david

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David Forrister was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1979. Arts were a constant in his life, picking up the guitar and piano from as early as eight years old. He performed in drama productions in high school, but the stage took him for good in university as he began performing his original music. At 23, he recorded his own acoustic rock album, “Flat to Round” under influences of the Counting Crows and Dave Mathews Band, and, of course, his loves and heartbreaks. The album garnered much critical acclaim and landed him a Levi Strauss endorsement and a presenter slot on the SABC travel show “Going Nowhere Slowly,” in which he, some great friends and a ’61 Chevy Impala made it from Cape Town to Tanzania. While performing all over South Africa, sometimes to crowds of over 15000, he then recorded his second album, Live! and at Home, having expanded his sound through touring. In 2005, however, not long after his second album was produced, David wasn’t satisfied with the limits of being home and decided to drop everything and travel to the Far East. He was under the impression he’d take a break from music, but for a man like David who is constantly singing or playing some sort of instrument, that task would literally be impossible. Instead, he broke from the relationship that whisked him to Asia in the first place, kept writing more music, met an American love, and continued to write even more music (this time with some happier connotations). Under the influence of so much music he’d never been exposed to, shared by the international musicians set that cluster in the cities of Asia, he’s written more songs than ever, growing into his sound. What’s more, after finding a piano on the street to take home to his rooftop apartment, his scores have expanded in scope and things, they are a changin’. For the last two years he as played his original music shows all over Asia, in cities such as Taipei, Beijing, Hong Kong and Bangkok. The fact that he has been an official selection for the National Arts Festival more than once, commissioned to perform for the heads of state of Taiwan, Vanuatu and a host of African countries is a testament to his talent as a performer.As for his style, it’s hard to put in a box, as original music should be. Some have compared him to early John Mayer, but his voice is far from breathy, and his tunes are less acoustic rock and more rock. Others have compared him to Dave Mathews, apart from being from South Africa, but, again, his compositions are more on the bluesy side, and less on the bluegrassy. He has a huge sound all his own, and through his travels, his love for novelty, his passion for love, he would say his sound is still evolving though others would swear that it’s fully developed.He would also say that in the last two years in Asia, he’s grown a great deal as a person and through seeing the world, meeting his wife and having the opportunity to play with some truly world class musicians there, there’s no way that these influences have left no mark. Owing to his plans of exploring the U.S. , his fans in Asia will miss him for most of 2008, while his supporters in South Africa packed the performances that he held in Cape Town this last December. Now he's traveling North America with his guitar strapped to his back and the love of his life by his side, and while its more of a honeymoon than a tour, he loves playing music an will certainly make his voice heard along the way. - .Jessica - .Beck