Gugu Sibiya

Gugu Sibiya

SABC, one of the major sponsors of the eighth yearly Cape Town International Jazz Festival, will broadcast the prestigious event on television.

Jazz lovers who could not make it to the festival can watch a four-part series of the music fest on SABC3, including the goings-on behind the scenes at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Interviews with various artists will be shown on Sundays, April 22, April 29, May 6 and May 13, at 10pm.

The channel will hopefully have captured how the festival has become one of the major tourist boosters in the Mother City.

Thousands of jazz lovers from all nooks and crannies of South Africa, as well as surrounding countries, flocked to Cape Town to be part of this illustrious event.

Affirming their popularity were artists such as Randy Crawford and Joe Sample, Sibongile Khumalo, Pantsula, Khaya Mahlangu and Stimela.

International blockbusters Ladysmith Black Mambazo predictably packed the massive Kippies stage, and even induced a sing-along from the huge crowd.

So did the stunning Senegalese musician Ismael Lo.

He sang in French, strummed on his guitar and played the melancholic harmonica, winning the crowd wholesale.

Newcomer HHP proved he is "it".

He is the second artist to perform on two different stages at the event.

A star was born that night and this will hopefully take the hip-hop artist's career to the next level.