The concert is sponsored by The Charlottesville Jazz Society, WTJU and Unity of Charlottesville, where the concert will be held. The band plays a mix of jazz, funk, and South African rhythms built around songs of peace, love, and social justice. Sharon Katz was born in Port Elizabeth, now known as Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. As a teenager during the apartheid era, she would sneak out to the “Blacks Only” townships by hiding under blankets in the back seat of her friend’s car. There, she met with the now-famous actors in Athol Fugard’s group, and began her lifelong mission of using music to help break down the country’s artificially-imposed racial barrier.

After getting professional training and a Masters degree in Music Therapy in the USA, Sharon returned home to South Africa to use her skills as a guitarist, singer, band leader, composer, producer, and music therapist. As soon as Nelson Mandela was released from prison by the Apartheid government, she went to work trying to help her country heal. After Mandela’s election, Sharon Katz & The Peace Train became the country’s first musical ambassadors of the new democracy.

Since the original ride of The Peace Train, Sharon has continued spreading a message of peace, social justice, and reconciliation around the world through performances, seminars, workshops, residencies, and cultural collaborations. Highlights include Carnegie Hall’s World Music Series and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and at the Smithsonian Institution and South African Embassy in Washington, DC.