(Reviews from the
artSMart team currently in Grahamstown at the National Arts Festival)
An enjoyable,
relaxed and sincere show which is well worth a visit. (Review by Keith Millar)
South Africa has an
abundance of very talented guitarists across all genres. Whatever your taste
.in music you are sure to find at least one local exponent of the guitar who
will thrill you and blow your mind.
Many of these great
artists are performing at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown this year
and that makes it difficult to choose who to go and see.
Eventually my
choice fell to a Cape Town based acoustic guitarist, Philip Malan, whom I had
never seen perform. After an hour of his music at the Rhodes Chapel all I can
say is that I am ecstatic with the choice, and I now know of another guitarist
I can talk about with awe.
Malan plays in the
finger-picking style and is technically very accurate and dexterous. He also
makes liberal use of percussive sounds he extracts from the body of the
instrument. The influences of artists such as Steve Newman and Tony Cox are
evident in his performance style.
In a programme of
his own compositions, Malan’s music was gentle, moody and melodic for the most
part. He tells stories with his guitar and has a strong descriptive and
atmospheric quality about his compositions. Malan admits to singing
occasionally but this programme was all instrumental.
Malan also made
very effective use of Loop tracks to add texture and depth to some of his
items. His use of this tool was nicely subtle and not overstated as sometimes
can be the case with musicians experimenting with this technology.
Tracks to look out
for among others are Wings of the Morning
which describes a crisp clear Cape morning, Kwela
for South Africa, an up-beat
number with repetitive maskandi rhythms and a nod to the National Anthem, On the Run which alludes to a someone running from society and trying to
find their own identity and Sherriff Joe,
has a nice western vibe.
Philip Malan
presents an enjoyable, relaxed and sincere show which is well worth a visit. He’s
in the Rhodes Chapel tomorrow (July 7) at 12h00. Hopefully he will consider a
visit to Durban before too long. – Keith Millar
For more information
on the National Arts Festival click on the banner advert at the top of this
page or visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
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