You come upon it, not only listen to Cape Town’s music. A saxophone player stretching notes like rubber unexpectedly tunes your afternoon as you turn a corner. Walk pass a parked car with windows down and the bass line shocks your ribcage before you even know your feet are moving. Nothing this city does is background music. You ought to pay it close attention We Love Jam.

The way genres combine here is crazy. One minute you’re at a sweating club where conventional maskandi guitar blends with computerised beats. The next is at a backyard braai where someone’s uncle is yelling traditional kwela tunes between sips of alcohol. There is pretentious genre gatekeeping nowhere; only sound changes in real time.

Often the best successes happen were least expected of course. That man playing Djembe on the Sea Point promenade? He beats most studio drummers in time. The three young people singing in the Company Garden? Resources for building goosebumps. Even the street vendors help; their yells of “fresh mangoes!” and “samosas here!” match the daily song of the city.

Festivities here flow from different energy. You do pay for passes to the major names, but the true fun happens right in between. the unnamed band that makes the audience quiet during their acoustic performance. The DJ somehow gets a field full of people to move in perfect time as the sun sets behind Table Mountain.

Not polish; its pulse gives Cape Town’s scene a character. A guitarist might fall off a solo, but the audience cheers more loudly. A sound system falls off and suddenly you have 200 people singing the hook a cappella. Music is not listened to here. This song captivates you whether or not you are ready. And once it occurs, good fortune will accompany you back to just polite foot tapping.

We Love Jam Recording Studio Cape Town
21 Bloem St, Cape Town City Centre, Cape Town, 8000
021 424-6000

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BCmSNvEqpmHL9VQG7