Badu's cool voodoo and all that jazz

Even before American soul singer Erykah Badu took to the stage as this year's headline act at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, consensus among those who've sipped her Kool-Aid was that she would "blow the roof off" the Kippies stage.

A few others were a bit more cautious.

Said one reveller: "I'm not sure whether she'll top Jill Scott's [last year's headliner] performance. I just don't think that Badu is as good a performer as Scott ."

Given that the "jazz it-girl" of the moment, Lalah Hathaway. had just hopped off the main Kippies stage after a stellar performance, Miss Badu had to bring her A-Game to a very discerning and diverse audience.

But as soon as the small-of-body but large-of-voice singer emerged on stage - looking more like a hardcore rapper than the "turban-rocking-sister of the soil" that onto blasted the scene in 1997 - it became apparent who the boss was.

Hit singles such as On and On and Next Lifetime , though 17 years old, damn near incited riots and had the entire crowd throwing the lyrics back at the singer.

The last time she was here Badu stage-dived into the clamouring and insane crowd - but this time the security detail held her by the ankles.

As her set progressed, Badu began playing her more recent and more blatantly hip-hop works and the cracks in the crowd began to show.

The younger members of the audience were totally enthralled with the star but some of the older ones lost interest, either wandering off to other stages or passing out at the feet of the kids' rocking sneakers.

I'm clearly among those who drank the Kool-Aid by the gallon and agree that Badu totally killed it.

Her amazing set was perhaps her way of apologising for rocking up at her press conference more than two hours late.

Though there's no new album in the pipeline, Badu said research for her next album will begin here in South Africa and continue throughout the continent as she focuses on unique percussive sounds .

The previous evening, locals Mi Casa also killed the Kippies stage, rocking after the well-attended (even Number1 was in the audience) and clearly loved Kirk Whalum's collaboration with other artists, which he styled The Gospel According to Jazz Africa, Chapter I.

House DJ Black Coffee, along with regular collaborators, brought the house down over at the Bassline stage.