Arts Alive International Festival 2004

The recent Johannesburg Arts Alive International Festival reinforced the City’s Newtown label as the cultural hub of the African continent and proved that Art is Alive and Living in Jozi.Says organiser Nomahlubi Simamane: “Our decision to shorten the duration of the programme from 10 to 4 days paid off huge dividends. Over an action packed weekend, we featured 25 acts with a compliment of 134 artists, comprising a mix of 7 international artists covering the US, Paris, Congo and Uganda and local artists totalling 127. The weekend created high impact within the budget that was allocated to this year’s festival and we were pleased with the attendances which were way up on last year.”More than 11 000 fans arrived to see American hip-hop star 50 Cent, but the biggest turn-out was for Arts Alive’s premier event – the free jazz concert at Zoo Lake, which attracted 30 0000 people who had come to listen to the sounds of Nana Coyote, Steve Kekana, Joe Nina, Sakhile, Louis Mhlanga, Thandiswa Mazwai, Price Kupi, Swazi Dlamini and Tribe.

The organisers’ endeavour to attract diverse audiences by offering a wide range of music and art styles proved extremely successful with most events attracting crossover audiences.

“Africa Unites” with Koffi Olomide (Congo), Busi Mhlongo (SA), Jabu Khanyile (SA) and Suthukazi Arosi (SA) drew an audience of over 1 600. The unfortunate non-arrival of Cheikh Lo from Dakar, due to immigration problems, was swiftly managed with the replacement of our own Johnny Clegg, who wowed the audience. The cutting edge youth cultural event “Freedom to Dance” with Frankie Feliciano from New York and Cut Killer from Paris, along with DJ Mond