Martina Meincken, Associate professor, Stellenbosch University – 9 December 2021 Tonewoods are wood species that possess certain desirable properties that make them suitable for making musical instruments, such as woodwind or string instruments – like a flute or a violin. Any good tonewood should be radially cut, which means the lines formed by the year-rings […]

“I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt. It was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the ’50s. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She […]

RIP 2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021 Victor Coelho, Professor of Music, Boston University In an era when rock drummers were larger-than-life showmen with big kits and egos to match, Charlie Watts remained the quiet man behind a modest drum set. But Watts wasn’t your typical rock drummer. Part of the Rolling Stones setup […]

South Africa’s Diva Divine 24 September 1957 – 28 January 2021 Christine Lucia, Extraordinary Professor, Stellenbosch University – 29 January 2021 The passing of Sibongile Khumalo at the far, far too young age of 63 was a body blow. Sibongile epitomised ‘the new South Africa’, as it was born and as it matured. She sang […]

The exact origins of tango – both the dance and the word itself – are lost in myth and an unrecorded history. The generally accepted theory is that in the mid-1800s, the African slaves who had been brought to Argentina or their descendants began to influence the local culture. The word “tango” may be straightforwardly […]

James Chapman, Professor of Film Studies, University of Leicester Coverage of the passing of Sir Sean Connery has inevitably been dominated by his legacy as the screen’s first – and best – James Bond. Connery’s “Bond, James Bond” moment near the beginning of Dr. No (1962) is one of the iconic moments of cinema history […]

Emile Wennekes, Chair Professor of Musicology: Music and Media, Utrecht University His audience knew him as “Yardbird”, or more usually, just “Bird”. The variety of sobriquets given to jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, who would have turned 100 on 29 August 2020, is indicative of his different personae – most important, of course, his musical […]

 The musical partnership of David Crosby (born August 14, 1941), Stephen Stills (born January 3, 1945), and Graham Nash (born February 2, 1942), with and without Neil Young (born November 12, 1945), was not only one of the most successful touring and recording acts of the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s – with the […]

“My father was a waterfall and my mother was a butterfly” is an oft quoted phrase which Battiss first wrote in the preface to his book Limpopo. It refers to the strength of the waterfall of ideas tumbling out of the highly creative imagination; the butterfly was ever seeking new places and new possibilities for expression. […]

by Robert Bein, Stradivari Society Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù (1698-1744) are the two most celebrated violin makers of all time. Working in the small northern Italian city of Cremona, these two craftsmen left an unsurpassable legacy. Though violin making reached its zenith in the hands of Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù , […]