AN exciting collaboration, between South Africa’s most prominent African bow player, Mantombi Matotiyana, and the acclaimed Nightingale String Quartet from Denmark will take place at Nederburg on Sunday 19 July at the Nederburg Manor’s recital room at 17:00.
The concert is the third of this year’s Nederburg Concert Series and is part of a nation-wide tour of the African Bow Project, an initiative aimed at keeping the artistry of the African bow alive.
The brainchild of composer Dr Michael Blake, the African Bow Project has seen composers from many South African traditions reinterpreting the uhadi bow songs of the great Nofinishi Dywili, in the medium of the string quartet.
“The original artistic objective of the project was to encourage South African composers to engage with traditional music as a compositional resource.
“Rather than just using some indigenous elements to decorate their work, each was asked to make a transcription of an uhadi bow song, and use that as the basis for their work,” Blake said.
Blake, who is also the founder-director of the New Music Indaba, initially conceived the Project in 2002 as part of the National Arts Festival.
Since then the Bow Project has grown from strength to strength and has been hailed by critics as one of the most important South African musical projects ever launched.
“The concerts will include traditional bow songs which were originally sung and recorded by Nofinishi Dywili, the greatest uhadi player of them all. Matotiyana will present each song as a prelude to the new work.
“Then there will be a mixture of responses or reimaginings: some in a neo-African style, some more rock or jazz orientated, some in a more contemporary classical style, some with computer samples, some remixes, and so on”.
Aside from compositions by Mokale Koapeng, Robert Fokkens, Jürgen Brauninger, three of the works – by Herbst, Kaganof and Blake himself – will be world premières.
Blake explains that the Danish quartet became involved in the Project when some of the pieces were presented at a festival in the Faroe Islands in 2008.
Tickets cost R125 per person and include Nederburg wines and a light supper. To book, call Irma Albers on 021-809-8106 or Sonja Morkel on 021-809-8344 or e-mail ialbers @distell.co.za.
