19 Years later and Kahn still wows the crowds
Kahn Morbee is a voice coach on The Voice, his band, The Parlotones' music is being used in a popular South African movie and his son Jaxon is giving him lots of pleasure.
WHITE RIVER – Kahn Morbee, lead singer of the The Parlotones, loves the bush and the Kruger National Park, but during his recent visit to the Lowveld the band did not get any time to visit “one of their favourite escapes”.
The band performed in White River last week, as part of their The Stories behind the Songs tour. They also presented a music workshop to 22 students of the Casterbridge Music Development Agency.
READ about this in tomorrow’s Lowvelder.
He said to Lowvelder that he will be passing on the same message to these Lowveld students from Hazyview, Valencia, Sabie and Matsulu that he is promoting as coach on the musical mentoring programme The Voice.
WATCH Morbee tell how you can impress him as a musician
“Sing to pursue your passion, and not to chase fame and fortune,” is Morbee’s message.
The show is based around a book the band has written, titled Stories Behind the Songs. As part of the tour, the band will also release this coffee-table book.
“It is part storytelling and part performance. It’s about striking a balance between playing music and the process of songwriting. It’s entirely out of our comfort zone,” explained Morbee.
Being out of this zone has been his style since the early days of the band, when they were still known as Crayon. Not that he yearns back for those days. He he has his eyes more on the future.
“There was a sort of innocence around that time. Music was a hobby, not our profession. Today I appreciate the past, embrace the present and look to the future like I always have.”
As a pragmatist, he is also outspoken about various issues.
“I despise rhino poaching and mankind’s lack of respect for nature. Because of greed, we find ourselves facing irreversible long-term consequences.”
It is not only the serious side of life that gets Morbee out of bed every morning. He recently had some fun with the makers of the very popular South African film, Keeping up with the Kardasamys.
Kahn Morbee”I think the concept of the film is pretty cool. They chose to use the some of our music and we were happy to oblige.”
He places huge importance on his personal and family life with his wife Candice and baby son, Jaxon (20 months old). “To be effectively creative, one needs to tap out from time to time.”
There is, however, not much motivation for the band, which has been going since 1998, to take it a little bit easier. The band consists of Morbee, Neil Pauw, and brothers Glen and Paul Hodgson.
“Our energy levels are still extremely high, and that’s because the fuel is passion. I’d like to believe that we have our own version of magic. It is the glue that keeps us together and keeps us creative.”
LISTEN to one of the Parlotones’ most famous songs
