South Africa Car Hire

Gone are the days of high-priced air tickets where you were happy just to get to your destination in one piece. Ever since the budget and private airlines tore up SAA’s monopoly over South African skies, ticket prices have plummeted and we expect nothing less than a bargain basement fare. Even if it does include chicken or beef…

Winter is usually the time for hibernating at home, but if you’ve got the travel bug and want to make the most of winter, here are some of the best airline deals on offer at the moment…

British Airways
British Airways is without doubt the airline with the best specials this winter, with some great offers from South Africa to Europe. BA has slashed its fares to London between June and September, offering two World Traveller specials starting from just R6240.

The low season special runs from 1 - 25 June and from 7 - 30 September, with prices from Johannesburg starting at R6240, Durban R6733, Cape Town 6924 and Port Elizabeth R7231.

The airline is also offering shoulder season fares from 26 June - 6 September when fares from Johannesburg are R7024, Durban R7733, Cape Town R7724 and Port Elizabeth R8031.

These offers must be booked before 30 September and outbound travel must take place between 1 June - 30 September. To find out more visit ba.com.

Lufthansa
Lufthansa is also making the most of the European summer, with special fares to a range of European destinations, starting from only R4500 from Johannesburg, R5100 from Cape Town or Durban and R5300 from Port Elizabeth, George, East London, Upington and Richards Bay.

What’s more, if you book your ‘Winter Warmer’ online you’ll save R350 off the price of your air ticket!

Remember though that these fares above exclude airport taxes and applicable surcharges, and seats are subject to availability. Tickets are available for sale until 30 June 2007, and all travel must be completed between 1 July - 30 September 2007. The minimum stay is seven days and maximum stay is two months.

kulula.com
kulula normally leads the way when it comes to cut-throat specials across the country, but things are quiet on the big, green flying front. Remember though that Vitality members can save up to 30 percent on kulula.com flights, and can now also enjoy discounts of up to 20 percent on car hire booked through through kulula.com/cars, even if you haven’t booked a kulula.com flight.

Also remember that eBucks members can now log on to either the kulula.com or eBucks websites and book kulula.com tickets. You can either pay in full with free eBucks, part pay with eBucks, pay in full with a credit card or ‘pay later’ within 24 hours. Confirmed bookings can also be viewed online.
MangoMango is also helping South Africans make the most of the quiet season, with their great 'Winter Warmer Special', which offers all day fares from R222. Their 'Happy Hour Special' will also run for the month of June only on www.flymango.com. Book between between 1pm and 2pm daily and you could get your hands on fares as low as R129. The special is for travel between 1-30 June. These one-way fares include VAT and all applicable taxes.

1time
While there are also no discounted flights on offer with 1time at the moment, Mastercard holders are in for a pleasant surprise as they’ll receive a 10 percent discount, before airport taxes and VAT, when booking with their credit card. The special runs for the entire month of June, and to qualify for the discount when using your MasterCard all you have to do is tick the appropriate box on the bottom of the booking page. For more information or to book your next flight with your MasterCard, go to <www.1time.co.za.

Nationwide
Nationwide Airlines is making it easier than ever to enjoy a local break, with their domestic ‘Enjoy’ special fares. One-way tickets between Johannesburg and Cape Town start at just R404, George from R393 and Durban R301. Flights from Cape Town to Durban start from just R403.

Fares are available for sale from 4 June 2007 - 31 January 2008. All applicable taxes and insurance are included in the fare, but seats are limited. All travel must be completed on / before 31 January 2008 and a change of reservations is not permitted. For more information and to book, visit www.flynationwide.co.za.

BA/Comair
BA/Comair, Southern Sun and Avis car rental have teamed up to offer some fantastic offers for South Africans to experience the spectacular West End show ‘The Lion King’ in Johannesburg. Choose between a range of Lion King travel packages which include accommodation only (the accommodation will include two show tickets); flight and accommodation; car rental and accommodation; or flight, car rental and accommodation. Packages also include complimentary entry to the Montecasino Bird Park, upgraded show tickets and a R50 free play casino voucher for Montecasino.

Packages start from R1645 per person sharing, and can be booked through the Lion King SA Travel Packages Office at www.lionkingsa.co.za.

SAA failed to submit any special offers in time for publication.

