WOMAD South Africa 2024, in collaboration with Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees and the SU Department of Music soon present Sonography: Stories in Roots and Blues. The gig will be on Wednesday, 2 October, 2024, at 4pm at the Fismer Hall, SU Konservatorium in Stellenbosch.
WOMAD World of Music, Arts & Dance was launched in 1982 by Peter Gabriel, bringing global sounds and rhythms to millions of fans in 32 countries. This latest version swill see WOMAD SA 2024 concerts and activities in Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Johannesburg.
Sonography: Stories in Roots and Blues will be an exploration of sound, where artists tell stories using uhadi, Khoe sounds, acapella voice and Mississippi blues. The show will feature Iskwew Singers (Canada – Voices), Joep Pelt (Netherlands – guitar and voice), Dr Ncebakazi Mnukwana (voice & uhadi) and Garth Erasmus (Khoe instruments and saxophone).
Journey of self-discovery
Garth Erasmus, who will amongst other instruments be playing the Ghôrrah (gourd bows), mouth bows and Aaeolian pipes, says: “The instruments that I play represent the physical manifestation of my journey of self-discovery. They are instruments that I have made myself as a young man and have lived with and played since the mid-80s.”
“They represent my attachment to my indigenous (KhoiSan) roots and act as “proof of life” of these First Nation roots despite all the historic attempts to erase all evidence of their presence from our society through the combined destructive forces of multiple eras of colonialism and, finally, Apartheid. I believe the sound frequencies made by these instruments have the power to awaken forgotten memories that have lain dormant in the collective unconscious. It has the power to transport us and take us on imaginative adventures.”
“I approached this production with a concept: a conscious sonic attempt not to reduce music to the easy cliché of social harmony, whilst activating a sonic imagination towards possible futures. Through improvisation and set pieces, this production will explore and/or create divergent sound worlds, as we look for unexpected points of overlap, synchrony, tension and possible ‘becomings’ through sound,” says Dr Carina Venter, academic and Senior Lecturer at the SU Department of Music, and one of the directors of the Sonography production, together with Dr Antoni Schonken and Arthur Feder.
Join these dynamic musicians for an afternoon of extraordinary musical storytelling.
Get your WOMAD SA tickets here.
What: WOMAD SA 2024
When: 1 – 13 October 2024
Where: Cape Town and Johannesburg
Info: www.womadsa.co.za
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