Cape Town International Jazz Festival

The festival began in 2000 and grew into the largest jazz event in sub-Saharan Africa, run over two nights on five stages inside the convention centre with tens of thousands of tickets sold. Its value is the pairing: South African players carrying a specific lineage - the Cape jazz of Abdullah Ibrahim and Robbie Jansen, the exiled generation, and the younger musicians who followed them - programmed alongside American, European and West African headliners, so audiences see both in one weekend. A free community concert on Greenmarket Square the Wednesday before opens it to people without tickets. It was cancelled in 2020 and did not return for several years, coming back in 2024 after organisational and funding difficulties, so checking whether it is running in a given year is a real step rather than a formality. Indoors, so weather is irrelevant, and the venue's acoustics divide opinion.

What you actually see

• The five stages - two nights of overlapping programmes inside one convention centre.
• The Cape jazz lineage - local players in a tradition running back to Abdullah Ibrahim.
• The free concert - a community show on Greenmarket Square before the ticketed nights.
• The international pairing - overseas headliners programmed alongside South African acts.

When to go

Usually late March or April - confirm the year's dates, as the festival has had interruptions. Two days.

Honest expectations

The festival has been cancelled and revived; check it is running before booking travel. Five simultaneous stages mean clashes and a lot of walking. Convention-centre acoustics are not everyone's idea of a jazz venue. Tickets sell fast for headline nights.

Nearby

The V&A Waterfront is close; Greenmarket Square hosts the free concert.