'Save the Rainbow' - artists unite to save the historic Rainbow Jazz club
Twenty big-name guitarists have joined forces to hold a fund-raising concert for the historic music venue, which boasts a colourful history of star performances
BRITS – Many businesses are crashing under the economic pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the latest to be hit is the Rainbow Restaurant and Jazz Club in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal.
But there is some hope.
Twenty international guitarists have joined forces to hold a fund-raising concert for the historic music venue, which not boasts a colourful history of star performances but also occupies a significant part of history as a fortress for scholars, activists and creatives in the battle against apartheid.
“The Rainbow’s place in the history of South African jazz and the struggle against apartheid is extraordinary. A non-racial focal point and haven for activists, trade unionists, students, journalists and other anti-apartheid types during the repressive 1980s, the Rainbow remains a vibrant multi-cultural live music hotspot that still offers a vision of a ‘New South Africa’ that sometimes feels like a dream deferred,” read a statement about the upcoming fundraiser.
In line with the lockdown regulations to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the concert will take place online. Ticket holders will receive a link to watch the performances on the evening of Wednesday, 29 July 2020.
Guitarist featured in the line up are:
Mageshen Naidoo
Seb Goldswain
Nick Pitman
Ethan Naidoo
Dane Francis
Michelle Stent
Nibs van der Spuy (POR)
Guy Buttery
Cebo Ngema
Madala Kunene
Sazi Dlamini
Marius Botha and Lu Dlamini
Milton Chissano (MOZ)
Dimitri Barry
Mbijana Sibisi (BEL)
Pops Mohamed
Tu Nokwe
Bheki Khoza
Bethuel Tshoane
Deon Krishnan (UK)
Max Mikula
Solomon Willy (NGA)
"[Madala] Kunene and [Bheki]Khoza head a veritable who's who of KwaZulu-Natal guitarship which includes the Centre for Jazz’s Sazi Dlamini and Mageshan Naidoo, idiosyncratic guitar wizard Guy Buttery, the dynamic Nick Pitman, Cebo Ngema and Nibs van der Spuy, who is currently based in Portugal."
WATCH: Save the Rainbow