Article from http://travel.iafrica.com/
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Labels: South Africa - Entertainment

It’s time to make sure you have the best seats in the house for this year’s Loerie awards, taking place in Margate at the end of July 2007. Bookings opened today, Friday 30 March, and in addition, preferential airfares to industry professionals travelling from Johannesburg and Cape Town en route to the Loeries are available through the official carrier agreement with low cost airline Mango, announced earlier this week.

Comments Andrew Human, MD of The Loerie Awards, ““We are very pleased to have Mango on board as a partner this year. They are a great young brand and willing to fly that extra mile.

“Bookings for the awards and flights get snapped up quickly so I advise all those planning on coming to the festival weekend to start booking their tickets for the awards, flights and accommodation now so as to avoid disappointment,” he advises.

Booking instructions are as follows:

* All award tickets are on a first-come, first-served basis. Go to www.theloerieawards.co.za/festival/tickets/ for all booking information.
* Go to www.theloerieawards.co.za/festival/flights/ to book flights for the festival weekend.
* If you haven’t already done so, you’d best arrange your accommodation while you’re about it. All accommodation information can be found at www.theloerieawards.co.za/festival/accomodation/
Don’t forget that the entry deadline is 15 May, so everyone involved in brand communications - whether traditional advertising, architecture or ambient media - still has time to compile their entries and stand a chance of winning the industry’s most sought-after accolade.

For all information regarding entry categories, criteria and inspiration, as a full archive of winners since 1978, go to www.theloerieawards.co.za. The 2006 printed annual is also available.

SABC, Media24, The Zulu Kingdom and Vodacom are major sponsors of this year’s awards. Other sponsors and partners are: Aon-Shield, Avis, Brandhouse, Gallo Images, Gearhouse, Grid, Hetzner, Hibiscus Coast Municipality, Lightworks, Lithotech, Newsclip, Ogilvy Johannesburg, Orchestra Blue, Ornico Group, Paygate, Rocketseed, Six Million Dollar Media, Sonovision, The Design Indaba, Ugu District Municipality, Verdantpoint, Magna Carta, H-Factor, Leg Studios, Havaseat, LED Vision, JuJu.
Article from http://www.bizcommunity.com/
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This year’s Cape Town International Jazz Festival features intense gyrations on and off stage, writes Daniel Friedman
Unsurprisingly, this year’s Cape Town International Jazz Festival boasts impressive international jazz names such as legendary drummer Jack de Johnette, Byron Wallen, Jerome Harris, Jason Yarde, Jeremy Pelt and the ever-popular Joe Sample.

It isn’t all about the jazz, though. Pop singer Randy Crawford brings some commercial clout to the proceedings. Senegal’s Ishmael Lo, Algeria’s Fethi Tabet and our own Madala Kunene are among the artists supplying an African element. Sounds from further afield will be provided by the Caribbean Jazz Project as well as Cuba’s Paquito D’Rivera and Danilo Perez. Rapper HHP, with his large, live band and ska kings the Rudimentals will lend the fest some hip, urban credibility.

But what boldly stands out is the presence of a couple of the world’s best-loved funk bands: the Average White Band and Nils Landgren’s Funk Unit.

Guitarist Onnie McIntyre, a founding member of stalwart Scottish funk act The Average White Band, which has been going for nearly 35 years, feels that funk -- unlike jazz, its more intellectual cousin -- is a form of music that inspires dance. “People take music too seriously. There’s a lot of pretentiousness involved, but music should be about joy, not just brow-beating. Funk comes from soul and R&B. It’s meant to be fun, it’s meant to make you move. African music has that joy inherent in it too, which isn’t surprising since jazz, funk and soul all have their roots in Africa.”

While McIntyre asserts that funk is “more about moving your body than stroking your chin”, he adds that “hopefully, you can find a balance. We always have fun onstage but that doesn’t mean that our music is mindless.”

Nils Landgren, a veteran Swedish trombonist who has played with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Abba, will be at the festival with his nine-strong Funk Unit. “Jazz is a music form in constant forward motion, and we will always have this element to our music,” says Langren. “We are all trained jazz musicians, but we love the funk groove and so that’s what lies at the heart of our music. To me, funk is a form of musical freedom. Funk’s godfather, George Clinton, put it best when he said ‘free your mind and your ass will follow’.”

