The sounds of Africa came to the Durban City Hall in the first concert of the winter season of the KZNPO.
The programme was designed partly to mark Africa Day, the anniversary of the founding of the African Union, and it introduced the most unusual soloists.
The Bernard Woma ensemble is a small group of musicians from Ghana. Playing traditional instruments, they have attained notable recognition in the US and Europe. In Durban they played two concertos, music by Bernard Woma, arranged by David Rogers to be played with a full orchestra. Rogers is an American who lived in Ghana for many years.
The instruments were indigenous xylophones mounted on a framework of gourds plus hand drums and gourds that are shaken. Woma is a virtuoso with this equipment, xylophone hammers flying at high speed while he sings and shouts. He was supported by Mark Stone, who added finger-clicking to the performance.
The orchestra gave discreet accompaniment and the total effect was exciting and novel. The melodies were rudimentary and repetitive, but the rhythms were compelling, to put it mildly.
The audience were highly responsive and showed it with whistling and shouts of approval at the end of each concerto.
The conductor of the evening was Bernhard Gueller (pictured below), the distinguished German musician who has performed in many parts of the world.
He and the orchestra showed their power and authority in the opening and closing items of the programme, four of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances based on West Side Story. In the Dvorak music in particular, the big orchestra, about 75 players, produced a really big sound, impressive and thrilling.
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