(NB: The former story re Richard Haslop appearing at Howard College Theatre has been replaced by the following as the concert had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.)
Richard Haslop will present a programme of blues, as well as traditional (or traditional-sounding) folk music, accompanying himself on slide guitar, dobro and mandolin. This will now take place on March 9 at the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music.
Richard Haslop may be better known for his vast record collection, his widely acclaimed radio shows on SAfm - which probably featured the most eclectic range of music ever played on South African radio, and perhaps anywhere else - and for the fact that he has spent the best part of three decades trying, in thousands of print articles, to persuade the public to like the same stuff he does.
He has also lectured in the UKZN Music Department and elsewhere on various aspects of the music business and popular music history, especially African-American music history, and has presented papers, inter alia, at the National Arts Festival’s Winter School in Grahamstown and at the conference of South African Jazz Educators.
However, before any of this, Richard was a musician, and hopes to continue to be one after people no longer care about his opinions. More than anything else, he loves playing blues and traditional and old time folk music and has played guitar, dobro, lap steel, mandolin, bouzouki and tin whistle, solo and in a variety of folk, rock, blues, bluegrass and uncategorisable bands, at numerous festivals around the country, including Splashy Fen, White Mountain, the Four Winds Folk Festival in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town’s Maynardville Folk Festival, Awesome Africa and the Durban International Blues Festival.
Richard says he “has many friends who are much better musicians than he is, but who allow him to play along with them from time to time”, so he has contributed to albums and gigs by Syd Kitchen, Fiona Tozer, Lilo, Famous Curtain Trick, Jim Neversink, Brendon Bussy, Steve Newman and Tony Cox among several others. This time, however, he will be on his own!
The performance at the Centre for Jazz takes place at 17h00 for 17h30. Entrance R30(R10 students). More information on 031 260 3385.