Mzansi’s first all-women big band is making noise

SOUTH Africa’s first all-women professional big band is set to launch their debut album at the Homecoming Centre at the Star Theatre next month.

The Lady Day Big Band (LDBB), consisting of 20 members, was founded in 2018 as a legacy project aimed at showcasing the talents of professional women musicians while fostering new talent, and are now ready to invite audiences to join them and their special guests as they celebrate the release of their debut album, Livus’umoya on 23 February.

The band is spearheaded by Amanda Tiffin alongside fellow musos and creators of the group Lana Crowster and Kelly Bell.

Amanda describes the launch album as a collection of all South African music, across a few genres, but focusing on the SA Jazz arena.

Amanda says: “It is an exciting time to spearhead a female-led project like this, in an industry and genre that is still male-dominated. Over the last six years we have seen how this initiative has raised the visibility of women musicians, and our members have benefited from this greatly.

“Having my own big band had always been a dream to me, and after many years in the industry it was important to me to create a space, not only where women would feel physically safe, but also where they felt comfortable to play their instrument, and explore their musicality and creativity through composition and arrangement.”

The band members come from communities across Cape Town and hope to convey encouraging and uplifting messages through their album.

The album features a mix of vocal and instrumental tracks featuring an all-SA repertoire. Six of the nine compositions have been penned by members of the LDBB, and the other three tracks are re-imaginings of some SA classics.

The event will see the full 20-piece LDBB performing selected songs from the album, as well as some of their favourite SA and global tunes.

Tickets are R175 each and are available via Quicket.

Daily Voice