Breaking down barriers

FRIDAY night was one of the reasons why I enjoy living in South Africa.

For centuries in this country, violins and cellos, let alone violas, have been the preserve of white musicians, playing sombre, beautiful music in quiet, staid surroundings.

Yet on Friday, the Guild Theatre stage came alive with four black men dancing with obvious enjoyment as they played these elite stringed instruments, with massive electronic amplification and a pop-style backing track. And the full house -- predominantly white -- came equally alive, applauding enthusiastically and dancing amid the plush seats. Few countries can boast such cultural contrasts!

The Soweto String Quartet is no ordinary ensemble. It combines the centuries-old European classical tradition of a string quartet with the vitality and danceability of African rhythms. An infusion of jazz and pop is added to the mix, creating an entirely new style of music that is truly South African.

The cross-cultural nature of the quartet's music flows into its audience appeal, with the intention of melding black and white audiences. Thus their zebra theme.

"Cross-over" music is one of the most accessible and commercially viable music genres to develop in the past few decades.

With the intention of breaking down the barriers between music styles and accessing new audiences, musicians have combined classical, jazz, pop or world music, producing new musical hybrids and finding new avenues of expression, be it the stunning mix of Zakir Hussain's classical Indian flute and John McLaughlin's jazz guitar, or the complementary duet of opera star Pavarotti and rocker Bryan Adams.

The SSQ produced original make-overs of well-known tunes. Sunrise, for instance, contained very interesting polyrhythms over a 6/8 figure with Vivaldi-type harmonies and counter rhythms from the second violin and viola.

The funky hip-hop rhythms of P.J.Powers' Jabulani, with its pop horn riffs, contrasted with the cyclical African structure of Amabutho, a composition intended to reflect the rhythms of Zulu warriors preparing themselves for battle. Dave Grusin's Bossa Baroque, a cleverly contrapuntal tune employing modern harmonies over a Latin American beat, showed again the beauty of combining music genres.

The SSQ paid fitting tribute to the seminal American-South African cross-over album: Paul Simon's 1986 release, Graceland.

The international superstar recorded with some of the cream of our musicians, producing an exhilarating collaboration that thrust musicians like Barney Rachabane and Bikita and Vusi Khumalo into the limelight of international acclaim. And, of course, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who have never looked back.

The musicians in the SSQ -- Sandile, Thami and Reuben Khemese and Makhosini Mnguni -- have clearly paid their classical dues, with comfortable technique and good intonation. The ensemble derived unusually rich timbre and the unaccompanied numbers displayed impressive tonal and dynamic control, producing evocative and beautiful music.

There was an excellent sense of ensemble and an obvious rapport within the group, based on years of performing together around the world. They are consummate professionals, at the same time exuding real enjoyment. These are not poker-faced, static, classical musicians - they're really having fun!

It is good to see the East London business community taking an active role in the cultural life of our city after the millions of rands poured ostentatiously into big-name sports.

Patti Graham's Creative PR organised the event for two reasons -- to encourage culture and to raise money for the beautiful, but beleaguered Guild Theatre whose state funding, let alone municipal, has dwindled.

If we are to retain venues for cultural excellence and beauty, the broader community needs to support the theatre and arts in general. Hopefully more businesses will step forward.

East London is fortunate in having a sound engineer of the calibre of Les van der Veen, who was chief recording engineer for classical music at the SABC for many years. SSQ musical director Sandile Khemese pointedly complimented van der Veen for his excellent job in the difficult mix of petulant acoustic strings and electric instruments.

A detraction for me was the similarity of many of the beats, with a fundamental kwela rhythm underlying many of the arrangements. The audience, though, would disagree with me, as it was this clear South Africanness that excited them. It's certainly the first time that I have seen an audience get to their feet spontaneously to dance to a string quartet!

The backing track that accompanied the quartet was disconcerting at first, contrasting starkly with the very real presence of the musicians on stage. The intention had been to bring the entire backing band, but this was not possible. Next time, hopefully, we'll hear the whole group together.

This was the first performance in East London for the Soweto String Quartet, and Sandile Khemese's promise that it will the first of many was enthusiastically received by the large audience, who shot to their feet twice for standing ovations at the end of an excellent show.

Alan Webster