The Uptown Rhythm Collective returns
JOHANNESBURG - Meet the Uptown Rhythm Collective … the re-emergence of the '80s band Uptown Rhythm Dogs who have a new album up their sleeves and a gig on the calendar.
After almost a 25-year break, Neil Solomon, Dan Chiorboli and Hadjiyorki Georgiades have reinvented themselves and re-engineered their sound to create the album Different Places. Instrumentalist and singer Neill said, “We had the chemistry back then. I, personally, was curious to see if it still existed.” The result is an album with as much personality, diversity and charm as the group themselves.
Each track is steeped in diversity, which strangely enough is what brought the group together in the first place. Middle East, Mediterranean and European by decent, all three grew up with the rhythm of Africa in their veins. Solomon said, “The music we all grew up listening to was strangely similar and as diverse as our respective cultures. And let me tell you, that makes for some magic music!”
On the eve of the album launch, the Uptown Rhythm Collective will perform at Johannesburg’s famous live music venue, the Radium Beer Hall. With special guest appearances from Christine Salem, the new maloya superstar and her band from Reunion and N’Faly Kouyate, as well as guitar legend and producer of Different Places, Mauritz Lotz, the event promises to be a night to remember.
“Besides Can You Call My Call, a track I originally wrote and intended for inclusion on the soundtrack to Jock Of The Bushveld, the balance of the album is Greg, Dan and myself having fun and allowing ourselves to be challenged outside of respective comfort zones,” said Lotz.
The Uptown Rhythm Collective will perform at the Radium Beer Hall, 282 Louis Botha Avenue, Orange Grove, on 30 April.
Details: www.theradium.co.za or call 011 728 3866.
