Lovedale Harmony (in memory of Siya Betana) (2017)
for saxophone quartet
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score and Parts BDE 1209
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: c. 14 minutes
Première
First performance: Friday 23 February 2018; Fourth Purpur Festival, Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town
Further performances by Stockholm Saxophone Quartet: 24.02.2018; Siya Betana Memorial Concert, Hout Bay Music Project, Cape Town; Hoofstraat Conceptual, Riebeek Kasteel, South Africa; 24.10.2019; Fismer Hall, Stellenbosch, South Africa; 26.10.2019; Hout Bay Music Project, Cape Town.
Programme note
I had always wanted to make a piece with material from the Lovedale Press Sol-fa Sheets, and because the SATB format of the choir translated so beautifully into the four instruments of the standard saxophone quartet, an invitation to write a second work for the Stockholm players seemed the right occasion. The most well-known Lovedale composers are Moerane, Tyamzashe, and Caluza, but there are many other fine pieces by composers like Marivate, Monaisa and AM Jonas whose music is not much sung nowadays. Lovedale of course was also the original publisher of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, the South African national anthem.
Siya Betana, in whose memory the piece is written, was a member of the Hout Bay Music Project. That's where I met him, when I was working with students at the project. He was only 19 when he was fatally shot on the streets of Imizamo Yethu during violent protests in Hout Bay in 2017. Siya had been a violin and double bass student for nine years at the project, and had just begun to teach music theory and drumming. Meanwhile he had started his first year of engineering study at the University of the Western Cape.
I composed Lovedale Harmony between September 2017 and January 2018 for the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet who gave the first performance on 23 February 2018 at the Purpur Festival in the Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town.
for saxophone quartet
- Steadfast (c. 7'15")
- Molto adagio e sempre legato (c. 6'30")
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score and Parts BDE 1209
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: c. 14 minutes
Première
First performance: Friday 23 February 2018; Fourth Purpur Festival, Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town
Further performances by Stockholm Saxophone Quartet: 24.02.2018; Siya Betana Memorial Concert, Hout Bay Music Project, Cape Town; Hoofstraat Conceptual, Riebeek Kasteel, South Africa; 24.10.2019; Fismer Hall, Stellenbosch, South Africa; 26.10.2019; Hout Bay Music Project, Cape Town.
Programme note
I had always wanted to make a piece with material from the Lovedale Press Sol-fa Sheets, and because the SATB format of the choir translated so beautifully into the four instruments of the standard saxophone quartet, an invitation to write a second work for the Stockholm players seemed the right occasion. The most well-known Lovedale composers are Moerane, Tyamzashe, and Caluza, but there are many other fine pieces by composers like Marivate, Monaisa and AM Jonas whose music is not much sung nowadays. Lovedale of course was also the original publisher of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, the South African national anthem.
Siya Betana, in whose memory the piece is written, was a member of the Hout Bay Music Project. That's where I met him, when I was working with students at the project. He was only 19 when he was fatally shot on the streets of Imizamo Yethu during violent protests in Hout Bay in 2017. Siya had been a violin and double bass student for nine years at the project, and had just begun to teach music theory and drumming. Meanwhile he had started his first year of engineering study at the University of the Western Cape.
I composed Lovedale Harmony between September 2017 and January 2018 for the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet who gave the first performance on 23 February 2018 at the Purpur Festival in the Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town.
