(Right: Tony Cox)
Award-winning international guitar maestro, Tony Cox, is heading home for a long-awaited tour of South Africa from June 24 to July 16, 2023. His return is a rare opportunity for local audiences to see this acoustic guitar phenomenon play his unique brand of dazzling, finger-style guitar. With dizzying playing skills, he combines African and European influences into his own inimitable style - taking audiences on a foot-tapping, heart-beating, soul-feeding journey in every show.
Cox’s laid-back grooves, effortless guitar wizardry and astonishingly layered musical creations are interspersed with his wry observations, engaging warmth and playful, rib-tickling banter. If you come to one of his performances as a stranger, you will leave feeling that Tony is your new China.
Born in Zimbabwe, raised in Cape Town and now living in England, Cox’s fan base has grown from a loyal horde of South Africans to include Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and numerous other enthusiastic bands of followers worldwide. This ascent to his current heights as a master musician began as a 9 year-old playing Hawaiian guitar in what was then Rhodesia. In his teens, he evolved towards a more conventional playing style - and later, to polish his technique, he studied classical guitar for an intensive two-year period.
After his family relocated to Cape Town in 1969, Cox enhanced his already considerable skills and Western training by absorbing and adapting the multi-textured rhythms and varied styles of the indigenous music of his upbringing and surroundings. He began to compose his own music early in his career and his creations are shot through with rich African imagery and influences. His fingers have assimilated the techniques of international greats like Leo Kottke, Bert Jansch and - closer to home – folk-stylist, Jannie Hofmeyr and Zulu maskandi master, Sipho Mchunu.
Alongside his solo career, Cox has collaborated and recorded with many other musicians to produce three award-winning albums and many nominations. In 2002, 2003 and 2008 he won the ‘Best Instrumental’ category at the SAMA Awards. His current tour, while mainly focusing on his solo performances, will include a series of reunion concerts with Steve Newman, one of his most well-known collaborations.
Tony Cox will be performing in Johannesburg, KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Town from June 24 to July 16, 2023.
For all venues, dates and booking links visit www.tonycox.co.za/shows.html
KZN performances:
Allan Wilson Shellhole, Pietermaritzburg
June 30, 2023, at 20h00. Booking:
www.quicket.co.za
The Old Mushroom Farm
July 1, 2023, at 18h00. Booking:
www.quicket.co.za
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