Clinton’s sentiments are echoed by another Nils. Experimental Swedish act The Stoner’s clarinetist Nils Berg says: “To move your body you have to disconnect your mind, and that’s the best way to hear music, with your body.”

The Stoner are a forward-thinking bunch of misfits with a unique, tongue-in-cheek, visual sensibility and a desire to make music that bridges the generation gap that divides jazz audiences. “Jazz means different things for your older audiences -- who grew up on traditional, acoustic jazz -- and younger people, who tend to come from a clubbing background and who are more accustomed to dance-music-inspired Nu Jazz. We want to make music that excludes neither of these groups,” says Berg.

He agrees with Landgren’s assertion that jazz should always be in “constant forward motion”. “As musicians, with traditional jazz backgrounds, we found that it was pointless to play the same old stuff in the same way in which it has been played already. We are involved in a playful struggle to find a new musical path.”

The same can be said of one of the most interesting acts on the line-up, local improvisers Closet Snare, whose members are reluctant to label their sound. They agree it isn’t straight jazz, and the inclusion of Sibot, turntable/production wizard and member of glitch unit Real Estate Agent, helps to take their music into delightfully indefinable places. “I would call it improvisational-live-instrumental-electronica-groove music, using normal instrumentation, live visuals, weird effects, samplers and other machines,” says multi-instrumentalist Sean Ou Tim, who provides the basslines.

“Jazz is an influence in our music but we also have other influences, such as hip-hop and electronica,” adds drummer Kesivan Naidoo, himself a seasoned jazz musician. “I suppose, if you wanted to give what we do a name, it would be something like electro-acoustic grooving South African jazz. But I am not sure that there is a shelf like that in the CD store.”

With such a colourful mix of musicians booked for this year’s fest, it may be pointless to play at neatly categorising its acts. Closet Snare guitarist Marc Buchanan cautions against it. “Whether it’s a beautiful orchestral string section, an uncontrolled distorted guitar, a hip-hop beat or a great improvised horn solo, it’s all just the kind of music we like. Good music.”

The Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2007 takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on March 30 and 31. Tickets cost R290 (day pass), R430 (weekend pass) or R25 for individual shows at the Rosies Stage. A free concert will launch the festival on March 29 at Greenmarket Square, Cape Town.

Article from http://www.chico.mweb.co.za/
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Labels: South Africa - Entertainment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhcsjhtUosY



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Ouagadougou - Africa's biggest film festival opens on Saturday in the capital of Burkina Faso hoping for a revival of the continent's ailing cinema industry.

The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, or Fespaco, which runs from February 24 to March 3, is a two-yearly event gathering more than 3 000 film types from across the continent, from South Africa through Mali to Morocco, as well as from the African diaspora.

Ironically, this year's event takes place as the curtain comes down for cinemas across the continent, but also as African films rake up top international awards, feeding hopes of a new golden age in the years to come.

South Africa's Tsotsi last year won Oscar celebrity status, picking up Hollywood's coveted best foreign-language film award. It is one of two South African entries among the 20 feature films competing for Fespaco's top prize, the Etalon d'Or de Yennenga or Golden Stallion of Yennenga.

Also competing for the top Fespaco award this year are two films from Chad, including one that last September won the Venice Film Festival's Special Jury Prize - Daratt (Dry Season) by Mahamet-Saleh Haroun.

Haroun, who is 45 and has shot three feature films, plans to buy a block of land in the Chadian capital N'Djamena to build a cinema there.

Cinema houses closing down across the continent

With the exception of South Africa and Nigeria, cinema houses have been closing down one after the other across the continent, the African monthly Continental said in its February issue.

Senegal's last cinema shut down last year, Congo-Brazzaville's seven cinemas have been sold to churches, of the eight cinemas in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde, only one has survived.

"African film is in crisis and the closure of cinemas is only the most visible sign," the news magazine said.

After receiving state backing in the post-independence 1970s, producers, directors and distributors have largely had to fend for themselves since the 1990s, when governments cut funding due to pressure from world financial institutions.

African film-makers look abroad for funding

With little funding, few to no cinema schools and a poverty-struck public, African film-makers have had to look abroad for support.

Gabon's entry for the top award, L'Ombre de Liberte (Shadow of Freedom) by Imunga Ivanga, for example, was five years in the making, three of them spent drumming up funds for the modest budget of just under one million euros (R9.3m).

Also competing for the Etalon d'Or de Yennenga - a reference to the mythical founder of the Mossi empire, whose descendants make up 40% of the country's 14 million people - are films from Benin, Burkina Faso (3), Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea (3), Mali, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal and the north African states of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

The 20th edition of Fespaco will also feature awards for TV-video films and sitcoms as well as for short movies.

And the African International Film and Television Market (Mica) will be held on the sidelines in a bid to help buyers and distributors to screen African film.

Article from http://www.news24.com/
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NOSTALGIA ruled when the second batch of artists for the CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL was announced on Tuesday. Canadian singer Gino Vanelli had little to distinguish him in the late 1970s from a herd of adequate, generic crooners, apart from particularly bad hair (though he did win a Grammy). The Average White Band, on the other hand, will be a revelation for funk fans: a bunch of highly talented, soul-addicted Scots who migrated across the Atlantic in the 1970s to prove resoundingly that white men could jump -- and whose tight, infectious riffs are still being sampled by hip-hop.

Far more musically interesting are the African jazz artists added to the bill. Sibongile Khumalo's collaboration with Jack DeJohnette and his group Intercontinental has already been signposted. Khumalo is now joined by South Africans Themba Mkhize, Ernest Mothle and Bheki Khoza, all leading their own groups, Egyptian Yehya Khalil, and that honorary South African, American Darius Brubeck.

Brubeck will lead a reunion band including old University of KwaZulu-Natal colleagues such as bassist Lex Futshane. For pianist Mkhize, the sound of human voices is implicit in his arrangements, even on purely instrumental compositions. Veteran bassist Mothle can groove with the best, but also won huge respect on the European free jazz scene during his long exile. As well as working with Chris McGregor and Dudu Pukwana, he has partnered John Tchicai, Keith Tippett, Archie Shepp and more. He's likely to present a set inspired by African rhythm patterns. Guitarist Khoza defies categories, sketching intricate jazz improvisation above original melodies that draw on hymn, maskandi and swing, as demonstrated on his masterful 2006 debut, Getting To Heaven Alive.

Percussionist Yehya Khalil is the superstar of Egyptian jazz, having founded the Cairo Jazz Quartet -- the country's first jazz group -- in 1957 when he was only 14. He studied at the American Music Conservatoire, and later played in the US, both with pop stars such as Jimi Hendrix and James Brown, and jazzman Dizzy Gillespie. His music in Egypt fuses the country's rich rhythmic traditions, from Sufic and Nubian styles to street music and wedding songs, with contemporary jazz. Such is his cultural status that he fronted a national literacy campaign whose other poster heroes have included novelist Naguib Mahfouz.

There are still half-a-dozen Cape Town names to be announced, and those already on the bill since the December launch include singer-pianist-composer Geri Allen with a group including veteran drummer Jimmy Cobb, and the unaccountably underpublicised saxophone master Lee Konitz.

Konitz was described at the launch as a "mainstream veteran" but his achievements span wider. He has long transcended the shadows of Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh to explore free jazz, harmonic improvisation, classical music and dry, concentrated deconstructions of some of those mainstream standards.

But before the Cape Town event (on March 30 and 31), many other jazz superstars will have come and gone. Alongside visitors Vanessa Rubin and Jeff King, and South Africans Hugh Masekela, Selaelo Selota and more, at the Phokeng Civic Centre and Lotlamoreng Dam in Mafikeng, the Jazz African Heritage events on February 17 and 24 will feature visionary US pianist and composer Randy Weston.

The whispering publicity for this visit by the composer of the standards Little Niles and Hi-Fly is shameful. (It is not surprising, since the whole event is the brainchild of civil servants.)

Born in 1926, Weston worked with bluesmen such as Eddie Vinson before developing an educator's interest in pan-African music, living and working in Nigeria, Morocco and other west and north African countries, including some breathtaking collaborations with the Gnawa musicians of Marrakech. His dynamic, jagged, exuberant style, with echoes of Monk and a strong affinity with Abdullah Ibrahim, has won acclaim at jazz festivals from Japan to Montreux. If you can't make the gig, introduce yourself to Weston via his 2000 Sunnyside release, Spirit: The Power of Music.

