Looking at this current issue I think we have done justice to this celebration. It is not very difficult to feature interesting women – our country has a wealth of them – and when we get such high quality visual and editorial material, as we did this time, it’s even easier. We got the opportunity to interview some truly remarkable artists, and when we looked at those amazing visuals of Simphiwe Dana, we just had to have her on our cover.

A big section of this issue is dedicated to the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival, which takes place from Thursday 26 to Saturday 28 August in Johannesburg’s Newtown Cultural Precinct. Simphiwe Dana performed at last year’s festival and has just released her new CD. Do not miss the interview with Auriol Hays, one of our country’s recently discovered musical assets, a headliner at the Festival and a very close runner up, with her fantastic looks (and voice) for the cover of this issue.

Having spoken to Stacey Kent only recently and looking at all these gifted, talented young female artists, I was once again reminded of the all-time greatest jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. I grew up with her music, I still love her songs and I will always admire her tremendous vocal range and her ability to lift my mood right from the first note of one of her songs. She once commented in an interview, ‘Coming through the years, and finding that I not only have just the fans of my day, but the young ones of today – that's what it means, it means it was worth all of it.’ This is exactly what I hope our current young artists will achieve in time. On a sadder note, we also bid farewell to one of the great ladies of South African music, Busi Mhlongo, who lost her battle with cancer recently. Just as we say goodbye to her, we also celebrate her musical legacy, which is here to stay.

August is not only Women’s Month, it is also Organ Donor Month and the Organ Donor Foundation is embarking on extensive awareness initiatives to encourage the public to become potential organ donors. Currently there are over 4 300 South Africans awaiting organ and cornea transplants in South Africa. Tragically, less than 800 adults and children will receive transplants this year and the ‘Gift of Life’ due to this critical shortage. While we are celebrating Women’s Month we are also happy to help the Organ Donor Foundation with their awareness campaign.

Enjoy.

Lore