Music festival in Maputo adds to creative economy

In 2010 Mozambican musician and businessman Moreira Chonguiça created the Morejazz brand, an initiative to bridge music and the economy with jazz.

The centrepiece is the annual Morejazz festival which showcases the multiethnic and multiracial cultural energy of Maputo and stitches together the Mozambican tourist attractions of cultural identity, rich cuisine and natural beauty.

The event makes Maputo one of the hottest new points of convergence for prominent figures in contemporary jazz. Hugh Masekela, Angelique Kidjo, Jonathan Butler, Manu Dibangu, Omar Sosa, Judith Sephuma and Sipho Mabuse are some of the musical luminaries who have performed and shared their experiences in the city.

"Mozambique is like an A380 plane taking off. The time is right. The idea is to make this city a safe city, a supercity, an ambitious city, a fashionable city. There are different tools to do that. Jazz is one of them," Chonguiça says.

His success lies in his unique business philosophy of "availability, flexibility and visibility", combined with a strong commitment to social upliftment. He is reinventing perceptions of jazz in his efforts to popularise the genre as "sexy, sensual and controversial".

Title sponsors of the festival are BCI bank and Jeep Mozambique through its distribution company Entreposto Auto.

"Our business is beyond us, bigger than us. Mozambique is bigger than us. Africa is bigger than us. It is our responsibility to say to the world that Africa matters, not with words, but with actions," Chonguiça says.

A spinoff from the festival is the promotion and development of Mozambican music through education and sharing. Morejazz has created a scholarship partnership with the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, and every artist who visits the city for the festival gives masterclasses there.

"My job is to make people’s lives more complex, where they question more," Chonguiça quips. "If you start giving people everything they know, there is no evolution, no development and no thinking further."

As a former student of the Escola Nacional de Musica (national music school) in Maputo, Chonguiça has teamed up with elder Mozambican saxophonist and educator Orlando José da Conceição to create a development and performance platform called Morejazz Big Band. This has grown into a 40-piece ensemble with 25 saxophone players. They perform at functions, exhibitions and gala events across Mozambique and are at the centre of a full month of jazz development activities held annually during International Jazz Month in April.

Morejazz’s long-term plan is to introduce music into the school curriculum.

Now in its seventh year, the Morejazz festival takes place on the last weekend of October and is growing in popularity, particularly among jazz lovers from SA. With an exclusive five-star gala event in the gardens of the Polana Serena Hotel, and a full-day festival on the Port de Maputo waterfront, Morejazz attracts 6,000 visitors.

The effect on the GDP through hotel bookings, transport and the creation of jobs in the tourism and service industries is estimated at $1m.

The Mozambican ministry of culture has recognised the 
power of jazz as a vehicle that can shape peoples’ lives and behaviour by calling for performances and workshops to be held at schools. Culture Minister Silva Armando Dunduru is very aware of the importance of the creative economy.

"Since the late 1970s, Maputo has embraced diverse cultural expressions, particularly jazz music," Dunduru says. "Until the end of the last century, this musical rhythm counted on staunch followers such as Rangel, our respected photographer. Today the face of jazz is the renowned young Mozambican musician Moreira Chonguiça."

Chonguiça’s endeavours are marked by a selfless desire to honour the living legends and cultural symbols of Mozambican music. Mozambique has more than 20 ethnic groups and a rich and diverse musical and dance tradition ranging from marrabenta dance rhythm of Maputo to the ancient cultural symbol, the timbila instrument (indigenous African xylophone) of Zavala.

Chonguiça has created a recording and performance project, aptly titled Khanimambo, which means "thank you". The project promotes the hidden music and elder musicians who have kept musical joy alive, particularly during the civil war that raged between independence in 1975 and the peace accord in 1992.

Musical greats on the project include Dilon Djindje, the 85-year-old Marrabenta icon; soaring vocalist Wazimbo; afro-rock funkster Chico António; maestro educator Horténcia Langa and female singer Zena Bacar.

"We are only going to be people if we respect people. We are only going to respect people if we respect heritage. We are only going to respect heritage if we embrace culture," Chonguiça says. "Anybody who is true to himself will stand up. We are dynamic. That is the story we have to tell the world."

Manu Dibangu, the 84-year-old Cameroonian saxophone maestro, is a supporter of Chonguiça’s work. After several successful projects they will be launching their first collaborative album at the 18th Cape Town International Festival.

They will follow this up with a series of workshops and events in Maputo.

Chonguiça will take the opportunity to present the man behind the music and the experiences that have moulded Dibangu’s unique sound.

"I am crying inside, I am a very blessed guy. Manu Dibangu is double my age and he has seen everything," he says.

from  www.businesslive.co.za