Alex van Heerden

South African jazz/electronic/ethnic musician and producer, Alex van Heerden, started playing the trumpet as a teenager in his school marching band in order to avoid compulsory military training, and soon was playing jazz in the local townships of Port Elizabeth. He moved to Cape Town, and was initiated into the township/Cape jazz traditions while playing in the bands of local legends such as Robbie Jansen, Winston Mankunku, Hilton Schilder and Mac McKenzie. During this time he embraced the ethnic music of the inhabitants of the rural Cape, with whom he performed vastrap, langarm and church ‘koortjies’ across the desert landscape of the Karoo/Namaqualand. These experiences led to his first solo project, the group ‘Gramadoelas’, popular performers of ‘psychedelic vastrap!’ In 2000, he grew fascinated by electronic music, and since then has travelled yearly to Stockholm to collaborate with Håkan Lidbo and other Swedish producers, while also producing several live solo projects. His main focus has been the seemingly impossible task of combining the focused, detailed sound of European minimal electronic music with the rich, organic, wild rhythms and textures of his native South Africa. In the course of his live performances both in Europe and Africa, he has developed a unique solo performance style, combining laptop virtuosity with understated trumpet and vocals. He also performs as a duo with Håkan Lidbo, as well as with Hilton Schilder (as Rockart), or with pianist Magnus Bank. Although he is constantly seeking new genres with which to express his unique musical background, (including avante-garde string quartet, in the album ‘Sagtevlei’ with Derek Gripper), electronic music has held the deepest fascination for him as a medium of expression. ‘I discovered that so many of the subtle aspects of the landscape of my home on the outskirts of the Karoo desert can be expressed via electronic music, which is free from cultural references and allows the resonances of unspoken stories and hidden landscapes to be amplified. It can render the abstract funky, the ancient futuristic.................................................. ................................................... ............................................................ .................................................... ............................................................ ..................................................... Alex van Heerden selected discography:Nefertiti - Alex van Heerden & Magnus Johansson -Cirque.Maco 2008.In the Name of Bushtech - Alex van Heerden -Sinergy-Networks 2008.Tales of Droëland - Alex van Heerden & Paul Miller -Smallfunk 2008.Bushtech - Alex van Heerden -Smallfunk 2007.Simple - Håkan Lidbo & Alex van Heerden -Container Recordings 2006, Permanent 2007.Future Cape - Rockart (Alex van Heerden & Hilton Schilder) -Dala Flat Music 2006.Sagtevlei - Alex van Heerden & Derek Gripper -Open Record 2003.Cape Doctor - Robbie Jansen -Mountain Records 2000.Gramadoelas - Gramadoelas -Afrimusik 1998.Cape Jazz Classics -Gallo 1996........................................................ ............................................................ ............... ............................................................ ............................................................ .......... ............................................................ ............................................................ ....
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