Hemisfär
voice, strings, programming, fender rhodes, piano
After a hot summer in the desolate South African ‘Karoo’ desert, I boarded a flight to Sweden. The idea was to compose and record an album of Afrikaans songs, capturing the heat, intensity and magic of rural life in the ‘Kouebokkeveld’, land of mythical creatures, poverty, poetry, and shamanistic folk dances.
However, Hemisfär was conceived in the silent, frozen landscape of the Swedish countryside, and very soon the heat and intensity became distilled by the quiet sparseness of a dark Nordic winter.
‘Vastrap’ rhythms, string arrangements using African tuning, Cape carnival trumpet were all dissected under the magnifying glass of Scandinavian minimilism. In attempting to recreate the warmth and sensuality of Cape Afrikaans songs, we stumbled upon something entirely new and unexpectedly beautiful. Something simultaneously warm and cool, light and dark.
The result is a music that is timeless, beautiful and unique - a curve in the line between the hemispheres.
Alex van Heerden
RECORDS