(Melvin Peters)
Coming up at the
Rainbow Restaurant in Pinetown on Sunday (November 9) is what promises to be a very
special concert. Top Durban contemporary pianist Melvin Peters returns to the
Rainbow for an afternoon of music with his special friend, legendary
Scandinavian jazz trumpeter Arne Hiorth. Alongside Melvin and Arne will be Ildo
Nandja on bass and Bruce Baker on drums.
Peters started
classical piano lessons at the age of six and continued through high school.
Whilst studying towards a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Natal,
he began jazz piano lessons under the tutelage of Darius Brubeck in 1983. After
completing a Master of Music degree in Jazz Performance in 1989, he was
appointed lecturer in Jazz Studies at the University of Durban-Westville in
1990. He taught here for ten years and during this time was awarded a
scholarship to study at Harvard University in 1998/9. He has performed locally
and internationally in France, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Belgium, the United
Kingdom, Australia and the United States.
Peters has worked
with several South African jazz musicians, including Winston Mankunku, Barney
Rachabane, Tandie Klaasen, Sandile Shange and Gloria Bosman. Personal
highlights include performances with such luminaries as guitarist Herb Ellis
and drummer Ginger Baker, as well as the opportunity to share the stage with
the legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck at Harvard University in 1999. He has
also collaborated with Abdullah Ibrahim in the formation of the Cape Town Jazz
Orchestra, for which he was also appointed Music Director.
Arne Hiorth is an
experienced musician, composer, producer, teacher and project coordinator. He
has worked with top acts in Norway, like Mari Boine, Bjørn Eidsvåg, Anja
Garbarek, Oslo Groove Company (Spellemann Award for Jazz 1990). Released his
first solo album in 2004, 7 Oliphaunt
Images, including top musicians like Eivind Aarset, Kjetil Bjerkestrand and
Hallgrim Bratberg. Other cd's include the Christmas album Snow
( 2007) with Helge Nysted and Loops and
Bridges (2010) with singer/songwriter Oddrun Eikli. During one of his many
visits in Cape Town, he was shown a CD called Quii- The First People, released on Arc Music ltd. Quii is a kind
of cd sampler of original and traditional San music …. weird to listen to but
intriguing in many ways: polyrythmic grooves , yodling – like singing on blue
scales , strange vocal pitches. Hiorth has since then spent many years letting
this music grow in his home studio, and looking for ways of wrapping grooves
and themes in a more western soundscape, without loosing the original itch in
the music.
Imminent in this
process has been Eivind Aarset, whose layers of guitars, basses and electronics
always seems to add more truth and soul to a project, and drummer Ottar Nesje,
with his long experience with African grooves. Kjetil Bjerkestrand has added
innovative synth layers, Oddrun Eikli has added airy vocals, and the African
singers Sepanya Mahlangu and Tebogo Tshotetsi, the latter from the San people,
are responsible for the true African soul in the songs. The rest of the
programming and all the trumpets are by Arne Hiorth.
Catch Melvin Peters
and Arne Hiorth at the Rainbow on November 8. Doors open at 13h00. Tickets:
R60 at the door or booked through https://www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?itemid=409794326
The Rainbow
Restaurant Estd 1981 is situated at 23 Stanfield Lane, Pinetown. More
information on 031 702 9161 or 083 463 8044 or email: bandwagon@artslink.co.za
or visit www.therainbow.co.za
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