OK, what a night! Seriously, those of you who considered going but didn't, you missed out big time. (Well, those who didn't even consider going missed out just as big time).
GFSA'ers in attendance was AcousticJunkie (host of the evening), Fingerpicker, Zohn and Deefstes.
The night consisted of four 30min sets. First on was AcousticJunkie and his group who aptly goes by the name of "Acoustic Junkies".
From left to right the musos are Lauren Clack on vocals, Heather Maynier on vocals, Graeme Maynier (AcousticJunkie) on guitar and Darren Clack on bass. They performed a set consisting of a number of countryish songs and covers of contemporary numbers. Really good! The two ladies has very good voices that go together nicely and AcousticJunkie has a soid and enjoyable style of playing. I particularly liked his right hand technique which reminds a bit of clawhammer a la Mark Knopfler.
Second up was yours truly
I performed a similar set to the one at TJ's a while back. I enjoyed it a lot and had my nerves much better under control. I wouldn't say it was my best performance yet as I had difficulty seeing my fingers and slipped up on a few fingerstyle phrases but in general I was quite happy with how it went.
We had no idea what an absolute treat we were in for and not least thanks to the next performer, Zarni de Wet. OH. MY. SOUL.
Very good piano work but the piano prowess was overshadowed by her fantastic voice and interesting compositions. This was not your typical, everyday, ho-hum, open mic type performance. This lady is top class and has the international acclaim to prove it. She currently resides, studies and performs in Seattle (USA) and we were lucky to have been able to see her live while she was here.
Go look her up on Youtube, iTunes and ReverbNation (
http://www.reverbnation.com/zarni). She is on fire. Here is a Youtube video of her. There are better ones in terms of quality but this is a song that she performed on the evening and which I particularly liked.
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Last up came another very pleasant surprise, Heinrich Pelser and Bianca Bronn.
Heinrich is a magician on the guitar and Bianca's expertly polished voice and intimate interpretation of the songs was mesmerising. They also make a very cute couple and they were a real treat to watch. Heinrich is the guitarist for a band, ICE Project, who have just been signed by Sovereign Entertainment (same record label as The Parlotones). Go look for their stuff on Youtube but here is a rather poor quality video that I took with my cellphone of Heinrich just doing an impromptu jam between songs.
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I just feel honoured to have shared a stage with these top notch musicians. The night came to an end at 22:00 and even though I still had the drive back to Jhb ahead of me I felt that it ended much too soon.
Well done AcousticJunkie for putting together a brilliant evening. May this go from strength to strength.