Louder fanfares have accompanied the visit of guitarist George Benson and singer Al Jarreau, especially since the Grammys awarded to their album Givin' It Up. The two play the Coca-Cola Dome in Northgate on March 18, and Cape Town on Human Rights Day.

And a wholly homegrown, top-quality bill of fare is on offer at the Sejacufe Festival in Secunda. Names include Mkhize, guitarist Louis Mhlanga, singer Gloria Bosman and percussionist and Kiba music pioneer Sello Galane.

Gwen Ansell

Article from http://allafrica.com
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Labels: South Africa - Entertainment

Comedy in our country is growing at a fast pace and Joburg is getting into the groove of having week-long comedy festivals with the Wits Hee Hee Hee Comedy Festival happening this week at the Wits Theatre Complex.

Headline acts include Kagiso Lediga, Joey Rasdien, Corné and Twakkie of The Most Amazing Show and Riaad Moosa.

Other acts include Nina Hastie, Nqoba Ngcobo, Thomas Gumede, Kyle Thorpe, Tumi Morake and the Young Guns of South African Comedy: Denton Douglas, Thomas Cronje, Judy Jake and Wayvinne Dawson.

Nina, who is one of the few up-and-coming female comedians in Gauteng, says that we will be seeing a lot more women taking to the mic this year.

"It's not that we are intimidated by men. Females are getting braver this year. I have been part of the all-female comedy shows together with the likes of Stacey Sacks and Judy Jake," she said.

Look out for a skit she is part of called Shaken not Stirred.

Kedibone Molaudzi will be hosting an open-mic session in the Wits Theatre foyer for students who feel they need to come out of their comedic closets.

"This will be a good opportunity for them to try their luck at comedy and see if it is for them or not," he said.

Kedibone is the brainchild behind the Nu Breed School of Comedy. He hosts the Nu Breed Comedy Jams every Wednesday night at the Horror Café in Newtown. They will be back again after this comedy festival.

He is really passionate about comedy and grooming up-and-coming comics.

"I believe in growing comedy from all angles. I will be going to London and New York this year to attend some comedy workshops. I hope to bring the skills I will learn there back home for our young aspirants."

His plans for the year include launching the Polokwane Comedy Festival, gospel comedy and doing a three-city tour of Joburg, Durban and Cape Town under the Comedy Nine Nine banner. Currently one can check out the monthly humour columns that the Nu Breed comedians write for Kulula.com's in-flight magazine.

The Wits Comedy Festival won't only be about stand-up comedy, though. There will be comedic plays as well, such as Money For Shoes, The Animals, Best Man's Speech, Fusion and, of course, Corné and Twakkie will also have their caravan parked there. And Twakkie, being Twakkie, insisted that he be quoted in this article.

"There's a moer of a lot to see in this one week. If you are stupid and you don't know what to see, let me tell you. Come see The Most Amazing Show with me and Corné and also go see Louw Venter in The Best Man's Speech. He is also no k*k, hey.

"We have some of the best comedians in the world and they just keep on coming up with new stuff. I mean, I can't wait to see what Manto and Jacob Zuma's new material is going to be like," he said.

Your best bet would be going to the Wits Comedy Festival to find out.

Article from http://www.thestar.co.za/
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Johannesburg - Hopes are high for South Africa to win a Grammy Award this year.

The a cappella singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Soweto Gospel Choir have both been nominated for this coveted music award.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo's latest CD, Long Walk to Freedom has received two Grammy Award nominations.

One nomination is in the category of Best Contemporary World Music CD, and the other, for Best Surround Sound Production.

This South African group has already distinguished itself with two Grammy Awards in the past.

The first award was received in 1987 for the album Shaka Zulu, whereas the second award was presented in 2005 for the CD Raise Your Spirit Higher.

Soweto Gospel Choir

The multi-award winning Soweto Gospel Choir has been nominated for a prestigious Grammy Award for their CD Blessed, in the Best Traditional World Music Category - an amazing achievement for a group that has been together for only four years.

They have now joined the ranks of an impressive line-up of local talent who has, over the past year, made South Africa proud on the world stage.

The 49th Annual Grammy Award winners will be announced on 11 February 2007 in Los Angeles.
Article from www.news24.co.za
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