SOUL OF FIRE

Grahamstown: July 6, 2012 – Review by Keith Millar

This is just what was needed on a chilly Grahamstown day – a dose of fire for the soul. Zanne Stapelberg and Kathleen Tagg’s eclectic mixture of music from Spain and Latin America provided that and more.

Zanne Stapelberg is an attractive, tall, graceful woman with long dark hair and looks every bit the spectacular flamenco star. She is blessed with a beautiful strong soprano voice with amazing range. Her presentation of the various items was filled with charm and humour.

Kathleen Tagg is a South African born pianist who is now based in New York. She played with impressive mastery and aplomb during this concert, at times even plucking and stroking the piano strings to achieve unusual and different sounds. She is also responsible for many of the arrangements of the music on the programme. They singers were joined on stage by Piet De Beer (violin), Charles Lazar (double bass) and Joseph Avergel (percussion).

The programme included a mixture of classic, traditional folk and flamenco music from Spain, Cuba, Argentina and Brazil.

One of the highlights of the concert was Zanne singing a beautiful Spanish folk song by Alfredo da Rocha Pixinguinha entitled Carinhoso, accompanied only by the double bass. Also of note was Quiero ser tu Sombra, a folk song from Argentina which featured Piet De Beer on violin, while Zanne was in particularly good voice for the final song Milonga by A Piazzolla.

As an encore they played an amusing flamenco version of Sarie Marais.

Using different styles of music and a unique line up of instruments, along with fresh and exciting new arrangements, Zanne and Kathleen ensured that all the passion, emotional expression and heat one associates with this genre of music was present in this exhilarating concert.

A good sized audience attended this concert at a venue which I have come to enjoy both for its lovely architecture and its lively acoustic which serves music such as this so well. Soul on Fire will be performed again at the Rhodes Chapel on July 7 at 19h00. – Keith Millar