{"id":4530,"date":"2021-07-18T12:12:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-18T11:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4530"},"modified":"2021-07-18T12:12:13","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T11:12:13","slug":"feya-faku-sextet-calm-amidst-the-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=4530","title":{"rendered":"Feya Faku sextet: Calm amidst the chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is an unassuming radiance issuing from the way trumpeter Feya Faku fields a performance<\/a> every time he ascends the bandstand. It\u2019s akin to what I imagined poet Seihlamo Motsapi was describing in a vintage phrase about a blushing angle. This is a vibe audiences should get when drinking in Faku and his internationalist ensemble at the Online Standard Bank Jazz Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nglobally-minded sextet comprises some of his favourite Swiss\ncollaborators and our very own Keenan Ahrends on guitar. Ahrends\nswings with sentience,\nimagination and studied sharpness. It is clear he is central to how\nthe story of the jazz guitar\u2019s future will be shaped in our part of\nthe world. Whether improvising with rhythmic emphasis or moving along\nin a melodic mood, Ahrends always sounds in charge of his process.\nRefreshing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pianist\nJean-Paul Brodbeck has a touch of an impressionist painter. He seems\nto know just which note to accent in order to achieve the maximum\neffect of necessary colour. This is in part because Ahrends\u2019 guitar\nis there to share in the load normally monopolized by the keys. His\nhammered\nstrings are warm where the plucked ones verge\non\nmetallic; and spare where the band is flush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nOn\ndrums, Dominic Egli, with whom Faku has recorded various albums,\ncracks, bumps and flutters with measured verve. He is steady as\nbassist Fabian Gisler is reliable. It is true that the best bassists\nalways carry the band. However, here, Gisler has the pleasure to\nplay, simply play and drive the music to as well a place as it can\nbe. In fact, we are left yearning to have him solo more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIt\u2019s\na similar feeling witnessing reedman Domenic Landolf\u2019s game unfold.\nHe switches from tenor to bass clarinet and flute in appropriate\nturns to match Faku\u2019s flugelhorn and trumpet alternates. It\u2019s his\ngentle blowing that makes him a clarinetist we should hear more\noften.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nImpeccable\nwith each successive tune, Faku emerges as a giant composer and\nsoloist. He tells us nothing except that which is needed, refusing to\nlet us think of the music as a metaphor for something else. It is its\nown message. An attuned listener will sense the deliberate nature of\neach moment of brilliance in the performance. Let\u2019s call it\nmaturity in virtuosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faku\u2019s music is a tent of calm in a world seized by a propensity to riotous rigmarole; he charges on as though in a secret helm of a migrating herd headed for promising pasture beyond a season of pestilence. We are so lucky to have him play for us at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the Feya Faku sextet at the National Arts Festival <\/a>until 31 July.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a92021 The Critter. This article is licensed under a\u00a0<\/em>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an unassuming radiance issuing from the way trumpeter Feya Faku fields a performance every time he ascends the bandstand. It\u2019s akin to what I imagined poet Seihlamo Motsapi … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":4531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1184],"tags":[773],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4530"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4532,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4530\/revisions\/4532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}