Lang Piet Writes:

Scool of Music

The NWU Conservatory/School of Music kicked 2017 off with another brilliant merry mix-up of musical entertainment with an innovation no one could predict – our ‘leading lady’, Prof. Annette Combrink as MC. She was truly everyone’s cup of tea, stating that she was under ‘enforced senility’ but none of it was evident in her masterful handling of the evening.

Ikageng Culture Group

The literal meaning of the term ‘potpourri’ in French is ‘rotten pot’, but this was certainly not applicable to the splendid performances of the evening.
The Ikageng Cultural Group set the tempo for the evening with their gyrating bodies in traditional garb. A crowd-pleaser was the 7-year-old boy who outperformed the men.

Green Bough

Catrien Wentlink and Christelle Engelbrecht, with green floral garlands, represented St. Patrick with the ‘Green Bough’ – a lilting Irish piano duet that left no doubt about its origins.

Song, Picolo, tuba but no saxophone

Kim de Bastos, a seductive redhead, lamented the ‘loss of her song’ with gusto and George Fazakas [picolo] and Justin Sasman [tuba] had a private instrumental battle ending in a musical truce. Tammy Aslett [sadly no saxophone] told us about her ‘Nothing’ life but won kudos by convincing the audience that she has risen above her fate.

Flute Ensemble

The melodic flute ensemble of George Fazakas, Anja Viljoen, Dirkie Nell [out of retirement] Itumeleng Maphakela, Kimone Trifunovic and conductor, André Oosthuizen presented ‘Small Waltzes’. The sharp MC teased André, explaining that in the old days an inept band player was given two sticks to become a drummer. When he still couldn’t make the grade they took away one stick and he became a conductor [sic].

Tiaan Engelbrecht introduced a fresh note to the evening with his guitar one-man-band solo of ‘Rain’ foot tapping his rhythm amplifier.

Pianos and Clarinets

Tammy came with another first – tuning her voice instrument to the piano before producing the jazzy ‘Twisted’ George Fazakas, this time with Brian Nelson on clarinet ‘Thought about it’ in harmony but even had the prof. foot-tapping to their crispy rag.
Our staid and upright Tinus Botha actually let his hair down and lived into the fictitious PDQ Bach variations, a brilliant local composition, doing the boffo together with some fine piano playing.
What a pleasure to hear Marguerite van Wyk who wanted to ‘Dance all night’ but eventually did ‘Vilia’ instead – with smooth flute, cello and piano accompaniment.

Cello Ensembles

We were all grateful that the School teaches cello for the cello ensemble stroked their way into the audience’s heart with silky renditions of ‘Pink Panther’, ‘Love Story’ and ‘Oblivion’ followed by a flowing ‘Brandenberg concerto No.3’ that even Bach-shy listeners could appreciate. Human and Matthys Coetzee, Charles Oliver, Annabel and Hanniël Marais and Markus Schwartz were superb.

Finale

Drag featured in such a joyful performance that was named ‘Somebody kept us crazy’ but digressed into a hula-dancing jazzed up ‘jol’ by the brass group with Liesl and Janelize van der Merwe, Bheki Kunene, Taryn-Jane Pedro, Yvonne-Marié Brand, Justin Sasman and Albi Odendaal; a rousing finale to a greatly enjoyed evening of good music.
Of course, the performances would have been poorer without the superb backup by accompanists Ruan Kryshaar, Waldo Weyer, Justin Sasman and Truida van der Walt. But, in another first, our inimitable MC had another trick up her sleeve and interviewed, in between performances, some of the participants and students on various aspects of the school’s activities and personalia. Done with panache, it made the evening extra special. Thanks for the innovation.
A superb first presentation by the Conserv – making the audience look forward to the next musical treat.