CT Jazz Fest delivers, Hill does not

Cape Town - The Cape Town International Jazz Festival, which took place on Friday and Saturday at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, attracted over 35 000 people each day, delivering quality performances except for star attraction, Lauryn Hill.

On Saturday the crowds showed up early at the convention centre in anticipation of Grammy award winner Lauryn Hill's performance.

Before she could go onto the Kippies stage, Hugh Masekela paid tribute to Mariam Makeba in an exhilarating performance that left the crowd begging, in unison, for some more. Masekela had the likes of Thandiswa Mazwai, Vusi Mahlasela and Freshly Ground's Zolani Mahola accompanying him on stage.

After waiting for more than 30 minutes Lauryn Hill took to the stage. The Killing me softly singer, who was a last minute replacement for Jill Scott, delivered a below par performance that left a lot to be desired.

Event organiser espAfrika blamed the musician for using her own sound technicians when they had their own. "We have competent sound technicians and we know this venue well. But typically some people just want to take over. It's unfortunate, but what can you do?" CEO Rashid Lombard told Timeslive.

After staging a mini-walkout on her performance many fans took to Twitter to complain.

"Was at jazz festival last nyt , a kak perfomance by lauryn Hill ,I want my money back! " Tweeted Kgabo Semono.

"Boy we are disappointed by lauryn hill s perfomance, I think she's high on life," added Sthembiso Khumalo.

World-Class perfomances

On Friday the Kippies main stage played host to Dave Koz, Zamajobe and American musician James Ingram. The Basil Coetzee stage had local song bird Unathi on stage as well as Allen Stone from the US.

All the acts delivered world-class performances that left the crowd screaming for more. Local song-bird Unathi's performance attracted a lot of reactions on Twitter.

"Absolutely loved your performance at #CTIF 2012. Keep it up sisi" Tweeted Vivienne Mashilo.

Unathi replied on Twitter and thanked her fans for the love.

"Thank you for all the LOVE you are giving me for last night’s performance! CTIJF was..... *smiles and shakes head* in disbelief! CAMAGU!"