(Richard Haslop)The UKZN School of Music will present Richard Haslop in a free lunch-hour concert in Howard College Theatre on September 12 at 12h15.
Richard Haslop will present a programme of blues and traditional and contemporary folk music, accompanying himself and his guest, songwriter Jaspar Lepak, on slide guitar, dobro and mandolin.
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. He has been invited to present a paper later this year at a symposium on the history of modern African music in Bamako, Mali.
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.
In Richard’s words, 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, Bobby & the Dynamites, Brendon Bussy, Steve Newman and Tony Cox, among several others. He is featured on the brand new album by Jaspar Lepak, who will join him during this performance.
Through her fine singing and guitar playing and, above all, her exceptional folk and country influenced songs, American songwriter Jaspar has built a strong local following during the two years in which she and her husband have been based in Durban. She has just released her sixth album, written and recorded in Durban. This will be one of her last performances before returning to the USA.
The lunch-hour concert takes place on September 12 at 12h15 in Howard College theatre, UKZN. Entrance is free.
More information from Concert Organiser Babalwa Mentjies on 031 260 3353 /email: mentjies@ukzn.ac.za
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