Stirling venue fast becoming hub for musical genius

From the beginning, there was much thought to design a world-class Stirling Auditorium, a physical space that would primarily function to promote the teaching, learning, playing and enjoyment of music.

Now, the facility is evolving into a vibrant community music centre – with a special focus on jazz which might well eventually draw attention away from the annual Grahamstown jazz festival.

I have been coming to the auditorium since its inaugural concert early this year, and have enjoyed everything from classical selections to a capella singing.

But it is the centre’s ability to attract top local and international jazz artists which offers the potential of a regular Saturday night out for lovers of the genre.

We, audience members and artists, have lapped up every addition to the venue, the arrival of the piano, the sound system, even lighting fitments. Former and current Standard Bank Young Artist Award Winners for Jazz, Afrika Mkhize and Nduduzo Makhathini, have made the piano their own.

Although the initial absence of lighting seemed to favour the subdued personalities of performers like McCoy Mrubata, emerging out of the shadows to complete a set, this is no basement hideaway but a family-oriented venue, so the LED lights we have enjoyed most recently add an important touch to the ambience.

The acoustics are superb, with Makhathini, in his inimitable manner, waxing lyrical about sending a note out to the walls and roof and it returning to him perfectly clear.

“You go to some venues but you feel like they absorb all the music and you feel drained after a gig.

“I feel even more energised at this gig. This space is amazing. If I’m playing a note, it gives me inspiration because it bounces back somewhere and I’m inspired to play more. And the positive energy from the audience counts a lot as well.”

The set-up is now complete, establishing the infrastructure as a common denominator that allows for the sometimes nuanced differences to be evident in the varying styles and approaches of individual muzos and combinations of performers.

Significantly, however, the Stirling Auditorium is becoming much more than simply a performance venue with state-of-the-art technology and seating for up to 350 people, surrounded by various rehearsal rooms. It is being imbued with a community ethos that offers the prospect of turning bricks and mortar into something much more significant than four walls of a concert hall.

The physical space at times suggests we are enjoying an informal jamming session. This lends itself to a greater intimacy between audiences and performers playing at the pinnacle of their craft, creating at once a mood of jollity and an aura of contemplation.

This was best reflected during a performance of bassist Lex Futshana’s composition “Innocent victims and perpetrators” which immediately conjures up our country’s turn from legalised and violent apartheid; but, as Futshana emphasises, “there are no tortured souls here, ala the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, just beautiful music”.

The community orientation has been evident too in the way the space has been owned by musicians like Mdantsane’s Lulama Gaulana, a world-class musician in his own right who has appeared in various line-ups at Stirling, and members of the school’s big band, emerging musicians who will no doubt delight us even more in future.

There has been pathos also, with the passing of Queenstown’s renowned drummer Sisa Sopazi, who played one of his last gigs at Stirling a few weeks ago.

The school’s jazz teacher Alan Webster hopes to establish the auditorium as part of South Africa’s jazz circuit, linking with Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban for especially international tours.

It is tempting then, to consider that a Stirling-anchored offshoot of the Grahamstown Jazz Festival might be in the pipeline, especially given the Grahamstown National Arts Festival’s foray into Cape Town last year.

But Webster, who is also the driving force behind the organisation of the Grahamstown jazz event, eschews any suggestion there is a grand plan to replace that event, which has established its place especially among European musicians.

He says the auditorium and related infrastructure were always conceptualized primarily as a teaching and learning facility with a strong community orientation that would impact positively on music pupils.

Musicians – many of whom are steeped in the development of jazz in East London – are less coy about the city establishing itself as a centre of excellence for the genre.

Drumming export Kesivan Naidoo, a former matriculant at Stirling, says the auditorium offers “the best of both worlds – it has a big concert environment and yet you still get the intimate audience experience”.

“There isn’t another venue like this anywhere in South Africa.

“I have seen places like this in Europe and the United States but this is one of a kind and I wish there were more like this.” Naidoo, who increasingly is playing abroad, said that “to be travelling the world and coming home to a venue like this is phenomenal.

“Alan (Webster) has travelled so he knew what he wanted to bring to East London and it is world-class”. — rayh@dispatch.co.za