Orchestra tours the world

The tour featured nine musicians from three different countries plus guests – under the Forest Jam Southern Africa umbrella – as well as guest appearances by Herbie Tsoaeli and Madala Kunene, the King of the Zulu Guitar and Chico Antonio, at The Orbit.

Forest Jam Southern Africa is a registered educational non-profit organisation and its members are mainly young music students, music teachers, veteran master musicians, and administrators from southern Africa and Switzerland.

The orchestra performed for six days at five venues before taking the tour to Antonio’s homeland, Mozambique and then on to Switzerland.

Forest Jam Groove Orchestra’s Tour is supported by the Music Mobility Fund, a funding mechanism administered by Concerts SA which offers opportunities for South African musicians to undertake live music tours, and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, together with volunteers from the music industry who are supporting the cause of this educational organisation.

The project was developed with the aim to support live music in South Africa by finding and implementing ways to create a vibrant and viable live music circuit.

It also aims to develop an interest in and appreciation of live music by showcasing music performances and conducting workshops at schools – something that The Orbit, too, is passionate about.

The brainchild of Robert Trunz, Forest Jam’s educational goal is to transfer knowledge from veterans and masters to young musicians who join the organisation’s programmes from different countries in Africa and Europe and to teach awareness of the musical heritage of countries in Southern Africa.

The original Forest Jam Club was founded and is registered in Switzerland and has since organised two major educational events in Switzerland and Madagascar in 2014 and 2015.

This year’s three-country tour is the third major event organised by the collective and with so many successful shows it certainly was a hit.

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