SA singer wins top jazz prizes

Juan-les-Pins - South African singer Melanie Scholtz notched up a triumph on Saturday at the Jazz a Juan Revelation festival in the French Riviera town Juan-les-Pins, winning all three prizes.

The 33-year-old from Cape Town took the Jury Prize, the Public Prize and the RTL Prize at the festival, which wound up late on Saturday.

"Jazz is a completely natural thing to me," she told AFP, recalling her saxophonist father had played her records by jazzmen like Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley.

Scholtz, who is of mixed race - "I have Zulu, Irish and Indian ancestors" - is also interested in traditional South African music and performed before Nelson Mandela in 2003 before going on to work with Scandinavian musicians.