ibrahim seeks talent for his city big band

Tonight - Abdullah Ibrahim seeks talent for his city big bandWESTERN CAPE
Abdullah Ibrahim seeks talent for his city big band
July 5, 2005

Cape Town will soon have its own jazz orchestra, the brainchild of internationally acclaimed jazz musician Abdullah Ibrahim.

Auditions for the Big Band component of the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra will be held in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg in the second half of this month. The CTJO Big Band will be officially launched in October or November this year.

Big bands normally have at least 18 members, but Ibrahim hopes to form a pool of musicians who could be used for various events.

He plans to launch a full chamber orchestra and the third phase of this project will involve a choral and traditional element. Auditions for the big band will be held from July 15 to 18 at the M7 Academy, 106 Darling Street, Cape Town, from 10am to 4pm.

Those applying should have excellent music-reading skills, with experience in jazz preferable but not essential
. No submissions will be necessary, but CVs should be brought along on audition day. There will be no callbacks.

Ibrahim will be returning briefly to South Africa on July 14.
Details: Marysa Leukes at the M7 Academy, 021 465 6261 or 082 769 4480, fax 021 461 9938 or e-mail mseven@mweb.co.za/

A movie on Ibrahim's life, Abdullah Ibrahim: A Struggle for Love, will be shown at the Encounters documentary festival at 8.15pm on Sunday, July 17, and at 6pm on Thursday, July 21, at Cinema Nouveau in the Waterfront.

In March, the film won a German TV award, the Adolf Grimme-Preis, beating 40 other films. It was premiéred at Ibrahim's 70th birthday celebrations in Germany in October last year.