| 
Album:
Africa's Not For Sissies
Dan
Wilson
|
Wesley
Gibbens |
Pedro
Espi-Sanchis
Michael Whitehead
|
Angus Kerr
| Greg
Georgiades
Greg Leisegang |
Richard
Haslop
|
Etienne Moorcroft
| Dick
Hathorn
Kerry De Witt |
Toine
Scholtz
 Dan
Wilson
Dan Wilson is a British born bass player who has resided in SA for
a while; both in Cape Town and Durban. He has been an Amakool member
since January 2000 and has appeared with Syd at the Spashy Fen,
Oppikoppi and Southern Cross festivals. Dan plays with many Durban
jazz artists and has recently recorded his own material. Back
to Top
 Wesley
Gibbens
Young Durban Drummer Wesley Gibbens first came to prominence in
1996 with the reformation of Syd Kitchen & The Utensils. He
then joined Andrew Young’s band before playing with Halcyon
Days and Butternut. He was a founder member of Amakool and regularly
plays percussion with Syd in a duo format at festivals around SA.
Back
to Top
 Pedro
Espi-Sanchis
http://users.iafrica.com/m/mu/musicman
Spanish born multi-instrumentalist Pedro Espi-Sanchis has been living
in SA since the ‘70’s. He initially came out with the
group El Socrates, and has since carved a serious niche for himself
as a performer, student of Africa, educator, composer and TV presenter.
He presented a show for kids called “Pedro The Music Man”
that did good business on national television. Pedro contributed
Hosepipe Flute to two tracks on the album; “Africa’s
not for sissies” and “Settler”. Back
to Top
 Michael
Whitehead
The hauntingly beautiful lap steel playing on the song “Calling”
is by Durban musician Michael Whitehead. He and Syd first met in
1988 as teacher and pupil. Since then, Michael went on to team up
with singer Nadine Raal in the formation of the group Famous Curtain
Trick. They released one album through Universal (SA) before
disbanding in 2000.
Back
to Top
Angus
Kerr
Fiddle player Angus Kerr is featured on the song “Geneology”.
His brief was to play Celtic, Zulu and Afrikaans inspired lines
in the same section. After gulping several huge gulps of air, he
delivered just that; a great synthesis of all the geneological influences
in Syd’s music. Angus has played with both Landscape Prayers
and Sunways, and runs the highly efficient Tropical Sweat Studios
in Durban. Back
to Top
 Greg
Georgiades
Since the ‘70’s with Neil Soloman, Greg Georgiades has
carved a name for himself as a dazzling soloist and composer in
groups Fly By Night, The Passengers, Bazaar and others. He also
fronts The Mutant Harmony Trio and Strings ‘n Skins (with
tabla exponent Ashish Joshi), both of which have albums out. Greg
plays counterpoint oud on the instrumental track “Thekweni”.
Back
to Top
 Greg
Leisegang
Accordionist Greg Leisegang plays on the songs “Sharp”
and “Walking”. He and Syd met in 1994 at University,
and have since played togetheroften. Greg was an original Amakool
member and played on the album AMAKOOLOGIK as well. Additionally,
he plays keyboards, guitar and sings, and has played for many years
with the Durban group Scooter’s Union.
Back
to Top
Richard Haslop
Richard Haslop and Syd have known each other since meeting in Port
Elizabeth in 1974. They have collaborated on numerous occasions,
both live and in the studio. Although Richard plays Dobro on the
songs “Sharp” and “Muse” on this album,
he is also a fine mandolin and slide guitar player. Apart from his
performance skills, Richard is also a music journalist/critic/theorist
who hosts a weekly radio show on SAFM called “Roots &
Fruits”.
Back to Top
Etienne
Moorcroft
http://www.swiftlove.co.za
Trumpeter Etienne Moorcroft contributes a stunning muted solo in
the middle 8 section of the song “Chicken Run”. Coming
out of nowhere, he enters the music and makes the setting all his
own, in a mature musical statement that belies his age. Etienne
is also a member of the Durban group Swiftlove whose groovy site
you can click onto from the link above.
Back
to Top
 Dick
Hathorn
Jazz soprano saxophonist Dick Hathorn was asked to come in and bring
his unique sound to the creation of the song “Muse”.
He did this with a lot of style. His contribution in no way intrudes
on what is essentially an acoustic setting. Dick is also in the
process of recording his debut album with his group Dick Hathorn
and the Company with the working title of LIVE IN DURBAN. Back
to Top
Kerry
De Witt
Durban vocalist Kerry De Witt joins Syd for a duet in the song “Muse”.
Without sounding cheesy, they pull off the task with lots to spare.
But then the lady can sing. Kerry has been singing the Durban scene
for a while; firstly with the duo Ginapeep, and then more significantly
with Roly Struckmeyer in the group Butternut. Back
to Top
Toine
Scholtz
Having known Syd for several years, DJ Toine Scholtz was the logical
choice when it was decided to remix the title track “Africa’s
not for sissies”. He has done work with several top names
including TKZee, Mandoza and Mood Phase 5. He has also worked on
film music for Anand Singh Toine’s remix and additional
programming brought a fresh sound to the song; giving the whole
album another dimension and character.
Back
to Top
<<
Back
to Africa's Not For Sissies
|
